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A common example of writers starting in the wrong place is drafting a thesis statementbefore attempting any other writing. In a research essay, the thesis statement is the component that carries the highest stakes. A thesis must be a concise, confident, comprehensive statement of the essay’s topic and the writer’s position on that topic, and it must convince a reader that both are relevant. (“Oh yeah? So what?”) To accomplish these goals, a writer must have already taken the steps needed to be a credible expert.
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If the idea of writing these process drafts without an outline is too much to consider, consider the merits of creating a living, evolving annotated bibliography. Annotated bibliographies are very common assignments; they are excellent when used as a structured process-writing mechanism. To begin an annotated bibliography, start digging for information by skimming sources’ abstracts, if available. When a source seems interesting, read it more closely, then create a rough citation for it. Underneath the citation, write two short paragraphs: one that summarizes and another that analyzes holistically. This means specifying how it might help to answer one of the research questions, establishing background for the topic, or developing a particular point of view on the topic. These summary and analysis paragraphs ARE the first rough draft. Refer to our handout on writing an Annotated Bibliography for a detailed explanation of this tool.
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