Some Tips On How to Write a Poetry Research Paper & Succeed

What is Poetry Research Paper?

Writing about poetry might be a challenging task for many people due to the peculiar demands associated with it. Some people may simply not understand where to start since this form of literature greatly differs from prose or drama. The effectiveness of the poetry research paper directly depends on your talent to prepare the work following the key tips and steps. A poetry research paper is an insight into the meaning hidden behind either common or extraordinary word combinations. Besides, the research papers are more complicated than essays. This assignment requires you to do thorough work, to be attentive to the details and apply the available information, theory, and even facts from the author’s biography while completing the topic.

Why Is It Important?

Just like any other piece of writing, the poetry research paper is important as it helps you to boost a range of skills. It’s not going to make you like the poems. However, after accomplishing a research paper, you’ll find it easier to comprehend the literary devices, to see the hidden meanings, and expressive means. If a poem is a ciphertext, having enough theoretical information and relevant skills will help you to decode it. Eventually, you’ll start enjoying the poetry to the fullest.

What is more, the type of work under consideration requires you to use a specific set of writing rules that help properly complete the task. It is important to learn how to read, understand, and analyze the poem. At the same time, you have to create the outline, the thesis statement, to choose the methodology, synthesize some sources, select the correct reasoning arguments, and create a summary. These skills would be useful for future work as well. Besides, it is an excellent way to learn how to organize one’s work process.

The Choice of the Topic: So, It Begins!

When it comes to the topic, it may seem to be a hard task due to the variety of options. For sure, it is easier when you have a number of the issues to choose from. However, when it comes to independent work, one would have to follow specific rules. The chosen topic should not be mediocre, too general or done to death. At the same time, do not push yourself too hard and choose the topic that is both relatively challenging and interesting to explore. It would be better to choose the area that one is familiar with.

What Topic Is Considered a Good One?

To ensure your topic is not too long or hard to understand, it should raise some interest among the readers. For example: “The Recurring Themes in the Poems by Robert Frost” or “Symbolism in Renaissance Poetry.” From these titles, one can easily tell about the main subject of the work. If picking the right topic for research papers is not your thing, we strongly recommend to approach a research paper writer who can do both – write a top-notch piece for you and choose the juicy topic in any field of study.

What Topic is Considered a Bad One?

The wrong topic can be detected at once as it is usually either too short or too long. Besides, a primitive topic does not give a clue as for the purpose of the written work. For example, the topic ‘The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost’ does not specify the purpose of the paper. Besides, you cannot understand whether it would talk about the structural peculiarities of the poem, the symbols, or what it means to the author.

Pre-Writing Tips to Get Ready for the Writing Session

To complete a solid and proper research paper, read the required poem several times to have the idea of it. Do it more than two times to be able to mention all the details later. Reading the work for the first time, ensure to perceive it and be attentive to catch the main point and plot. As for the second reading, take a pencil to make some notes about the characters, symbols, literary devices, expressive means, rhyme, and so on. After this, review your notes to sort everything out and read the poem once again.

As soon as you’re done with the technical moments of the poem, it is high time to learn something about the background of it. Naturally, at this point, you have to be aware of the author’s biography as well. It is not a secret that poetry is a personal sphere. Therefore, certain events or facts from the author’s life may have a considerable impact on the content. With enough information regarding the technical aspects of the poem, as well as its background, you will have a deep understanding of the poem and, correspondingly, would be able to complete the research paper properly.

How to Create a Helpful Research Paper Outline?

Many students underestimate the importance of the outline. Nevertheless, having a detailed plan of the future paper helps to construct a coherent and easy to read work. What is more, the outlines organize the work process so you can focus on different stages of research and include the whole scope of relevant information into the paper. To create a proper outline that would serve as a backbone of the written work, think about the initial goal of research. The outline is only a sketch that is, however, a must have for a paper. If it is rather weak, it would be hard for you to proceed to the effective paper writing.

