Creating a claim for your research paper--Due Nov. 13th

Here is a simple approach to creating a claim for your research paper--

Step 1:

Review your research question. 

Ex: What caused the fall of the Roman Empire?

Step 2:

Answer your research question.

Ex: There were many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire—

-Decline of urban institutions 

-Decay of political power

-Decay of sexual morality

-Bad economic policy

Step 3:

Review your answer to your research question and pick a focus! This provides you with you claim.

Ex: The major reason for the fall of Rome was bad economic policy.

*Special note about compare/contrast and cause/effect essays. Be sure to refer to the 2 different ideas in your claim. 

For example:

While both Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture have many similarities, Roman architecture was able to become more elaborate in design due to their use of cement.