9Th Grade Research Paper Objectives

Name: ______Period:______

Research Paper – English I Honors

Objectives:

Research the Civil Rights leader of your choice from the list provided
Review a variety of sources (both print and electronic)
Write a thesis statement
Practice paraphrasing, synthesis, and your citation skills
Practice and utilize the MLA format for writing a research paper

Step One: Select a topic.

A. My Civil Rights leader is: ______

B. Find 4-5 interesting things about the person’s life based on your preliminary research.

C. Formulate preliminary thesis sentence: What would you like to know about your Civil Leader after reading some basic information?

Three Questions I have about this topic:

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

What is a Thesis Statement?

Your thesis is one main sentence that states the idea of the paper. Sometimes you beginwith a thesis and use your research to form a thesis, and other times you need to do someresearch before you can decide on a thesis.

Why Should Your Essay Contain A Thesis Statement?

to test your ideas by putting them into a sentence or two
to better organize and develop your argument
to provide your reader with a “guide” to your argument

In general, your thesis statement will accomplish these goals if you think of the thesis as theanswer to the question your paper explores.

My thesis statement:

______was a significant leader in the Civil Rights Movement, helping many groups of people in America achieve equality by [reason #1], [reason #2], and [reason #3].

Step Two: Finding Sources

The search process requires that you think about what you are looking for and whereyou will find it before you begin working.

1. What kind of information are you seeking that would answer your thesis statement?

______

2. Where can you find it?

______

For this research paper you must have a minimum of threesources: One book source and twoonline journal sources. You can use more than that or a legitimate web article, but they must be quality sources.

You will be taught how to find each type ofsource, and each source must be evaluated for appropriateness.

You will also need to take notes on your Source Notes Sheets for each source that you choose. For books,you should copy the material about your leader, as well as the MLA citation. Foronline journals and websites, you should copy the material about your leader with the MLA citation. These source notes willbe turned in at the end of the paper! Take careful notes that PARAPHRASE AND SUMMARIZE the information in addition to direct quotes.

MLA CITATIONS FOR WORKS CITED: (use the yellow MLA citation sheets)

Source #1:

Source #2:

Source #3:

Step Three: Using Sources

You will be required to take notes for every source you include in your paper.All of the information in your paper should come from these notes. You also need to write down the citation information as you go so you do not confuse where your source material came from.

Evaluate: What have you learned? As you gather information, remember that you willhave to be able to focus your discovery. Based on the research you have done, whatanswers to your questions have you found? What conclusions can you draw?

______

If you weregoing to do more research on this subject, what questions would you add? Would youlook at different sources? Why?

______

Step Four: Outline

An outline serves as a guide to your paper for your reader. If you have not already beenmaking formal outlines, this outline will be a formal version of your previous notes; it lays outyour main points and sub-points for your reader. I will provide the template for your outline. It must include the following information:

Introduction

Begin with a short introduction that focuses on the person’s overall contribution and place in history. This is where basic information such as birth, death, geographic residence, etc. can go; but keep in mind that this paper is NOT A HISTORY REPORT OR BIOGRAPHY – your focus is looking at how they influenced the civil rights movement, not to communicate a plethora of biographical facts.

The last sentence of your introduction will be your thesis statement.

Body Topics

A. ACCOMPLISHMENT/REASON 1

B. ACCOMPLISHMENT/REASON 2

C. ACCOMPLISHMENT/REASON 3

YOU decide how to break up your body paragraphs based on the topics you choose and how you want to organize those topics. Keep in mind your paper must be at least 4 pages, so you should have many paragraphs.

Suggestions:

1. Work with Civil Rights organizations, protests, marches, etc.

2. Awards, Prizes, Honors received

3. Books published

4. Other associations/connections with Civil Rights Movement, significant events that

affected lives

5. Vision for Civil Rights

ETC

In addition to the body paragraphs, you must include an analysis of something your Civil Rights leader said or wrote. You should cite where you found this quotation from your Civil Rights leader and do the following:

Select something written or said by this person to analyze.

Tie your understanding of the speech/writing to your thesis statement.

Make sure to use specific quotes when making your points.
What types of rhetorical devices are used? How effective is it?

Conclusion

Close with a final paragraph that sums up the person's contribution and importance (answers the “so what?” question).

Step Five: The Rough Draft

A. Format of the paper: Your research paper will be at least4 pages, and must follow MLA format. Your rough draft must reflect your best work, and should be as close to the final draft as possible (length requirement still applies).

B. Parenthetical Citations: When using facts from research (quote, paraphrase or summary)you MUST use in-text documentation at the end of eachsentence. We will go over this in class.

C. The works cited is a list of the works that you actually refer to in your paper. Toavoid plagiarism you should make sure to properly cite all sources fromwhich you take facts or ideas from.

Step Six: Edit your paper

Now is the time to perfect your paper. Read through it yourself, read through it aloud, asksomeone else to read through it. Take care with making corrections.

1. Your paper should be typed, double-spaced, with 1” margins on all sides.Quotations longer than four lines should be indented 10 spacesfrom the rest of the text (this is called block quotes).

YOU MUST ANALYZE ALL SOURCE MATERIAL. ANYTHING THAT IS NOT YOUR OWN IDEA/WORDS MUST BE CITED AND ANALYZED.

2. Indent paragraphs. There should not be any extra spaces in between paragraphs.

Font should be size 12, and nothing should be bold or italicized.

3. Your last name should be in the top, right-hand corner of the page (in the header), with the page number after the name.

4. Do not use contractions:gonna = going to | can’t = cannot | ain’t = is not | couldn’t = could not

5. Do not use the first-person when writing your essay.

6. Do not start or end your paragraphs with quotations/source material. They must always be followed with the in-text citation and analysis of that source material.

7. Use a consistent verb tense.

8. Do not use abbreviations; write out the whole word. Ex: two instead of 2, Californiainstead of Cali.

9. Slang is not acceptable. This is a formal essay, not a phone call to your best friend.

10. Subject/verb agreement. If you are referring to one person, or if you are referringto more than one person, make sure your wording reflects that.

11. Watch out for using the appropriate form of a word. Ex: Their, there and they’re.Two, to and too.

12. When editing, watch for common punctuation errors, grammar mistakes, typos,missing words, and any other errors you have lost credit for in the past.

13. Read through your paper!! Spelling/grammar check does not catch all mistakes.

Step Seven: Evaluate the Research Process

What was the hardest part of the research process for you?

______

What did you learn the most from during the research process (apart from the knowledge you acquired about your topic)?

______

What skill or tool do you think you will continue utilizing for future papers or researching?

______