Wilkie - Research Paper Guidelines 1
Archetype Research Paper
Writing a research paper is a multistep, arduous process – but it can be a fun process too! Learning this skill is necessary if you wish to pursue any kind of post-secondary training (college, technical school, military) or any kind of job that may require research (there are more of these than you think!)
I will be teaching you the MLA (Modern Language Association) method of writing research papers. This is the method used by ALL colleges in Georgia and nationwide for undergraduate and technical school degrees. You will be expected to know this method of writing before you take your first class in college. You will use this method for most of your academic classes in college or technical school, not just your English classes!
Before we get into what a research paper is, let me discuss what does NOT qualify as a research paper:
- A purchased or copied paper from a “paper mill”.
- A copy and paste paper from Wikipedia and/or other websites.
- A “direct quote” paper without any of your own ideas or thoughts.
- A paper without a works cited page or without parenthetical referencing.
- A paper made up completely by you with no sources.
Basically you will receive a zero if you do any of these; but I shouldn’t have a problem with this because we are going to do the paper step-by-step with weekly checks of your work!
A research paper in any format is what it suggests in its name – a paper that requires research of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources (more about that later). A research paper examines an aspect of literature and allows you to form your opinion based upon the opinions of others. Now, a research paper can be approached from two standpoints: a literary review research paper (common in English and Social Sciences classes in college); or an action research project (common in Science classes and graduate study classes). This semester we will complete one major literary review research paper (this one). Next semester we will complete an action research paper; I’ll give more details about that later!
I am going to teach you the “old-fashioned” note card method for writing research papers. This method is the old standard from which you can later expand and improve upon as your research skills increase. You will need to purchase at least one set of 100 3” by 5” index cards for use in the research stages of this research paper. These index cards will be used for both your notes and your works cited page.
Now, I know that writing a research paper sounds extremely complex and very boring; however, IT CAN BE FUN! Most professors will give you a choice of a topic, within limits; the paper can be fun if you choose a topic you are interested in!
There are several stages to writing a research paper. We will be going through each stage slowly and carefully. The beginning stages are the most critical and will determine your success in writing a research paper!
Stage One: Determining the task – I’m making this one easy for you; your task is to write a literary research paper about archetypes. (Remember the notes I gave you, you are going to need them!)
Stage Two: Picking your topic! Aah – this is the hard one… If you mess this up it could make all the difference in the world between a good paper and a “sub-par” paper! I’m going to give you some suggested topics. If you pick one of these, great! If you choose to create your own topic, great, but make sure that I approve the topic.
Archetypes in:
- Beowulf vs. Batman - Harry Potter (choose a book)
- Lord of the Rings Trilogy (choose a book) - The Three Musketeers
- The Watchmen - Dracula vs. Twilight
- The Hunger Games - The Odyssey vs. Star Wars
There are MANY more I can list, and we will brainstorm in class some more; but I think that you get the general idea!
Now I am assuming that you will know something about the primary and/or secondary source before you begin this project. I am also assuming that you have your notes I’ve given you over Archetypes. Now is the time to make a Preliminary Thesis Statement. For example:
Situational Archetypes within Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets include elements of the quest, the fall, death and rebirth, battle between good and evil, and the unhealable wound.
- or -
The vampires of Twilight share many symbolic archetypes with the original Dracula, but differ in character archetypes.
- or -
Beowulf and Batman, despite their differences in time, they share many character archetypes.
PLEASE NOTE – these examples are fairly specific; you do not want to be too general and attempt to examine every archetype in a story. As you begin your preliminary research in the next stage you may find that you will have to restrict your subject if you find that you have too much information.
Stage Three: Investigating your Sources
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! – This stage is the most critical part of your research paper! If you do not have enough notes and sources, you will not have enough information to write your paper! I will give specific guidelines as to what I consider “enough” – remember “good enough” is neither “good” nor “enough!”
