Tips on Writing A Research Paper

For BDCOL Students

James Corum

Dean

Choosing a Topic:Choose a thesis topic that:• Deeply and genuinely interests you (this is the one thing

your adviser can’t monitor).• Passes the “So What?” Test, i.e. the answer will matter

(whether or not people realize it); ideally it should matter to someone in your government or armed forces.

• Involves an actual question with more than one possible answer (avoid advocacy pieces).

• You can successfully complete by March.

Consider a variety of thesis topics, and talk to many faculty members about them before settling on one.

Outlining:

OUTLINE!OUTLINE!OUTLINE!

Time spent outlining is never wasted. Remember, the final thing you’ll have to do with your thesis is to

outline it again, when you prepare your PowerPoint presentation at the end of the year. Until you have some sense of what the slides for a chapter will look like, you’re probably not ready to write it.

Introductions and Conclusions: Basic principles (for the thesis, and usually for each

substantive chapter): Tell the reader what you’re going to say. Say it. Tell the reader what you’ve just said.

Remember: Some readers won’t read the whole thesis (especially

the important ones who can crush your career like a bug). However, you can still educate and impress them.

Some readers are much dumber than you are. Some readers think they are much smarter than you are. Some fall into two or three of these categories at once.

Introductions and Conclusions (cont.): A clearly organized and presented thesis:

Is as easy as possible to skim, and to review after reading. Will be easy for you to summarize on presentation slides. Is more likely to have two signatures and little blood on it.

How to do it: Clear organization and roadmaps to explain:

What you’re going to do Why you’re going to do it Why you’re going to do it in this order (if it isn’t obvious)

Summaries when and where they are appropriate Section and subsection headings Good topic sentences

Section Titles:• Sections and subsections are the greatest innovation

in thesis writing since the footnote. Take advantage of them.

• Rules: Always have text between one heading and the next. Never have just one consecutive section of a given order (like

if there’s an “A.” in your outline, there has to be a “B.”). Leave more space above a title than below it.

• Boldface and oversized fonts are fine in place of underlining or italics in section titles, but in your text

use italics or underlining for emphasis, not boldface.

Turabian’s Guidance (see AUSG, pp. 87-88):

Chapter Numbers and Titles center and capitalize

Major Section Headings center and underline

Subsection Headings flush left underlined

Sub-subsection Headings run-in underlined

But any sensible, consistent, and aesthetically pleasing system is acceptable (provided your advisor says it is).

Section Titles (cont.):

CHAPTER 5

NATIONAL CUISINES AND MILITARY EFFECTIVENESS

Introduction

While the theory that “the side with the best uniforms wins” fails the test of history, an empirical

analysis confirms the alternative hypothesis proposed in Chapter 2 that countries with bad food fight well.

Historical Evidence

In keeping with this thesis’s focus on modern air power, the following sections examine the major

conflicts in which the United States has been involved since Giulio Douhet wrote his famous The

Command of the Air and the little-known Guide to the Food and Wine of Tuscany.

World War II

In the Second World War, this pattern is demonstrated far too clearly to ignore, as even a cursory

examination of some of the major combatants shows.

France and Germany. The home of haute cuisine collapsed like a wet soufflé in 1940 when it was

attacked by a state which considers fried pork chops to be a delicacy.1 . . .

Britain and the Soviet Union. In spite of the weaknesses of German cuisine, even Berliners turn

their noses up at what passes for native food in London and Moscow.2 The result was Allied victory (but

note the relative difficulty the Red Army faced in subduing the RyeKrisp-eating Finns). . . .

Italy. The analysis of Italian cooking and military prowess is left as an exercise for the reader.3

Vietnam

This theory also sheds light on the US failure to defeat the Vietcong and North Vietnam. . . .

Implications for US Defense Policy

Recently declassified intelligence reports suggest that during the 1980s, Soviet leaders became

concerned about the military implications of the penetration of foreign restaurant chains into the USSR. It

is reasonable to suppose that rising Russian culinary standards may have led to the end of the Cold War

1 Julia Child, Mastering the Art of Combined Arms Warfare.2 Kaufmann (1991) has noted the correlation between British breakfasts and the tendency of the British to fare poorly at thebeginning of wars, and between German desserts and the eventual collapse of the Second and Third Reichs at the end of the twoworld wars.3 See Vito Scotti’s performance as an Italian POW camp commandant and pizza aficionado on Hogan’s Heroes.

Topic Sentences: A paragraph’s first sentence (or sometimes

several) should encapsulate or at least indicate the idea(s) contained within the paragraph.

Someone who skims your thesis reading only the first sentence or two of each paragraph should still get a reasonable sense of what you are saying.

You may wish to write a topic sentence outline as the final step before full-blown writing.

