1.
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Organization.
The most important aspect of a paper is its structure.
This is extremely important: A paper may make several good
points, but
if it is not well-organized, these points will be obscured and
over-looked. A good paper is divided into an introduction,
several
sections constituting the body of the paper, and a conclusion.
Number
these divisions and give names to the section headings. Example:
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1. Introduction
2. Why Quantum Mechanics Needs an Interpretation
3. Bohm’s Theory
4. Problems with Bohm’s Theory
5. Conclusion |
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2.
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Introduction.
Always begin your paper with an introduction. A good
introduction is short and accomplishes two things. First, it
tells the
reader what the author's claims are; this should take only a sentence
or two. Second, it tells the reader, in brief, what is going to
be
said in the rest of the paper to support these claims. This
should
take only a few more sentences so that the reader doesn't get bogged
down in details. The best way to do this is to explicitly state
what
will be said in each section of the paper to follow. Example:
|
1. Introduction
This essay is about Bohm’s theory as an interpretation of quantum
mechanics. I will claim that Bohm’s theory provides an adequate
way of
describing what quantum mechanics is about. This will require
addressing standard problems associated with Bohm’s theory. In
Section
2, I indicate why quantum mechanics needs an interpretation in the
first place. In Section 3, I explain the details of Bohm’s
theory.
Finally, in Section 4, I discuss the problems associated with Bohm’s
theory and possible responses. |
It may happen that you are not sure exactly what your claims are going
to be, or the best way to organize and present them, until after you've
written the paper. For this reason, it makes sense to write the
introduction last. |
3.
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Body.
The remaining paragraphs of your paper (except the conclusion)
should each make one clear point; it should be obvious, from the
structure of your paper, how that point supports the thesis of your
paper. Details belong in these paragraphs, not in the
introduction. |
4.
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Conclusion.
Use a conclusion only to provide a brief summary of what
you have accomplished in your paper. It should be a reminder of
what
you have proved and how you have proved it. |
5.
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Be sure that you address all
parts of the assigned topic. This often
requires both explaining an author's argument clearly and critically
evaluating it. To do this well, you need to be very familiar with
the
text that you are discussing and will need to cite parts of it that
sup-port your claims. |