The Structure of the Poetry Research Paper: The One Our Writers Follow

Let’s take the symbolism in Renaissance poetry as the topic example for your research paper. In the body part, one would investigate the following issues:

• The characteristic features of the symbolism;
• The peculiarities of the poetry in the mentioned period;
• The way symbolism was developed during this time span;
• Some major symbols of the era;
• The most prominent individuals who contributed to the poetry back then and the way they used symbolism in their works.

Each of the points given above is to be examined in the body part. Therefore, there should be included some subtitles that define the topic of each paragraph.
The research paper requires a decent and step-by-step structure that consists of the introduction, the body part, and the conclusion. At the same time, however, the research work is more complicated than the essays. Besides, it presupposes some subtitled parts for a more in-depth analysis. The approximate structure of the poetry research paper would look the following way:

• Title;
• Abstract;
• Introduction;
• Background;
• Body;
• Conclusion;
• References.

The abstract is also known as the summary of the entire work that defines all the major points that would be considered within it. At the end of the abstract, provide a list of the keywords. Usually, the keywords section includes the terms that are used in a piece. The introduction suggests a general overview of the issue and consists of the thesis statement that defines the key objective of the work.

The background part is associated with things like the context of the poem or genre formation. The background information will be helpful when certain allusions to some other pieces of literature or historical persona appear. Such moments add to one’s understanding of the topic.

The body part is the core of the work as it examines and discusses the major issues mentioned in the abstract. As it has already been mentioned, the body is an essential part since it includes the main bulk of information on the topic. In this section, one would need to operate with a number of sources, new and familiar terms. All the body paragraphs must be well-structured, have a topic sentence, 2 or 3 supporting sentences, the quote and the analysis of it, as well as the concluding sentence that would also serve as a transition to the next paragraph.
The conclusion is as relevant as any other part of the research work since it points out the key ideas that were proven within the text. What is more, the conclusion should also restate the thesis mentioned in the introduction paragraph. Importantly, both the introduction and conclusion should not be too long. Instead, make them concise and informative. Finally, the references include all the sources that were used to complete the paper. To make it easier, imagine the entire paper as 100%, while the introduction, as well as the conclusion, would take 10% of the entire work.

Searching for the Credible Sources

Searching for the relevant and trusted sources might be a long-lasting and even boring thing to do. Nevertheless, you have to choose the best sources out of many options and, correspondingly, browse a lot of information shaping the vision of the paper topic. So, which sources are the most appropriate? To find a credible source. Use the journal articles, e-books, or even some documentary movies to complete the paper. At the same time, avoid citing the sources like Wikipedia, ambiguous web pages, or blogs. Keep in mind the rule of five years which means that the sources are required to be no older than five years since the date of publication. However, some early editions of the books may be the exceptions.

How to Cite the Sources?

There are different types of formatting, including standard APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard. To know how to cite the selected source, you need to visit the website dedicated to the rules of citation (for instance, Purdue Online Writing Lab https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/). With the suggested examples, you will easily put some in-text citations and create a proper list of references.

The Post-Writing Tips to Do the Job of Polishing

As soon as the research paper is done, don’t hurry up to relax. At this point, you have to do a thorough revision of the written work. Keep in mind that the main part of the writing is related to the research of the literature itself, or the writing process. The checks and reviews of the complete paper are as important as any other stage. Sometimes, editing and proofreading might be even more important! The completed work is a bulk of information structured in accordance with the outline. To make it sound good, reread and revise everything that has been written, and the post-writing tips would help to do this properly.

The post-writing tips are the techniques used to correct the mistakes, paraphrase certain parts to make the text more coherent, and even delete some paragraphs or, on the contrary, add some fresh ideas. In an ideal scenario, you should look at the research paper with a fresh pair of eyes. You may not notice the trivial mistakes due to the lack of time or a bunch of materials that you had to process. For that reason, one should review the piece in 30 minutes or more. In case if the deadline is short, ask someone else for suggestions, and this may be even better.