Does racism affect one’s health? What are the causes and consequences?
Research Paper Outline
1) Introduction and thesis: The purpose of the introduction is to get the reader’s attention so you should provide some ‘shocking’ data that gets his or her attention. At the end of the introduction, you should provide your provisional thesis—provisional because the direction of your paper is likely to change as you do more research.
Here’s an example of the introduction and thesis:
The rate of obesity in the US continues to rise. According to the CDC, 43% of adults and children are obese: they have a BMI greater than 40. (citation). Many researchers have provided reasons for the growing obesity rate, but what is clear is that there are many factors that contribute to the rising obesity rate and no one solution will work for all. For example, obesity among children is thought to be caused primarily because of growing screen time and a decline in physical sports. Obesity among adults is much influenced by geography and culture: the mid-western and southern states are much likely to have higher obesity rates than those of the coasts. In addition, research shows that the poor are much more likely to be obese than the affluent. What is clear is that obesity continues to adversely affect lives and communities. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the causes and consequences of obesity among children and adults so as to come up with solutions. I will argue in this paper is that obesity in the US is rising primarily because of A, B, and C. The consequences of the growing obesity rate are X, Y, and Z. The most effective way to fix the problem is to do P and Q.
*The introduction and thesis should be at least a page.
2) Evidence to prove that the problem exists: In this section, you should provide statistics that prove that the problem exists. Your goal should be to paint a picture of the extent of the problem.
Ask yourself the following questions:
How many people are affected by the problem?
Who are these people? Rich, poor? White, African-Americans, and so on. Children or adults?
Is the problem geographically isolated or is it prevalent all over the country?
Again, your goal should be to make sure the reader understands the WHAT regarding the problem.
3) Opposing Viewpoint: In some cases, there may be an opposing viewpoint, and if that’s the case, then you must tell the reader what the opposing viewpoint is and argue against it. For the topic I’ve used—the growing obesity rate—there isn’t a credible obesity viewpoint because no one is arguing that the growing obesity rate is a problem. There are those who might argue that using BMI to gauge obesity is not effective for X and Y reasons. So, make a judgment regarding your topic: Ask yourself whether there are people out there who think that the problem you’ve chosen is not a problem, and then debunk their position.
4) Causes of the Problem
Cause 1 and evidence
Cause 2 and evidence
Cause 3 and evidence
You must analyze each cause and consequence in a separate paragraph and you must provide statistical evidence to support each cause and consequence.
5) Consequences of the Problem
Consequence 1 and Evidence
Consequence 2 and evidence
Consequence 3 and evidence
6) Two pragmatic solutions
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APA
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