If you can master writing good topic sentences (it will eventually happen unconsciously), everything else about writing will come relatively easily.

Topic Sentence Examples: Besides doctrinal and moral considerations, the military’s organizational arrangements for

Rolling Thunder limited the air campaign. . . . The absence of a single air commander produced chaos. . . . The lack of a single air commander further prevented military chiefs from integrating Rolling Thunder with other air efforts in Southeast Asia. . . .

— Mark Clodfelter, The Limits of Air Power (New York: Free Press, 1989), 128-29.

It is an axiom of surface theorists that the defense is the stronger form of war. . . . Air power does not fit this formulation. . . . Moreover, in order to defend all his vital areas, a defender must spread his squadrons

widely, and each point protected must have sufficient strength to drive back an attacker. . . .— Phillip S. Meilinger, 10 Propositions Regarding Air Power (AF History & Museums Program, 1995), 14-16.

Political leadership targeting is not likely to produce coercive leverage, however, for three reasons. First, it is very hard to find individuals and kill them. . . .

Second, truly idiosyncratic wars are rare in modern times. . . . Third, succession in most states is highly unpredictable in war, the more so in closed

societies. . . .— Robert A. Pape Jr., Bombing to Win (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996), 82-83.

Block Quotes: When your composition includes a lengthy quotation

from another source, place the quotation in a single-spaced, indented block quote rather than in the text itself. According to the latest AU Style Guide:

In practice, however, a much better guideline, used throughout the civilized world, is to use block quotes for any quotations which are four or more lines long, as advised by The Chicago Manual of Style.1 Air University Style Guide for Writers and Editors (Maxwell AFB: Air University, Sept. 1996), 11.

Use block quotations for passages that are easily set apart from the text, that are 10 or more typed lines, or that involve more than one paragraph. Indent from both sides and single-space the quoted material. Do not use quotation marks to enclose the quotation and do not indent for paragraphing.1

Footnotes and Bibliographies:• Footnotes are easier to read, and thus more likely to

be read, than endnotes. Whether this is good or bad from your point of view depends on what’s in your footnotes.

• It is often useful to divide your bibliography into categories other than just “books,” “articles,” etc., especially if your thesis includes a number of largely separate subjects (e.g. case study chapters). Making separate sections for primary and secondary sources is only occasionally worthwhile.

Bibliographies may contain sources that aren’t cited in your footnotes, but should include all those that are.

Your bibliography may be the most useful part of your thesis.

Citation Formats:• See the Air University Style Guide (Appendices A & B)

or Turabian’s A Guide for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations for examples of footnote and bibliography formats for almost every possible type of citation, including internet sources (in the AUSG).

• Common footnote citation formats:1 David R. Mets, Orville, Wilbur, and Me: Reflections on My Life in the

Air Corps (Raleigh-Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1991).2 Karl Mueller, “The Use of Nuclear Weapons in MOOTW,” Airpower

Journal 12, no. 2 (Summer 1998): 22-35.3 Harold R. Winton, “Three By Three: The Wit and Wisdom of J. F. C.

Fuller,” in Dennis Drew, ed., Overrated Military Thinkers, Fifth ed. (New York: Norton, 1986), 251-299.

4 Ibid., 285.

Citation Formats (cont.):Bibliography Citation Format Examples:

Chiabotti, Stephen D. Death from Above: The USAF Officer Assignment Process. Maxwell AFB, Ala.: Air University Press, 2010 (forthcoming).

“Core Incompetency: Information Systems in the U.S. Air Force.” Air Force Times, 17 January 1998, 6.

Corum, James S. “How the Luftwaffe Won World War II.” In The Encyclopedia of German Military Fantasy. Vol. XXI. Buenos Aires: Volksturm, 1994, 22-39.

Drew, Dennis. “Air University is to University as Air Guitar is to Guitar.” Naval War College Review 51, no. 2 (Spring 1998): 108-122.

________. “An Abject Apology to AETC.” Maxwell-Gunter Dispatch, 19 July 1998,13-14.

Andres, Rick and Edward Westermann. eds. Folk Songs of the Old South. Revised ed. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

Morgan, Forrest Gump. “50 Ways to Kill Someone With a Pipecleaner.” In Forrest Morgan, ed., The Big Book of Unarmed Combat. New York: Knopf, 1988. Pp. 367-71.

Terino, John. “Quaker Airpower: The Passing Game at Penn.” Ph.D. diss., Dept. of History, University of Pennsylvania, June 2011 (forthcoming).

Active and Passive Voice: Active Voice: “My adviser signed my thesis.”

Passive Voice: “My thesis was rejected by my adviser.” Clearly, active voice is much better than passive voice.

