PREPARING TO WRITE<br > FOR RESEARCH<br > POSING A QUESTION<br > AND FORMULATING AN ASSERTION<br >In all disciplines， research is conducted to answer questions<br >that someone wants answered. Consequently， when you as a<br >student receive a writing assignment involving research， you<br >must first identify the explicitly posed or the underlying ques-<br >tion and then conduct research to answer it. The more sharply<br >focused the question is， the more focused the response will<br >be. If the assignment is fairly open and does not express a<br >question， you will need to identify a question that you would<br >like to have answered or that you think someone else would<br >like to have answered. As you go through your notes on<br >classwork， readings， and other sources， try to identify such a<br >question. Some scientific research begins with a question， and<br >some begins with a tentative answer to a research question<br >that researchers call a hypothesis. If you begin with a ques-<br >tion， tile purpose of your research and subsequent paper will<br >be to answer the question. If you begin with a tentative<br >answer to your question or assertion (or a hypothesis in tile<br >sciences)， the purpose of your research and paper will be to<br >prove or disprove this assertion. Topic sentences of sections<br >of your paper should advance major points in your argument.<br > ANSWERING A QUESTION<br > OR SUPPORTING AN ASSERTION<br >The various disciplines require you to answer your question<br >or support your assertion with different types of research.<br >Some questions， particularly those in the humanities， may be<br > 1<br >