THE Birth Order Project: How Your Place in Your Family Affects Who You Are
As part of our unit exploration, we will be investigating many questions of how a person can best be represented and deeply understood.
Ø What influences who we are and who we will become in the future?
Ø What role does a person’s childhood play in changing a person’s path in life?
Ø What factors come together to create our identity?
Ø Is who a person is shaped more by destiny or by that person’s choices?
As we study a character, be the person real or fictional, we can’t help but wonder what makes the character the way he or she is? The answer to this question may depend, at least in part, upon the person’s birth order. Over the past few decades, much of the research conducted has confirmed that where you are in your family with regard to your brothers and sisters has a tremendous impact on your personality. First-borns are usually different from last-borns, and there is a reason people throw around the term “middle child syndrome”. While no one may ever completely fit a generalization, it is surprising how accurate some of this research can be.
Grading and Time in Class
While you will be given a generous amount of class time to work and receive help from your teacher and your peers—15 days to be exact—you will need to spend time on this outside of class. As with any assignment, your final grade for this paper will depend largely on the time and effort you put into your research and writing; those who procrastinate or have a “good enough” attitude will reap what they sow. If you want to know what days we will be spending on the project, see the calendar on edline and my wikispace. DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK FOR EXTRA HELP if you find yourself confused. Each student will have multiple opportunities to receive peer and teacher feedback.
Project Part I: THE “Outside” Research
This research project is designed to answer the questions:
Ø How has birth order seemed to affect you?
Ø What reasons do researchers give for the theories?
Ø From your experience, do you believe birth order theory is accurate or inaccurate?
You have a variety of resources at your disposal to help you with your research!
1. To begin, you will have access to photocopied chapters from The New Birth Order Book by Dr. Kevin Leman; these chapters not only explain birth order in general, but they specifically describe how each particular birth order pertains to individuals. You need to read carefully and take notes so you can understand and explain the theory.
2. After taking notes on the general theory of birth order and the possible variations (functional first borns, etc.), you will investigate your birth order and determine its characteristics. Record not only what it means to have these characteristics, but WHY your particular birth order is said to have them. You will record quotes and paraphrased information from these readings (including page numbers in your notes for in-text citations).
3. In addition to your notes from the photocopied source, you will be required to explore a minimum of two additional sources, including websites*, magazine articles, and books. The goal of examining so many sources is not to collect a wide variety of information, but rather to determine the information that is most consistent, and therefore most likely reliable. These other sources will also provide new insights into the theory that may help you.
4. As you notice patterns in the information, start taking detailed notes on the birth order traits that appear most consistently for your birth order. (For example, if “funny” and “entertaining” appear in three of four sources, you should look for the details about how it can be a strength and weakness AND the reasons why this is a trait of your birth order). You must thoroughly research and take detailed notes at least FOUR traits.
*Remember that not all websites are created equally: you will have to search for the credible sites and articles that have the clearest and most reliable information.
Choosing Additional Sources and Information
First, take care to find sources that meet the criteria for reliability: recognized (or credentialed) author, credible sponsoring organization, citations of studies or other reliable sources, and professionalism.
Secondly, check that the information provided is corroborated (backed up) by another source. If one source contains information not found in most other sources, then that information may not be reliable. We will review ways to compare sources and determine the most reliable information; a chart will be provided and should be used to organize your research.
*Remember as you research to record the information needed to create MLA in-text, works cited, and works consulted citations. You NEED to cite at least three sources and include at least 10 in-text citations (although you should cite any and all resources used in your paper) that explain the research on birth order in general and at least four traits associated with your birth order. In addition to handouts provided, tips for finding credible sources, writing MLA citations, and avoiding plagiarism are on my website.
To make sure you are finding credible information, research notes and/or charts will be checked on:
Tuesday March 29 for progress AND again on Tuesday April 5 for completeness (20 pts each)
Step 2: THE “Inside” Research: First Draft
Once you have the necessary information about your birth order, evaluate YOURSELF. How much of this information applies to you? Which qualities truly reflect who you are? Be honest—even if it means that you have to admit to some particularly unattractive qualities. For each trait, explain how the characteristic applies to you and then write about an incident or two that illustrates that you possess this characteristic.
Or, if the characteristic seems to be absent, speculate on why it is—the research will be helpful in explaining why people may or may not have this strait. If one or more of the characteristics truly does not apply at all, consider why this is: what factors have inhibited or prevented this characteristic from taking hold in your personality?
The goal here is to address the questions:
1) How much of this birth order theory applies to you?
2) How you can demonstrate (show) the parts that do?
3) How you can explain the parts that do not ?
Remember that your writing should systematically address each item from your research (a minimum of four traits); the final number is up to you and will reflect the effort you choose to make.
This writing will be added to your research as you draft your final paper; the more you put into this step, the more you will benefit in the end!
This writing will be checked on:
Monday April 11 for effort, detail, and completeness (20 pts)
Step 3: THE PAPER, Rough Drafts
First, carefully organize the information you have found from both the outside sources and your inside one into the outline format on the next page. This outline should be completed before you go to the writing lab. Once you have completed an outline, you will begin drafting your essay. A draft of your introduction and first body paragraphs (on one of your birth order traits) will be checked to ensure you are on the right track in terms of citing sources and providing sufficient detail.