There are three kinds of sources that you will use for this paper:
- Primary Sources (the book itself)
- Secondary Sources (a movie or adaptation of the primary source)
- Tertiary Sources (articles written about the primary or secondary sources – this is where you will get the majority of information for your paper)
You should have no problem figuring out and obtaining the primary and secondary sources; I will be going over with you in detail on how to obtain quality tertiary sources in class.
There are three steps to investigating your resources.
Step 1 – obtain primary and secondary sources
Step 2 – begin investigation of tertiary sources
Step 3 – begin taking notes about topic from sources – this step involves the before mentioned index
cards! This will involve the creation of SOURCE CARDS and NOTE CARDS.
- You will begin making bibliography SOURCE CARDS of every source that you review and plan to use within your paper. To save you an enormous amount of time and trouble later – GO AHEAD AND MAKE THE SOURCE CARDS FOLLOWING THE MLA FORMATTING FOR SOURCES! (See your MLA packet for more information).
- Once you have found a source and written a source card for the source, it is time to begin making NOTE CARDS! I will review IN DETAIL about NOTE CARD strategies in class. The general rules are as follows:
o One major note per index card. PARAPHRASING is the preferred method to taking notes; if you direct quote something, it MUST be in ”quotations”.
o ALWAYS put the PARENTHETICAL REFERENCE that you are going to use in the body of your paper on the notecard. THIS WILL ALSO SAVE YOU AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF TIME AND TROUBLE LATER!
o Attempt to obtain a minimum of four to five notes per source. I expect you to have a minimum of 50 note cards for this project.
o On average you can count on using a minimum of ten notes per written page of your final draft.
o If you use a book or a web-based .pdf file, you MUST put the page number where you obtained your note on the note card.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT – once you have all of your sources, and you have all of you note cards – you are over 75% finished with your work! The EASY part is the writing of the paper…
Stage 4: Writing the Outline
From your research you should have a general idea of the order that you wish to put your ideas together on paper. Most of you know how to do a traditional outline; I will review this process with you. Once you create your outline, you will then literally take your NOTE CARDS and place them in the order of the outline!
Stage 5: Writing a “Note Card” draft and preliminary Works Cited Page
This is the stage where I differ from most instructors, but I feel that this stage is the most beneficial. You will now type in MLA style your notes. You will not write the introduction. You will not write the conclusion. You will not write transitions. You will write the parenthetical reference from each note card after each note (See! Aren’t you glad you went ahead and put that on your note cards!?!) As soon as you use a note card, you will go to your works cited page and copy the source card information down onto that page… Don’t worry about alphabetizing it, we will work that out in the next draft.
Stage 6: Writing your “ROUGH” draft and fixing your Works Cited Page
In this stage you will NOW take your note card draft and add the introduction, the transitions, and the conclusion. You will also put your Works Cited page into ABC order and clean it up… This is the stage where we do serious peer editing! Remember, ALL research papers are written in 3rd person!
Stage 7: Writing and submitting your FINAL PAPER AND WORKS CITED PAGE!
A Work of perfection! Naturally you should earn a 100 on it after all of this work… Alas, if it could only be!
You must turn in your source cards, your note cards, a minimum of 1 page printed or photocopied of each source that corresponds to the works cited page, the outline, and all rough drafts with your FINAL PAPER AND WORKS CITED PAGE.
Plagiarism will result in a failing grade.
Although we will spend some class time doing research in the media center, out of class research is absolutely necessary in order to meet all deadlines. Please come before and after school to work and visit local libraries! Utilize the internet for inter-library loans as well as for valid scholarly sources.
Deadlines will be as follows:
Picking Your Topic __________________
Preliminary Thesis Statement __________________
Obtaining Primary and Secondary Sources ____________________
Obtaining Tertiary Sources (at least 10) _____________________
Source Card Check ________________________
Note Card Check ________________________
Outline Check _________________________
Note Card Draft Check _________________________
Rough Draft and Works Cited Check ____________________
FINAL PAPER _________________________