In general, using passive voice makes your writing less dynamic and harder to read. Not convinced ? Consider how the following classic lines sound in passive voice: “I know what you’re thinking: Were six bullets fired, or only

five?”(Movie, “Dirty Harry”) “He can’t be let in here! The big board will be seen!” (Movie: Dr.

Strangelove) “I want every gopher on this course to be killed by you!” (Movie:

Caddyshack) “Correct me if I’m wrong. but if all the golfers are killed, I’ll be locked up and the key will be thrown away.”

Active and Passive Voice: Sometimes passive voice is appropriate, especially if

the actor is unimportant or not well defined: “The F-15 was developed in response to the

experience of air combat over North Vietnam.” “The O-5 promotion list will be released on Thursday.” “Mistakes were made.”

Active voice emphasizes the subject, passive voice emphasizes the object. Which is better depends on what you’re saying: “Spain’s dreams of European hegemony were

shattered by the destruction of the Armada.” “The destruction of the Armada shattered Spain’s

dreams of European hegemony.”

Split Infinitives:• Wrong: “I told you to never call me here.”• Right:“I told you never to call me here.”

• Exceptions to the rule:– Once in a while it’s just too cumbersome to avoid splitting an

infinitive. Don’t write sentences in your thesis that sound ridiculous to you.

– And sometimes you may want to split an infinitive deliberately in order to place extra emphasis on an adverb:

Remember Star Trek; “To boldly go where no man has gone before”

But you should always be aware that you’re splitting an infinitive, and you should always feel at least a little guilty about it.

The AU Style Guide:• Read this whole book. I’m serious. You will learn things.• Especially important sections for many people:

apostrophe epigraph comma hyphenated compound words ellipses numbers

and the examples of note and bibliography entries in the back.

• Some conventions described in the AUSG are arbitrary (aside from the silly one about 10-line block quotes), e.g.:

US vs. U.S. (but try to use it only as an adjective) 5 February 1997 vs. February 5, 1997 spelling numbers between ten and ninety-nine

• Whether you adhere to the Guide’s rules or not, be consistent (and of course do what your advisor tells you).

Thesis Formatting Guidance Margins

1” all around Indent block quotes ½” on both sides

Footnotes, not Endnotes Start numbering from 1 in each chapter

Fonts Times New Roman or Bookman Old Style, 11 or 12 pitch Footnotes same font as text, but smaller (10 pitch) Use same font for Headings, Section Titles, etc.

Spacing 1.5 spacing for text, single space block quotes and footnotes

Miscellany Use Arabic numbers for chapter numbers Two spaces between sentences.

Final Writing Admonitions: • Follow your adviser’s guidance—unless he’s wrong.• Only quote other authors when it’s really worthwhile.

Your own words are usually better.• A paragraph should be about one idea. More people

write paragraphs that are too long than paragraphs that are too short. (This is also true of sentences.)

• Less is more. Do not write sentences or use words or expressions that you wouldn’t use in an oral presentation. Complex sentences are often harder to read than to understand

when spoken by the author. If you tend to overwrite, try reading your work aloud after you

write it. (I am totally serious about this.) Try to get family members to read your writing (this will also

give them a chance to see you this spring).

Corum’s Comments

• A Few Basics

• Correcting some of the most irritating student writing habits

• A couple of tips on moving the thesis along

More on Introductions

• First paragraph- 3-4 snappy sentences to get attention of reader

• For paper about 1 pages. For thesis, a short chapter– approx 7 pages

• Tell the reader what your subject is.• Tell the reader why it’s important.• Explain your methodology- questions etc.• Outline evidence used • Describe conclusions you hope to reach

Use Subheadings

• A useful way to make a subject transition

• Helpful to the reader

Bad Habits• Chattiness. Assuming a close personal bond with the

reader. “Let’s move on to…” We airmen know…”. Keep it to direct and clear English

• Acronyms. AAO (Avoid Acronym Overuse). SAAS record is 8 in one sentence. Recent example, “He will receive briefings on SLI, ASTP and will communicate with the ISS Crew from the POIC”.

• Do NOT begin sentences with “And”. It’s legal only very, very, very rarely.

• Don not repeat the full name and title throughout chapter. After the first Lieutenant General Mitchell Goering Douhet IV you can just say “General Douhet” or Douhet”.

Moving the thesis Along• Remember the Hemingway rule– no drinking,

lovemaking, deep sea fishing or other Hemingway stuff until he had done his 1,000 typed words (3 double-spaced pages)

• Don’t wait to write until the “mood” hits you. Few are ever in the “mood” to write.

• Stick to a routine. Set deadlines and daily goals. Don’t get up until word goal is reached.

• 1,000 words a day (weekday) will ensure a complete thesis done in 4-6 weeks.