Research handout

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Facts & Footnotes: Putting Your Research to Good Use SBTS Writing Center Workshop ————— Objectives:

1) Attendees will understand the function of evidence when making an argument. 2) Attendees will grow in discerning how to use quotations and data. 3) Attendees will be able to cite sources according to SBTS/Turabian style. —————

I. BEGINNING, MIDDLE, & END A. Every essay, section, and paragraph must have a beginning, middle, and end.1 B. The beginning and end serve a structural function, the middle serves a substantive function. 1. A typical ESSAY will begin with a thesis, outline multiple sections of sub-points, and use paragraphs to support these points—ultimately supporting the thesis. 2. In terms of the ARGUMENT, you will make a claim, provide reasons, and support these with evidence in a variety of forms. “Readers look first for the core of an argument, a claim and its support. . . . So as you assemble your argument, you must offer readers a plausible set of reasons, in a clear logical order, based on evidence they will accept.”2 II. EVIDENCE—MAKE THE MOST OF THE MIDDLE A. DATA: facts, statistics, information, Bible verses • e.g. lists, tables, figures that help present information in a clear and categorized manner • Tables & Figures: see Turabian chapter 8 or the SBTS style guide 4.12 • Lists: see the SBTS style guide 2.10 for formatting B. ANALYSIS: interpretation or examination of the data • e.g. quotes, paraphrases, summaries of what an author says on a given topic 1

Sheridan Baker, The Longman Practical Stylist: The Comprehensive Guide to Solid, Eloquent, and Persuasive Writing (New York: Pearson Longman, 2006), 27. 2

Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), 131.


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