Developing a Research Paper

Selecting the Topic

Research in Authoritative Summaries

Narrow the Topic

Preliminary Thesis Statement

Developing a Research Paper

• Select the Topic• Research in Authoritative Summaries• Narrowing the Topic• Building the Working Bibliography• Taking Notes• Construction of the Rough Draft• Rewriting and Polishing Rough Draft• Preparing the Final Copy

Step One: Selecting the Topic

• Topics are usually broad in scope

• Select a topic that will keep your interest

• If you are not familiar with list of topics then select two or three to do preliminary research on.

Step Two: Preliminary Research in Authoritative Summaries

• Summaries are found in the Reference Section of a Library.

• Summaries give you the five W’s: Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

• Once you have read the summaries you may come up with a preliminary thesis statement.

Research in Authoritative Summaries (Cont’d).

• Summaries are found in:– General Encyclopedias– Specialty Encyclopedias– Dictionaries– Handbooks– Textbooks

• As you work in the Reference Section of Library you will find many useful tools

General Encyclopedia

Dictionary: Lexicons

Dictionary: Vocabularies

Bible Dictionary

Theological Dictionary

Atlas

Biblical Histories

Bible Handbook

Concordance

Commentary

• Presents an in depth study on a particular passage of scripture.

• Discusses:

– Meaning of terms

– Historical background of passage

– Theological insights

– Exegesis

Selecting the Best Bible CommentariesThe preacher’s most essential tools are books about the Biblewritten by godly scholars who have explored beneaththe surface to uncover the riches contained in the Scriptures.Here’s a survey to help you locate these books.By LARRY HART

Most pastors worth their salt are eager to obtain the best practical resources to help them carry out their myriad as shepherds in Gods flock. I can remember pumping the seminary professor I most respected and trusted for suggestions on the best Bible commentaries, and my own students do the same me from time to time.If ever there was a time when the body of Christ needed pastor-teachers who are serious students of Scripture, it is now! The present renewal needs leaders who have mastered sound principles of biblical interpretation, with skills in biblical Hebrew and Greek. Such leaders can enable and help the people they serve to read the Bible with understanding.In Charismatic circles it is too often the case that scriptural texts are twisted and tortured in the name of “spiritual revelation.” Believers too often simply accept mindlessly and passively the pronouncements of their teachers and pastors, while those very teachers and pastors have spent very little time in .substantive study of Scripture. How often has a preacher claimed for a passage a supposedly Holy Spirit-revealed meaning which clearly violates all the principles of sound Biblical interpretation? How many times do people approach the Bible as if it were a Rorschach (ink blot) test and project whatever meaning that fits their fancy onto the text?Perhaps one of the reasons it is so urgent that Charismatics cooperate with the Lord as He merges them with the Evangelicals is this very problem of “playing fast and loose” with the Bible. Evangelicals care passionately about “rightly dividing the Word.” Recently the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy published a a masterful treatment of the subject of more than 900 pages: Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible.Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary have provided a very helpful resource in this area, a volume entitled How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth (Zondervan, 1981). The book contains a very helpful survey of the best Bible commentaries.A similar service is rendered by Mark LauBranson in his Reader’s Guide to the Best Evangelical Books (Harper & Row, 1982). Actually, not all the books surveyed could be classified as “evangelical” or “conservative,” but Branson’s overview of the best in Christian books is nevertheless informative and downright fun! Have you ever wondered what books are Jack Hayford’s favorites—both personally and professionally? How about those of Pat Robertson Lloyd Ogilvie, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Peter Wagner, Pat Boone, Richard Foster, John MacArthur, Carl F. H. Henry, or Phillip Yancey? They are all listed in this volume along with those of a number of other Christian leaders.Branson also refers the reader to two comprehensive surveys of the best Bible commentaries which] would also recommend:John Goldingay’s and Robert Hubbard’s Old Testament Commentary Survey (Revised Theological Students Fellowship/lnterVarsity Press, 198!) and Anthony Thistelton’s and Don Carson’s New Testament Cominen way Survey (Revised Theological Students Fellowship/InterVarsity Press, 1977).We use commentaries to help us get at the precise meaning of a biblical passage. What Paul meant to say to the Corinthians, for example, controls what the letters mean to us today, what God is saying to us through them. The first prerequisite to understanding the Bible, though, is a personal relationship with its Author. As J. I. Packer points out in his excellent volume, Keep in Step with the Spirit (Revell, 1984, p. 239), the Holy Spirit provided us with the Bible through His role in the processes of revelation, inspiration, canonization, preservation, and translation. He also enables us to appropriate fully the Bible’s message through His work in authentication, illumination, and interpretation. A coldly rational analysis of the text without crying out for the Holy Spirit’s help is futile. It is impossible to “substitute’’ the Scriptures for the Spirit or vice versa. They are inseparable. The Bible is a supernatural book—authoritative, God-breathed, infallible, inerrant. The starting-point for fully understanding it is being empowered by the One who wrote it. Nevertheless, this truth does not exonerate us from the task of serious study of the Bible with all the available helps.To begin with it must be said that the absolutely best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. This fact calls for a wide reading of the Scriptures—daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. In addition, we can receive tremendous help simply by using cross-references. The New American Standard, New International, and New King James versions, for example, have excellent cross-reference editions available.

Step THREE: Narrow the topic

• You had a fairly well defined topic, till . . . you read the authoritative summaries; now the topic is much broader than you thought.

• Now you know the paper could be two to three times the size of that specified by the professor.

• It’s time to redefine or narrow the topic.

For Example, Sanctification• Means “to be set apart, to be holy.”• “For I am Jehovah your God, and you have

sanctified yourselves, and you have become holy for I am holy” [emphasis added] (Lev 11:44).

• “because it has been written, ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” [emphasis added] (1 Pet 1:16).

Sanctification: Theological Use

• Base meaning: “Perfection”• Your theological background determines

how you view “Sanctification” or “Perfection”

• Wesleyan/Holiness:– Perfect Love, Sinlessness, Entire

Sanctification– No longer need to sin.

Theological Use (cont.)• Reformed Perspective

– Progressive sanctification (process)– From moment saved, you are being “made

holy”– Sanctification is not completed in this life; as

believers we are to strive to live as holy as we can

Sanctification: Biblical Use• Positional – One is sanctified because of the relationship

one has in Christ under the blood of the New Covenant (also known as Justification).

• Experiential – One is sanctified when the Holy Spirit regenerates and takes up residence in one’s life.

• Ultimate – One is sanctified completely when one sees the Lord Jesus Christ “face to face”—Either one is sanctified or not.

Narrowing the Topic

• Makes the topic more manageable

• Makes the research process much easier

Tentative Thesis Statement

• The Thesis Statement is the single controlling idea of the paper.

• Boil all thoughts on the topic down to one proposition/statement or a question that will be answered by the research

• Don’t spend much time on this now—go with your initial “gut” feeling