I used the 2nd edition of this book and it got me through writing my honors thesis, and now that I'm in grad school I've found it useful, as have many of my colleagues. Sometimes it really helps to work your ideas out step by step - and this technique works whether you're using print or electronic resources. I find the authors' style to be candid and refreshing, and their approach can make any scholarly writing feel more doable. And while some people (like Freston) may find this book too elementary in its approach, I will say that in my experience as an editor of my department's working papers, I have found that many good papers could be made great if there was a bit more attention paid to the seemingly simple advice in this book like properly introducing data and clearly stating your focus. This book isn't just about becoming a better writer, it's also about becoming a better thinker.

I remember picking the second edition up off the University library shelf when i was in my second year after wandering aimlessly around the shelves looking for something to read (yea people still do that). This book is definatley the best of it's kind. It elminates all the anecodotal nonsesne of research theory and gets down to brass tacks, ASKING QUESTIONS. There are all to often books on how to do research but they learn more towards the gathering of information rather than how to formulate your topic and how to put the information together once you've got it. It may seem obvious to the experienced researcher but to most this book is a clean cut guide on how to do research properly. i recoomend this to anyone (i used my second edition so much the book fell apart hence i updated to the third edition) KUDOS AUTHORS

We all respect scientists--even budding science students--for their commitment to accuracy and objectivity. Sometimes our strengths are also our weaknesses. Beginning scientists can naively believe that their writing only needs to report the facts, that anything further is bias, sophistry or even dishonesty. This book lays out the path to a better writing style. Readers will learn how to arrange and present their facts and evidence as coherent arguments. As a result, they will better serve their own readers.

The table of contents, outlined below, shows that the authors cover more than putting fingers to keyboard. Introductory chapters discuss the perspective and information needs of readers and how to connect with them. The authors address development of one's own authentic authorial "voice"--a topic often neglected in books about research writing. The next four chapters teach us how to conceptualize a research question, then find relevant and credible sources of information to answer it. The third edition contains a needed revision of the authors' earlier avoidant stance on the credibility of web-based information, containing good guidance for weeding flakey from factual online sources.

Chapter 7, "Making Good Arguments: An Overview," is the keystone chapter and a relatively quick read at eleven pages. It's where to focus when deciding whether to read the rest of the book. The authors define their working vocabulary of arguments, reasons, evidence, claims and warrants. In this and the following four chapters they show us how to use these concepts to present our points and how to acknowledge and respond to positions with which we disagree. They demonstrate how to do this with integrity as well as skill.

The final six chapters address the actual writing of a research report. Much of the advice on planning, drafting and revising is standard and consistent with other writing guides. Some, such as advice on graphical presentation of data, is an overview of information covered more thoroughly in other books (e.g., Tufte's Envisioning Information). But there is also a great deal of guidance on revising and fine-tuning arguments that is unique to these authors and their framework of written arguments. The closing chapter on style will help writers create clear and understandable structure while following their own authorial style. Recognizing they have presented only an introductory measure of what good writers need to know, the authors close with a comprehensive bibliography of readings, both online and in print.

This book, thoughtfully read and put into practice, is as good as a course in professional writing. Read it, underline in it, bend back the page corners, and keep it nearby when you write your next report.

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Brief Table of Contents

I. Research, Researchers and Readers
- 1. Thinking in Print: The uses of Research, Public and Private
- 2. Connecting with Your Reader: (Re-)Creating Yourself
II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers
- 3. From Topics to Questions
- 4. From Questions to a Problem
- 5. From Problems to Sources
- 6. Engaging Sources
III. Making a Claim and Supporting It
- 7. Making Good Arguments: An Overview
- 8. Making Claims
- 9. Assembling Reasons and Evidence
- 10. Acknowledgements and Responses
- 11. Warrants
IV. Planning, Drafting and Revising
- 12. Planning
- 13. Drafting Your Report
- 14. Revising Your Organization and Argument
- 15. Communicating Evidence Visually
- 16. Introductions and Conclusions
- 17. Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly
V. Some Last Considerations

Have you ever faced a blank computer screen and were at a complete loss of what you should write about for a 10-page research paper due the next week? Or maybe you knew what you wanted to write about but didn't know how to start? Or maybe you had all your sources, wrote out a draft and realized that no one cares if The Great Gatsby illustrates the three Aristotelian elements of a tragedy?

