Move One: Establishing a Territory in Research Writing

Move One: Establishing a Territory [the situation]

This is generally accomplished in two ways: by demonstrating that a general area of research is important, critical, interesting, problematic, relevant, or otherwise worthy of investigation and by introducing and reviewing key sources of prior research in that area to show where gaps exist or where prior research has been inadequate in addressing the research problem.

Step One -- Claiming importance of, and/or [writing action = describing the research problem and providing evidence to support why the topic is important to study]

Step Two -- Making topic generalizations, and/or [writing action = providing statements about the current state of knowledge, consensus, practice or description of phenomena]

Step Three -- Reviewing items of previous research [writing action = synthesize prior research that further supports the need to study the research problem; this is not a literature review but more a reflection of key studies that have touched upon but perhaps not fully addressed the topic]

Move Two: Establishing a Niche [the problem]

This action refers to making a clear and cogent argument that your particular piece of research is important and possesses value. This can be done by indicating a specific gap in previous research, by challenging a broadly accepted assumption, by raising a question, a hypothesis, or need, or by extending previous knowledge in some way.

Step One A -- Counter-claiming, or [writing action = introduce an opposing viewpoint or perspective or identify a gap in prior research that you believe has weakened or undermined the prevailing argument]

Step One B -- Indicating a gap, or [writing action = develop the research problem around a gap or understudied area of the literature]

Step One C -- Question-raising, or [writing action = similar to gap identification, this involves presenting key questions about the consequences of gaps in prior research that will be addressed by your study. For example, one could state, "Despite prior observations of voter behavior in local elections in urban Detroit, it remains unclear why some single mothers choose to avoid .... "]

Step One D -- Continuing a tradition [writing action = extend prior research to expand upon or clarify a research problem. This is often signaled with logical connecting terminology, such as, "hence," "therefore," "consequently," "thus" or language that indicates a need. For example, one could state, "Consequently, these factors need to be examined in more detail .... " or "Evidence suggests an interesting correlation, therefore, it is desirable to survey different respondents .... "]