Developing a Research Paper

Developing a Research Paper Preliminary Thesis Statement (Significant Input from Dr. James Tollett)

Developing a Research Paper • Select the Topic • Research in Authoritative Summaries • Narrowing the Topic • Building the Working Bibliography • Taking Notes • Construction of the Rough Draft • Rewriting and Polishing Rough Draft • Preparing the Final Copy

Step One: Selecting the Topic • Topics are usually broad in scope and may be found through your theological reading, asking questions of yourself, peers and professors, and in an area which you have an avid interest and would like to pursue further while at the Seminary. • Select a topic that will hold your interest throughout the entire process, and if you plan to do a Thesis for your degree, one that relates to your proposed Thesis topic. • Begin doing preliminary research to make sure the topic is a viable one. • If you are not familiar with list of topics then select two or three to do preliminary research on.

Step Two: Preliminary Research in Authoritative Summaries • Authoritative Summaries are found in the Reference Section of a Library. • Summaries give you the five W’s: Who, What, Where, When, and Why—usually in short, to-the-point articles, with a short bibliography for further reading at the end. • Once you have read the summaries you may come up with a Preliminary Thesis Statement.

Step THREE: Narrow the topic • You had a fairly well defined topic, till you read the Authoritative Summaries; now the topic is much broader than you thought. • Now you know the paper could be two to three times the size of that specified by the professor. • It is time to redefine or narrow the topic.

Narrowing the Topic • Makes the topic more manageable • Makes the research process much easier

Tentative Thesis Statement • The Thesis Statement is the single controlling idea of the entire paper. • Boil all thoughts on the topic down to one proposition/statement to be addressed/proven, or a question that will be answered, by the research

Tentative Thesis Statement • For example, and to get started—fill in the blanks— The purpose of this paper is to _______________________, in order to ________________________. Various Thesis Statements from past theses follow:

Nicholaus John Berens The purpose of this thesis is to present how the Regula Fidei, or Rule of Faith, was used by Irenaeus to refute Gnostic idea of secret revelation.

Jennifer Greig-Berens The purpose of this thesis is to define the religious influence of Jezebel and her daughter, Athaliah, on the Israelite religion, in order to determine the extent of Baal Melqart worship and child sacrifice in Israel.

Marlene Mankins This thesis will examine the Lord’s Prayer in light of the context of Old Testament prayer and Jewish liturgical prayer of the Second Temple Period, in order to penetrate and illuminate the purpose and significance of Jesus’ teaching on this prayer, and to apply it to individual and corporate prayer today.

Lawrence Matthew McElroy The purpose of this thesis is to examine Paul’s usage of the phrase “works of the Law” in Romans 3:21-31, in order to determine the role of Mosaic Law in the life of the believer in Christ.

Johan Winbo The purpose of this thesis is to examine the development of exorcism in the writings of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, in order to understand how the Church of the Second Century created the teaching on demonology.

Jana M. Swartwood Does a fundamentally Jewish sub-meaning, informed by Isaiah 47 and other relevant texts, underlie the “Harlot” Interlude of Revelation 17-18?

David K. Hebert Was the Rapture of the Church taught as an orthodox belief of the Early Church or did it recently arise out of the teaching of Dispensationalism around 1830?

Developing a Research Paper