qUESTION 1
Most of my body paragraphs support the thesis statement. My thesis statements talk about how postpartum depression can cause negative relationships between the mother and the child. The topic sentences speak about depression and the consequences of postpartum depression. For example, “Depression causes disability in a large subset of the population. The effects of depression have far-reaching consequences, not only for the economy but also for social and political settings". This topic line supports the thesis stamen of this research by expounding further on some of the examples of the negative effects of postpartum depression.
However, there are some off topics in some paragraphs. My research paper is not complete, and some of the body paragraphs are not necessary. For example, the last paragraphs talk about how to determine the topic of the essay. It does not talk about how it is essential to identify various challenges associated with the post-partum period. Such a paragraph needs to be removed from my research. Apart from having topic sentences that relate to the thesis, body paragraphs need to support the idea with a credible source. Most of the body paragraphs do not have that and therefore cannot be linked to the thesis.
QUESTION 2
Clutter is phrases, words or sentences that only take up space in writing but contribute nothing to the piece of writing (Zinnser, 2019). They are often referred to as wordiness. If such words or phrases can be removed from the sentence, the meaning will be retained. When clutter is used in a paper, it makes the paper unacademic. The person reading the paper will get bored. Use of clutter makes a piece of writing hard to understand. Since clutter includes unnecessary words. My writing aims to deliver my ideas in a clear and precise way. With clutter, this means that my paper will be full of unnecessary words, thus making my paper unnecessarily long. My paper needs to be concise, clear and precise. For this reason, I should eliminate the clutter in my paper to make it an academic one.
QUESTION 3
Methods to use to obtain working knowledge for a research paper
Depression has the capability of causing disability. An individual suffering from depression is unable to cope appropriately with the activities of daily living. Mothers, during the postpartum period, are at high risk of postpartum depression. Those mothers who are affected by postpartum depression are not capable to appropriately fend for the needs of their children during this period. It is thus crucial to identify the challenges that the clinicians and other medical personnel go through as they treat the mothers during this period (Wilson et al., 2017).
From the above excerpt, it is evident that my voice dominates more than my source. Only the sentence bears the idea from the source. However, some of the views from the paragraph require acknowledgment of the sources. It can be seen that some of the information needs a citation; for example, the first sentence “Depression has the capability of causing disability” requires citation. However, I placed my source at the end of the paragraphs. There is no way I could support my point with the source. It is like I am paraphrasing the source and that I did not discuss my points. The best way to make sure that my voice dominates in a better approach is that I should first highlight my point, support it with evidence, and then explain it further with my voice. I should, however, be careful not to include several sources in a paragraph. More references in a paragraph means that the sources’ voice dominates. The best thing to do is first start with my voice about a given topic by writing my topic sentence. After that, I should support my topic sentence with strong evidence to validate my claim. I should then input my voice by explaining the significance of the source, by linking the topic sentence with the source.
QUESTION 4
The purpose of my research paper is to find out the following;
1. Challenges of facing the management of women with postpartum depression.
2. The relationship between sleep disturbance and postpartum depression
3. Effects of depression in postpartum women
4. How depression decreases the life span of human beings.
5. How depression affects students
6. Depression among university lectures due to burnout and how it can be avoided
7. The association between sleep and sleep disturbance and depression.
8. Depression in medical students and medical tutors due to the lack of supplies.
9. The relationship between grieving and depression.
Since I have several aims, my paper has only answered some of them. Having several aims makes the paper broad, and extremely lengthy. I need more time to cover most of the aims of the research. Alternatively, I need to research more, looking for credible sources to discuss my literature review. I also need to have a transparent methodology that will enable me to find answers to my research questions. If I cover all the goals of the research, my paper will be significant to medical practitioners, psychologists, and mothers. I think my thesis needs to be revised to suit the purpose of my research. As it stands, it is not reflective of the intention of the research.
QUESTION 5
1. Generalizing topic
The broad topic that was chosen means that the research will look clumsy and without any direction.
2. Using unreliable sources
Several sources are available, especially secondary sources. However, not all sources are credible (Qualtrics, 2018). A researcher can be quick to use a particular source whose author or date cannot be authenticated.
3. Clutter
Meaningless words or clichés will make the paper unacademic.
4. Not proofreading
In any writing, errors are made. If the paper is not proofread, it will be full of mistakes.
5. Citing
Sometimes, the researcher will use an idea from a particular source and fail to acknowledge the source. This will amount to plagiarism.
6. Following the specified paper length
Each research paper has a defined length, especially as per each section. For a given section seems complex; a writer can be tempted to use fewer words than the one specified.
7. Not observing the deadline
Deadlines are important in any form of research.
8. Poor paper organization
Research papers need to be well organized as per chapters. Poorly organized research papers will make the reader confused and lose interest in reading it.
9. Unsupported ideas
10. Stylistic weaknesses
References
Qualtrics. (2018, August 10). 5 Common Errors in the Research Process. Retrieved from https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/5-common-errors-in-the-research-process/
Zinnser, D. (2019). Clutter - Creative Writing. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/freshmenwritingseminar/clutter