by George Brosi

Research papers are built around research questions. Because research papers are dedicated to pushing back the frontiers of knowledge, they are built around one tentative answer to the research question, just as scientific papers are built around a hypothesis and auto-mechanics and medicine are built around a diagnosis. One example of a research question is, "Should marijuana be legalized?" A writer's thesis might be, "Citizens should be allowed to grow their own marijuana to use with their friends, but it should not be bought and sold."

The one and only meaningful way that a particular thesis can be shown to be the most appropriate answer to the research question is in relation to other possible answers to the question. Thus a successful research paper puts the thesis in the context of a whole range of possible answers to the question.

On questions of public policy, one answer to the research question is sanctioned by the law. Before the entire spectrum of opinion on the question can be addressed, society's official, legal, answer needs to be illuminated. Similarly, other questions in other fields ordinarily have one or two, rarely three or four, conventional answers around which debate centers. Whether the writer agrees with the conventional answer or not, the reader needs to show how the research question is ordinarily answered. In the case of marijuana policy, the simple answer is that possession of marijuana is a crime in Kentucky.

However, a good research paper goes beyond a one-sided presentation in support of a thesis or even a two-sided presentation of the conventional wisdom versus the writer's thesis. Instead, a good paper reveals a whole range of options, impressive in its scope. Doing a good job of this is essential to creating an outstanding paper. Writers who truly know a subject understand the whole range of responses to it. A knowledgeable informant also knows the key arguments for the major approaches to the subject. Showing this command of the subject is essential to doing a good job with a research paper. On the question of the legalization of marijuana, there is a wide spectrum of opinion which ranges from those who insist that possession of cannabis or paraphernalia should be illegal to those who would oppose any legislation which even mentions the substance. In between views fall along a spectrum between these two points. Some would forbid the distribution, but not the possession; others would allow the production of hemp only for products such as paper; others would impose consumer product restraints or regulations similar to those governing tobacco or allow distribution only as a prescription drug.