The High School Student's Guide to Research Papers: 101 Ways to Make Your Work Stand Out by Jessica E. Piper

Author:Jessica E. Piper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.
Published: 2017-06-09T18:23:09+00:00

Backing up your claims

When you’ve done your research well, you should have no trouble backing up your thesis. After all, you wrote your thesis based on your informed research. Still, even if you have a very good intuition for why your thesis is correct, some students struggle to explain their arguments in a research paper.

The way to make sure you are backing up your claims is by constantly asking yourself the important question: “Why is this true?”

For each point in your paper, ask yourself why that point is true. Then, write the specific details that support your point in relation to your thesis. Your research should provide these details — look at your notes! Each opinion you plan on presenting in your paper should have one, if not several, specific details to support it. Details matter because you must show readers why your point is valid rather than simply telling them they should believe what you are saying.

For example, say you’re writing a paper about climate change. Your thesis is that governments should limit carbon emissions to help slow the rate of climate change. Your first claim is that humans have caused the planet to get warmer. Why is this true? You can cite scientific data about the warming of the planet. You can explain scientific processes, such as the greenhouse effect, that seem to be causing this warming. You could quote well-renowned scientists saying that climate change is a real problem. These quotes, data, and logic are your evidence —they work together to support your claim that climate change is human-caused, which helps support your thesis.

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