Customer Reviews

Writing a Research Paper, Rev. Ed. (Pitt Series in English as a Second Language)

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It's very useful book, and I got it in good conditions. I'll carry with me for long time.

Yet another book on how to write a research paper.

The thing that's different about this one, though, is that it's intended for ESL students, advanced English-as-a-Second-Language students whose studies have advanced to the point where they now have to try their hand at crafting a research paper.

The book is meant to be gone through in sequence. First second, choosing a topic. Then, narrowing one's topic. Then, finding sources. Then, making notecards. Then, making an outline. There are also helpful sections on how to avoid plagiarism (including exercises), distinguishing between argumentative theses and report theses, and a complete sample research paper.

The style used throughout is APA style. Sure would be nice if the publishers came out with different editions for Chicago and MLA, but not so.

Other than that, my only real beef with this book is that, since it is deliberately addressing ESL students, I feel it could have made its examples a little more user-friendly. For example, on p. 49, students are asked to make decision about what sort of thesis this is:

"The primary cause of murine muscular dystrophy may be demyelination of nerve fibers."

Yeah, I know, the question can be solved on the basis of "may," without knowing the meaning of "murine" or "demyelination." It's just that, when you are actually using this thing in class, you're going to find distractions like that common, with students continually asking what a word here or there means, rather than focusing on the principle the lesson is really meant to teach.

Yup. Please dumb down the language for the third edition, please.