#  Research, Writing, and Presentation Resources 

 



### Building Your Skills in Research, Writing, and Presenting

Whether your goal is to become an academic, policy analyst, or administrator, the quality of your work, and its impact on the literature or policy, will depend on your ability to conduct rigorous research and communicate your questions, process, and findings for a range of audiences. Below you will find guidelines and an exemplar that you may find useful to your work at HGSE and beyond.

***Finding Good Data: Matching a Line of Inquiry with Information***  
Asking an interesting and important question is only the beginning of a good research project. Important also is identifying the data source(s) that will allow you to answer your question and stand up to the scrutiny of your audiences. Therefore aligning your investigation with the right kinds of information is central to conducting rigorous research.  
  
***Making Writing Easier (and Better): Preparing an Research-Paper Outline***   
Clear, logical articulation of your ideas is central to all writing, whether it is a grant proposal, dissertation, white paper, or journal submission. In many cases, a thorough outline of your writing project provides a roadmap that facilitates a logical structure, coherence among your ideas, and the crafting of a compelling narrative. Below you will find an excellent example of a dissertation outline prepared by doctoral alumnus Rich Reddick. It is nearly complete, and demonstrates the level of detail you should strive for.  
Exemplar: [Reddick, R. (2007, April 5) Dissertation outline](/file_url/276)