The Craft of Research helps students and researchers solve dilemmas like these and more. The authors dissect the anatomy of a research paper and create step-by-step stages that guide you all the way from choosing a topic to polishing your final product.

The major sections of this book address how to form a good research claim that your readers will care about; how to find and evaluate sources; how to support your claim with evidence, reasons and warrants; and how to prepare, draft and revise your paper. The authors use simple and clear language, and if that's not enough, they provide easy-to-understand visuals and diagrams to help make their point.

The authors also cover useful areas such as ethics (why you must always cite even when just discussing an idea of another writer's), the Internet (when it's acceptable to use web-based sources), and visuals (why 3-D graphs are a bad idea).

Sure, some of the advice they provide you may already know, but as the authors cover nearly everything to do with research papers (albeit in a generalized way), there's something for everyone. It's also nice to have a guide that will remind you of everything you learned in your freshman English classes. Clear, concise, and accessible, the Craft of Research is one of the best books on research.

I read this book about a month before I submitted my dissertation (in U.S. history) and it convinced me to completely rewrite my introduction. That experience left me kicking myself for thinking I was too advanced for these sorts of guides and for not consulting this book earlier. The sections on formulating a topic (how to turn a general interest into a question/problem to be researched) and warrants (how to match claims to evidence) are especially helpful. Make no mistake about it, this book can help researchers at all levels, and I have had many students, both undergraduate and graduate, tell me how happy they were that they took my advice to read this book.

Although there are many books on writing research or term papers, I have not found anything else which brings together material on planning, reasoning and writing the research paper as well as this book. Ignore any reviewers who make this book out to be a simplistic text. It is an excellent work on well reasoned writing that even most graduate students can benefit greatly from reading. As a professor of a graduate class on Research and Writing, I have recommended and required this book for several years. The book guides the reader from an idea of a topic, to defining a question, to formulating the conceptually signifcant research problem. It briefly covers finding, evaluating and using primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. Then a major portion of the book is devoted to understanding effective reasoning in the writing process. This is based quite a bit on professor Stephen Toulmin's practical approach to effective reasoning and argumentation. The Craft of Research diagrams and explains claims, reasons, evidence and warrants. It has detailed illustrations of warrants and when to use them, as well as how to challenge them. The book has other sections on organizing, drafting,and revising a paper. It also has a chapter on communicating information visually using tables, graphs and charts. Rather than focusing on the simple mechanics or obvious steps in writing a serious research paper, this book concentrates on the more difficult tasks of clearly defining the conceptual problem and addressing it with in depth, effective reasoning.

This book provides a wonderful introduction for graduate students embarking on their first research project. I use it every year in my classes. No matter what the field, students will find helpful advice on how to pick a research question and how to evaluate evidence. Invaluable!

The internet has utterly revolutionized the art of scholarship. Seeking a cicerone through the electronic morass, I lighted on this book, as a colleague assured me it was "a classic in its field."

What I thought this book was, then, was a guide on various websites, the ins and outs of the many publication styles, databases, catalogs, and other information that was previously in-print only but now can be accessed at home. So I assumed this book would have subsections on the different databases and resources available for geology, psychology, French literature, etc. It would discuss and review -- essentially guide you through -- in an over-arching way, the avalanche of resources that have now come online.

This book is nothing like that.

Instead, this book is intended, it seems, to get you in the proper frame of mind for doing research, to get you in the research "spirit." I found the whole thing so obvious and general as to be useless -- even for a first-year college student.

In this volume you can find such helpful suggestions as:

"Look for problems as you read." (p. 69)

"In a research report, your goal is not to stuff your claim down your readers' throats, but to start where they do, with what they know and don't know." (p. 113)

"Once you state your claim, say why it's significant." (p. 236)

"Your report will only be accurate only if you double-check your notes against your sources." (p. 103)

"Avoid using an Internet source unless you know that it is reliable and can persuade your readers to think so too." (p. 84)

"You need a problem to focus your attention on those particular data that will help you solve your problem." (p. 60)

The thing I would like to know is, what moron is out there writing research papers who isn't aware of this stuff? The writing is only a notch above such statements as,

"Libraries usually have many books and journals that can help you."

"The more carefully you read a source, the sharper your understanding will be."

"Capitalize the first letter of every sentence."

"Make sure your name is on the first page."

I mean, how dumb are we gonna get?

(citations are from the Second Edition)