Summary of The Craft of Research

1.) Chapter 7 provides valuable insight into effective methods for structuring arguments within academic writing. Although many people realize the importance of strong arguments, and well-structured writing, in academic research, I think few are cognizant of the fact that such arguments should follow a rather straightforward outline.

The 5 steps of writing a strong argument are as follows (taken from The Craft of Research):

1. State a claim
2. Support the claim(s) with reasons.
3. Support reasons with evidence.
4. Acknowledge alternatives/complications/objections, and respond.
5. State principle that make reasons relevant to claims.

Once a writer has gathered the necessary research and organized the thought behind an argument, it should be relatively straight-forward to use this framework to construct an effective argument.

2.) Interesting points are made in Chapter 13 regarding drafting. Essentially, the book encourages writers to tailor their specific preparation for drafting a piece to their individual style of writing. Writers who write freely and with some sense of abandon are encouraged to place less emphasis on a draft outline. They are instructed to, more-or-less, write their drafts in a “flow of conscious” style, and then spend time on revising, omitting, and editing their work later.

On the other hand, writers who are more deliberate in their composition and like to take the time to complete sentences, write reasonably well, insert quotations, and complete their train of thought in rough drafts, are encouraged to work off a reasonably detailed outline or storyboard. This is because this style of writing takes significantly more time, and thought, than to simply spill words on a page, and there is a higher likelihood of forgetting key concepts, quotations, or general direction of the paper.

3.) Later in the book, the authors discuss the importance of well-crafted introductions and conclusions in nearly all types of writing. What I find interesting about this chapter, and the book in general, is the way that nearly all parts of effective writing is broken down into a simple step-by-step process. I feel that few writers have concrete methods for creating good writing, but this book offers relatively simplistic formulas and strategies for ensuring good writing.

The chapter on introductions and conclusions is a good example. A good intro, this chapter explains, is as simple as a 3-step process. First, a writer must establish some common ground with the reader. That is, the writer must ensure that the reader enjoys an understanding of the context of the argument to be presented. Next, the author must present the problem to be discussed. Finally, the writer must present an overview of his response (the argument) to the problem. Conclusions are similar, although the author must start with the main point of the writing, and then provide some new evidence that was not presented in the introduction. Both the first and last sentences of a conclusion are particularly important; the first give the writer a chance to present a particularly good point or quotation, while the last affords an opportunity for some creativity to end on a memorable note.

I will take several points from The Craft of Research, and apply them to my writing. All of the clear-cut examples of how to frame proficient composition will take much of the guess-work out of my writing. I hope!

Good writing, for me, has always been a sort of hit-or-miss operation. Generally, by the time I’m done composing a piece I can tell if it is of any quality. However, it’s often hard for me to know what makes it good, or at other times what, specifically, is missing from writing to keep it from being as effective as possible. I feel that the guidelines proffered in this book will be of great help to me in the future.