TIPS FOR THEOLOGICAL RESEARCH PAPER DESIGN
Northeastern
Seminary
(
*Clearly state your thesis early in the paper—in the first paragraph of an article, or at the end of the introduction in a book. Academic readers are typically short on patience. But don’t reach a decisive conclusion until the end of the project.
*Your literature review should consist of resources of direct pertinence to the project. Use your best critical-selective judgment in choosing your resources. What you take for authoritative works in your subject area could make you look foolish to your peers. Development of this kind of judgment requires that the junior scholar be “socialized” into the profession through mentoring and/or attendance at professional society meetings (e.g., AAR/SBL, American Society of Papyrologists, Society for Pentecostal Studies, American Society of Church History, Wesleyan Theological Society).
*Keep
the central argument moving throughout the paper—chop out irrelevant data and
comments. Every sentence must contribute
to the main objective of the paper.
*The
most critical part of research paper design is learning to ask the right questions. And this process of querying the subject
should be a continuous loop—one set of questions should eventually give way to
a new set as the project takes shape.
Sometimes the best place to develop questions is in conversation with
other experts in the field, especially on a listserv in your field. The best way to stay at the cutting edge of a
field is to ask the right questions for pushing the envelope of knowledge—or
even better, to anticipate the right questions that will expand the envelope.
*Like
my best recipe for chicken soup, ideas often take time to cook—you don’t want
to boil them quickly. They take on their
best flavor when you throw in the best ingredients and let the mixture simmer
for a long, indeterminate time. My best
work is the published critical biography of Godbey—but it represents the
reflection and work of nearly ten years. Of course, you must finish your MIN
690 research paper within the course of a semester!
*In
theological research, research design is fluid for most of the project—rarely
does the project have a fixed design from beginning to end. The project usually requires “tacking”
between questions, resources, methods, and results. Nevertheless, keep the project moving toward
a target completion date—this is particularly crucial if you are bound by a
contract.
*The
first draft of a research paper should always be regarded as
“second-rate.” I have known the
frustration of losing precious data from bad disks, as well as the grief
produced by a mistaken keystroke.
However, as a result of those experiences, I have also experienced the
joy of replacing the lost work with a much better piece of writing.
*Larger
projects—such as a book—call for an angle that relates the subject to larger
questions. When I wrote a critical
biography of William B. Godbey, I had to do more than merely recount events
from his life and ministry. I had to
demonstrate that the research was pertinent to questions about the nature of
the holiness movement—why emotional phenomena came to prominence in the
southern holiness movement—how Pentecostalism addressed the theological ambiguities
and doubts which plagued the holiness movement—and why a significant part of
the holiness movement rejected the “tongue movement” as “satanic.”
*Qualifications
play a significant role in building a credible argument. In my work on Godbey, I conceded that the
Methodists had sound reasons for rejecting the holiness movement’s agenda,
considering the unprecedented opportunities that faced the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. I also conceded that “tongues” offered a
resolution for holiness people plagued with post-conversion doubts.
*Taking on a major research project entails significant personal risks. It can force you to question your faith tradition, to explore the validity of your precious doctrines, and could even encourage you to exchange your beliefs for new ones. A principal concern of my own dissertation was objectivity—to stand outside the tradition of my childhood (and a major part of my adulthood), ask questions of it, and risk marginalization. As a direct consequence, I cannot enter a pulpit and engage in uncritical rhetoric about the tradition, and I become irritated at preachers who do.
Page Last Modified
9 March 2006