The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Read the instructions carefully. Highlight the major questions being asked and the goals of the assignment. This resource provides a list of questions to consider about your assignment. If you have questions, ask your instructor during their office hours. You can also make an appointment with a writing consultant from the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center.

If you’ve never done this type of writing assignment before, review the common expectations and features, do a genre analysis, and/or look at samples.

For this project, gather your resources. They may include your assigned readings, your notes, and other sources for the project.

(This step should take 5% of your project time) Continue with the step in the next box or return to the Assignment Planners tool to start again. 

• Define your objectives and hypothesis
• Gather the data and evidence you’ve collected

(This step should take 5% of your project time) Continue with the step in the next box or return to the Assignment Planners tool to start again. 

If needed for your assignment, find secondary sources related to your topic. Use peer-reviewed articles, books, or other reliable and relevant sources.

• Use OneSearch in the UT Libraries to find sources. Use keywords that are central to your topic. You’re encouraged to ask a librarian for help finding sources. 
• If you’re taking a first-year composition course (English 101, 102, 112, 132, or 298), use the research guide that has been compiled by the UT Libraries. You can also read their research suggestions for a literature review.
• As you search for articles, read the abstract first. It will help you decide whether it’s a good fit for your paper.

Read your sources.

• As you read, annotate each source. Take notes on key research questions, methods, and findings.
• Tip: Annotation tools like PowerNotes help you keep track of your quotes and make notes on digital sources as you read them. (It also captures citation information!)

Evaluate the credibility of your sources.

• Once you’ve determined that a source may be useful to your project, make sure it’s credible. Use the Library’s guidelines or view their tutorial.
  • Find sources that provide context and rationale for your experiment. 
  • Remember to use PowerNotes and consult a librarian for research assistance. 

(This step should take 25% of your project time) Continue with the step in the next box or return to the Assignment Planners tool to start again. 

Draft your report in sections, using your notes and the data that you’ve recorded over the course of your research. The following steps are listed in a suggested order, but feel free to approach them in whichever order will best help you with your project.

• Introduction
  • Provide background information about your topic.
  • Define any concepts that are essential or unique to your research.
  • Identify your purpose and objective(s).
  • Write out your hypotheses.
• Methodology
  • Describe the materials and equipment used. 
  • Explain the process by which you used these materials and equipment.
  • Be specific so another person could replicate this process if they read your methods. 
• Results
  • Report your findings by detailing what you have observed without interpretation.
  • Create data tables, graphs, or charts to clearly display results. 
  • Use subheadings. 
  • Organize the information so as to invite logical comparisons between data sets, such as side-by-side, or as tables or graphs. These patterns are what you will refer to later. 
• Discussion and Conclusions
  • Refer to your research question(s) or hypothesis and discuss the conclusions that you’ve reached in light of your results. 
  • Describe the patterns that emerged from your data and how they compare to the results found elsewhere (such as your literature review, if you included one) or what the expectations of the results were based on other studies conducted.
  • Discuss the significance of your results and what future work might be done in light of your results, considering methodology as well as your findings.

(This step should take 25% of your project time) Continue with the step in the next box or return to the Assignment Planners tool to start again. 

Create a brief (150-200 words) summary of your report, which will be placed at the beginning of the paper.

Include summary statements. Write a statement about the purpose of the study, the methods (participants and procedures), and the results. 

(This step should take 10% of your project time) Continue with the step in the next box or return to the Assignment Planners tool to start again. 

Get feedback on your draft from your instructor during their office hours, from the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center, or from a peer using the assignment guidelines and/or a rubric. 

Try the “read out loud” approach to review your work. It can help you find things you might otherwise miss. Another method is to use the reverse outlining technique to help you identify areas for revision.

After feedback or self-review, write down at least 2-3 major things you need to revise. Before focusing on sentence-level concerns, consider:

• how clearly you communicate the research you’ve conducted;
• its purpose;
• and its outcomes.

(This step should take 10% of your project time) Continue with the step in the next box or return to the Assignment Planners tool to start again. 

Revise as needed, based on the feedback you received.

• Review your work as a whole, making sure each of the sections is drafted appropriately.

(This step should take 15% of your project time) Continue with the step in the next box or return to the Assignment Planners tool to start again. 

Check the assignment instructions to make sure you met all the requirements for the content and formatting of your paper.

Proofread your work carefully. Remember the “read out loud” approach to reviewing your work. It can help you find things you might otherwise miss. 

If you used external sources, double-check that you have cited all sources (ideas, information, paraphrases, and quotes) correctly. Ensure that your reference/bibliography/works cited page is accurate. See this resource on how to avoid plagiarism.

(This step should take 5% of your project time) Continue with the step in the next box or return to the Assignment Planners tool to start again.