AP English IV 2011
Burleson High School
Research Project: Primary Source Cards and Outline
Primary Source Cards:
In addition to your Secondary Notecards, you will be required to submit 15 Primary Source cards before you begin writing your Outline. Please refer to the Unit Calendar for exact due dates. First, you must add Othello to your Annotated Bibliography (the primary source does not require an annotation). You may choose to cite your textbook (hint: it is an anthology) or the online text (http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MobOthe.html).
Your Primary Source cards should be created just like your Secondary Notecards, except your Primary Source cards:
· Should be Titled Othello
· Do not require a paraphrase
· Must be linked to the citation in your bibliography
· The ‘My Ideas’ section must include your own analysis of how the quote is aligned with your argument. Remember your final paper should include ‘Quotation Sandwiches.’
The Outline:
The purpose of creating an outline for your research paper is to ensure the information you have gathered effectively aligns with the purpose of your paper. An outline organizes your information in complimentary ways because it shows: 1) the logical progression from you introduction through the conclusion in supporting your overarching thesis. 2) the hierarchical relationships between topics and subtopics, main points and supporting evidence, abstract ideas and concrete details. An outline serves as an overview of your paper in keyword format.
Helpful information:
Main ideas (Essential and Guiding Questions) will be labeled with Roman Numerals (I, II, III, IV etc.)
Subtopics that align with the Main idea are labeled with letters (A, B, C etc.)
Supporting details that align with the Main Ideas (Roman Numerals) and Subtopics
(Letters) are labeled as lower case Roman Numerals (i, ii, iii, iv etc.)
Your Essential Question is your Topic. The answer to your Essential Question becomes your Thesis. For your outline, you must evaluate the information you have discovered in your research and decide on an argument you will make concerning your topic.
Remember that your Thesis Statement should:
· Explain (in 3rd person) how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
· Be a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what type of argument to expect in the rest of the paper.
· Directly answer the Essential Question. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be misogyny in Shakespeare or a particular motif; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the women or the recurring images/symbols.
· Makes a claim that others might dispute. If you thesis makes a claim that would be impossible to disprove (ex. Othello murdered his wife.), it is not subjective enough to be a thesis statement.
The Guiding Questions become your Subtopics. Thus, you must use your research to answer each of the Guiding Questions. These answers become your Topic Sentences for each paragraph of your paper.
As you begin gathering information, you will find that the answers to your Guiding Questions become increasingly more complex. As your progress in your research, begin looking for natural divisions within each Guiding Question. In your outline, you will need to create 2-4 ‘Focus Areas’ for each guided question. Your ‘Focus Areas’ are simply divisions within your subtopics that you create to keep your paper organized and aligned with your overall goals delineated in your THESIS.
Example:
If one of your Guiding Questions posed a question about the symbolic significance of Desdemona’s handkerchief at the beginning of the marriage, you might choose to divide this into two Focus Areas.
First, the handkerchief represents her chastity. The notecards you would include in this area might be cards referencing the pattern of strawberries on the kerchief have been printed with the dye extracted from the hearts of mummified virgins, obliquely suggestive of a guarantee of virginity.
Second, the handkerchief represents her marital fidelity. Your notecards would include information about the handkerchief being Othello's first gift to Desdemona. She treasures it as a symbol of his love to her and always has it with her, "to kiss and talk to."
How to Create an Outline:
1) When creating a new outline, you’ll find a sample topic and subtopic already in place, you can either delete them, or edit them by simply clicking twice at the Topic or Subtopic in the outline
2) To Add a new Subtopic, you much first click ONCE on the Main Idea you want to expand
3) Then click Enter which will add the letter “A,” then you may add your subtopic
4) To add a supporting detail to your subtopic click on that subtopic and click the Green “+”
5) To add a notecard to your outline, drag-and-drop a notecard or notecard pile from the Notecard Tabletop onto a topic or subtopic in your outline.
6) At this point, YOU SHOULD RENAME YOUR NOTECARDS so that the TITLE of the notecard gives specific information about the contents of the card. Thus, rather than ‘Guiding Question One,’ the title of your card might read ‘The strawberries on the handkerchief symbolize Desdemona’s virginity’
7) Dragging a notecard pile into your outline will add all of the notecards within that pile to the topic/subtopic in your outline. If you want to drag over a single card from a pile, you must first double click on the pile to unlock the cards.
8) You may not use all of your cards, and that’s okay. Remember, your outline should include your five Guiding Questions. Each GQ should have 2-4 ‘Areas of Focus,’ and you at least one card per ‘Area of Focus.’ Remember, you may use as may include as many notecards as you wish within your ‘Area of Focus.’
9) Make sure to include both SECONDARY source cards and PRIMARY source cards in your Outline.
Remember:
Once a notecard is associated with an item in the outline, you can movie it around in the outline by clicking and dragging it to a different location
You can remove a notecard/pile from the outline by dragging it out of the outline back onto the Notecard Tabletop
When a notecard has been added to the outline, a small back checkmark appears in the top-left hand corner of the notecard on the tabletop. This helps you keep track of which notecards you have already added to your outline
The right panel of the Notecard Table top is where you create your outline for the paper. The outline panel can be minimized when you are not working on your outline. The small arrow button in the top-right hand corner allows you to minimize the outline or show it again.
Don’t Forget:
· You should have 2-4 focus areas per Guided Question.
· You must use at least one notecard per focus area, but you may place as many notecards within your focus areas as is appropriate for your paper. This example uses only two notecards per focus area.
SAMPLE OUTLINE:
I Introduction/ Thesis (Write a THESIS sentence which answers your Essential Question)
II Guided Question #1
A. Answer to GQ 1 (Answer your question in the form of a TOPIC SENTENCE)
i Focus Area of Subtopic
a. (NOTECARD)
b. (NOTECARD)
ii Focus Area of Subtopic
c. (NOTECARD)
d. (NOTECARD)
iii Focus Area of Subtopic
e. (NOTECARD)
f. (NOTECARD)
III. Guided Question #2
A. Answer to GQ 2 (Answer your question in the form of a TOPIC SENTENCE)
i Focus Area of Subtopic
a. (NOTECARD)
b. (NOTECARD)
ii Focus Area of Subtopic
c. (NOTECARD)
d. (NOTECARD)
iii Focus Area of Subtopic
e. (NOTECARD)
f. (NOTECARD)
IV Guided Question #3
A. Answer to GQ 3 (Answer your question in the form of a TOPIC SENTENCE)
i Focus Area of Subtopic
a. (NOTECARD)
b. (NOTECARD)
ii Focus Area of Subtopic
c. (NOTECARD)
d. (NOTECARD)
iii Focus Area of Subtopic
e. (NOTECARD)
f. (NOTECARD)
V. Guided Question #4
A. Answer to GQ 4 (Answer your question in the form of a TOPIC SENTENCE)
i Focus Area of Subtopic
a. (NOTECARD)
b. (NOTECARD)
ii Focus Area of Subtopic
c. (NOTECARD)
d. (NOTECARD)
iii Focus Area of Subtopic
e. (NOTECARD)
f. (NOTECARD)
VI. Guiding Question #5
A Answer to GQ 5 (Answer your question in the form of a TOPIC SENTENCE)
i Focus Area of Subtopic
a. (NOTECARD)
b. (NOTECARD)
ii Focus Area of Subtopic
c. (NOTECARD)
d. (NOTECARD)
iii Focus Area of Subtopic
e. (NOTECARD)
f. (NOTECARD)
VII. Conclusion (Write a single sentence to describe how you will connect the ideas in your paper back to ‘The Great Questions.’