Second Draft [Intro+ First Paragraph(s)] Due at the end of Writing Lab
Tuesday April 12 (20 pts)
You will then have several days to draft and conference in class. Remember: the more drafts you write, the more likely it is that you will have an exemplary paper! Your final writing lab day is on Tuesday May 3, at which time I will check your FULL drafts, providing the opportunities to review the final paper format and ask any and all final questions. So…
Full Rough Draft Due at the beginning of Writing Lab
Tuesday May 3 (20 pts)
Step 4: THE FINAL PAPER Requirements:
1. Because you will be completing a thorough analysis of birth order theory, you will need thorough and complete writing. This means your paper MUST have at minimum a clear introduction of one or more paragraphs, paragraphs discussing each of the traits in your birth order, and several paragraphs of reflection and conclusion at the end. This means you will have at least SEVEN paragraphs—but probably more if you are writing with focus and detail, especially if you discuss each trait in more than one paragraph.
2. As you write your final paper, keep in mind that while this is a personal research paper, you should limit and vary your use of first-person terms like “I” and “me”—you can write about your thoughts and ideas without beginning every sentence with “I”. Also, because this is personal, there should be ABSOLUTELY NO “you.”
3. The final paper MUST include a works cited page, and if necessary, additional works consulted. Remember that anytime you quote a source or paraphrase an idea that is not your own, you must give credit with an in-text citation (we will review MLA format in class).
Remember: Plagiarism is not tolerated—if you try to pass off other’s words or ideas as your own,
you will receive a ZERO.
4. With your GRISWOLD FORMATTED 3-5 page paper, please include the attached rubric with the signature of a parent/guardian to acknowledge their awareness of this assignment, its value, and the due date. This will be first be checked on Tuesday March 29 and assigned credit.
The final paper is worth a substantial 300 points. Because this is a research paper, you will be graded largely on the integration of your research into an organized piece of writing and the technical requirements outlined above. However, to earn the highest possible grade, the paper must feature all the characteristics of a quality paper: an interesting funneling introduction, a clear thesis that directs the paper, a logical and subtle sequencing of ideas through well-developed paragraphs ripe with illustrative examples, as well as thorough reflection that reveals the significance of the conclusions reached.
Final Paper Due: Thursday May 12
Essays must be submitted electronically in .rtf format or printed out before class.
Birth Order Paper Outline Format
Introduction:
1. Begin by providing some general background on birth order theory: what it is, how it works, etc. You could even talk about people whom it has effected and how. Make sure the reader understands the subject of the paper.
2. Then share your place in your family and share some the traits of that birth order which you have selected to discuss in your research paper—and why.
3. This discussion will funnel down to your thesis, which would be along the lines of the following: “Because most of these characteristics of a ____ born child (apply/do not apply) to me, birth order theory appears to be an (accurate/inaccurate) predictor of personality.”
Body: Explain each characteristic or trait of your birth order in explicit detail. For each trait, you should:
1. Introduce the trait as one common to your birth order according to researchers. (T)
Include and cite information from each of your sources that explains:
a. what it means to have the trait (good and bad) (E)
b. why the research says the trait applies to your particular birth order (E/S)
2. Explain—in detail—how this trait does (or doesn’t) apply to you. (T)
To provide illustrative detail (show, don’t tell), you will want to supply a revealing anecdote or two to prove (or disprove) the existence of the trait.
a. Example one (E)
b. Explanation of how it does/doesn’t show the trait (E)
c. +”So” sentence and/or Transition (S/T)
d. +Example two (E)
e. +Explanation of how it does/doesn’t show the trait (E)
f. Sum it up/Transition to next reason (S)
*If the trait is not applicable to you, then try to explain why the trait would not apply to you (T) using:
Ø Information from the research that might explain why not (E)
Ø Examples that prove how you differ (E)
Ø Personal explanations for why you might differ (E/S)
You may explain the characteristic and how it applies to you in one large paragraph, or, for the more scholarly, you may want to address these ideas in two steps: the first paragraph explaining the trait, the second paragraph demonstrating its relevance to you. No matter what format you choose, each trait should be addressed with insightful explanation and strong supporting details.
Remember that this pattern should be repeated for each of the four+ traits of your birth order; your writing should be balanced for each trait.
Conclusion: This should be several paragraphs of reflective writing. This is the section in which you synthesize the information presented in your paper, revealing how it is meaningful and useful to you.
1. Briefly touch on all the traits again, reviewing your findings.
a. Thesis
b. Reason/Trait 1
c. Reason/Trait 2
d. Reason/Trait 3
e. Reason/Trait 4
2. How is this meaningful/useful to you?
a. Explain what you have learned about yourself
b. Explain what insights you have gained about people’s actions
c. Explain how you might apply this knowledge in the future.
“Birth Order Project” Personal Research Paper Scoring Guide
Use this to self-assess and revise your final product; This page MUST be turned in with your Final Paper!