English III

Research Paper Project

Mrs. Steele

Spring Semester 2013

Project: Research Paper

Final Due Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Requirements: 2 ½ - 3 pages, MLA Format, Persuasive Topic

What you need: 3x5 index cards (5-10) and 4x6 index cards (25-30)

Individual Due Dates:

Assignment / Due Date
Proposal / Thursday, March 28, 2013
Preliminary Outline / Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Source Cards/Notecards / Friday, April 5, 2013
Final Outline / Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Rough Draft / Friday, April 12, 2013
Peer Edit / Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Final Draft w/ Works Cited / Wednesday, April 24, 2013**
We will submit to TurnItIn.com as a class, so your research papers MUST be done WHEN you come to class on Wednesday.

**ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE AT THE END OF THE PERIOD EXCEPT FOR THE FINAL PAPER, WHICH IS DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CLASS PERIOD!!!

Research Paper Rubric

______/35 Focus

/10 Lead In – gains the attention and interest of reader

/10 Central Idea – Clearly unites the work

/10 Thesis – anticipates / looks forward to the body paragraphs (3 arguments)

/5 Writer stays on topic throughout the paper; no irrelevant information

______/45 Content

/15 Writer completely addresses topic selected

/10 Writer develops a strong argument throughout the paper

/10 Writer skillfully and accurately uses research-based quotations and examples to support ideas

/10 Writer incorporates a variety of sources

______/30 Organization

/5 Paper contains a clear introduction, body, and conclusion

/10 Body paragraphs contain topic sentence relating thesis to central idea

/5 Writer includes smooth transitions between topics

/10 Conclusion reinforces / expands upon the central idea

______/30 Style

/10 Writer invokes interest of reader

/5 Writer uses mature and varied sentence structures

/5 Diction and tone are appropriate to topic and audience

/10 Quotations are integrated smoothly into existing sentences / paragraphs

______/30 Mechanics

/30 Writer shows evidence of mastery through proper grammatical conventions and spelling

______/130 Requirements

/15 Proposal

/15 Preliminary Outline

/15 Final Outline

/15 Rough Draft

/15 Peer Edit

/10 Source Cards (5)

/25 Notecards (25)

/10 Works Cited (5 sources)

/10 MLA format

______/ 300 total point value

Research Papers—An Overview

  1. This research paper guide follows the guidelines of the Modern Language Associations (MLA). Teachers you have in the future might use different guidelines. There are several. Just be sure to follow the format your instructor assigns.
  2. A high school research paper is a long composition setting forth in a formal manner using information taken from several sources to support a stated topic.
  3. Every research paper must include a Works Cited Page. This is a list of sources containing information on your subject. Common sources are the following:

a.  Magazines: Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature of CD-Rom

b.  Books: Card Catalog

c.  Newspapers: Microfilm

d.  Internet

  1. PARAPHRASING is simply putting the information you gather from various sources into your own words.
  2. PLAGIARISM is not acceptable. This is a very serious matter and means automatic failure on any research paper.
  3. Plagiarism refers to a form of cheating that has been defined as “the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and presenting it as one’s own” (Alexander Lindsey, Plagiarism and Originality). Plagiarism is using another person’s ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source. Plagiarism is intellectual theft.
  4. Steps in preparing a research paper:

a.  Select a limited topic

b.  Write a Proposal

c.  Write a Thesis Statement

d.  Prepare a Working Bibliography

e.  Make a Preliminary Outline

f.  Read and take notes

g.  Organize notes and make a Final Outline

h.  Write First Draft—include Parenthetical Citations

i.  Write the Final Copy—Include Works Cited Page

  1. Important Advice

1.  Keep all of your note cards, bibliography cards, etc. Do not throw anything away.

2.  You will turn in all note cards. Any idea that appears in the paper must have a note card from which it came.

3.  Save your paper on the hard drive of your computer and on a flash drive.

4.  Your finished paper must be typed and submitted to TurnItIn.com. We will do this together in class. In addition to the final copy of the research paper, you will turn in all the bibliography cards, the note cards, the rough copy, and all printouts.

Select a Limited Subject

1.  Select a subject that interests you and that you can research in the sources available to you. In a sense, you become an authority on your subject. You will spend a lot of time with the subject. Thus, choose something that will keep your attention. Also, check to see that sources are available in the library.

2.  Get an overview of your subject. Do some simple reading to gain a general understanding of your topic. This will help you limit the topic. Take notes as you research as you may use this information later.

3.  Limit your topic so that you can cover it adequately within assigned length of paper.

Example Topics—Broad to Narrow

Broad: Marathon running

Narrow: Women gaining the opportunity to run marathons

Broad: Vachel Lindsay

Narrow: Lindsay as a “misfit” who was understood by few

Broad: Abraham Lincoln

Narrow: Lincoln’s courtship of Anne Rutledge

Broad: Robots

Narrow: Use of robots in the home

Broad: Van Gogh

Narrow: Van Gogh’s landscape

Broad: Statue of Liberty

Narrow: The renovation of the Statue of Liberty

Broad: Fads among the world’s teenagers

Narrow: Strange fads of college students during the 1950’s

Broad: The Brain

Narrow: Recent brain research to improve memory

Write a Research Proposal

  1. In order to write a research paper, you must select a topic.
  2. To select a topic, you need to research broad topics to make sure there is enough information to meet the length requirements and provide you with enough talking points in your paper.
  3. The follow are topics in which you can choose from, or you can identify your own topic.
  4. Everyone must submit a research proposal.
  5. Use the template located on the wiki.
  6. The proposal will answer the following questions:
  1. What is your broad topic?
  2. What is the narrow topic?
  3. List three possible sources (Internet or Book Sources).
  4. Why is this an important topic?
  5. Why are you interested in this topic?

Suggested/Optional Topics

Administration of Criminal Justice

American Economy

American Education vs. Other Education Systems

Animal Cruelty

Body Image in America

Celebrity Idols- Positive or Negative role models?

Censorship

Drinking Laws

Educational Equality: Boys vs. Girls

Elderly Care/Violence

Emancipation of Minors

Employment

Endangered Species

Environmental Policy

Facebook and online blogs

Fast Food and our Society

Fuel Alternatives for the Future

Gambling

Gang Violence

Genetic Engineering

Gun Control

Health Care Industry

Health Care Reform

Health Insurance

Influential Toys/Media influences

Kids and their tech. toys

Media Violence

Medical Care

Mental Disorders

Music Swapping

No Child Left Behind Act

Overmedicating Teens/Children

Stay at home parents vs. working parents

United States Foreign Relations

Violence and high school sports

War on Terrorism and Racial Profiling

Welfare Reform

Youth Voting in America

Write a Thesis Statement

1.  Once you know more about the specific information for your topic, write a Thesis Statement.

2.  A Thesis Statement is a declarative sentence, and is where you state your point of view on the topic directly, usually in one sentence.

3.  This statement limits the scope of your topic and reveals your purpose and attitude. It is like a map that controls the direction of your paper.

4.  You will provide this statement with the information that you collect and assemble. In a sense, the Thesis Statement is your answer to the question or problem you are researching.

5.  The Thesis Statement is a formal statement. Do not use words that suggest informal tone (you, I think, in my opinion, I believe).

6.  You may find that you must revise your Thesis Statement several times, depending on what the research reveals to you.

What does a thesis statement do?

a.  Tells the reader your stance on the subject

b.  Becomes a road map for the paper—it guides the reader’s expectations of the material discussed, and is essential to the writer’s ability to maintain focus in the rest of the essay

c.  Will directly answer the question, if one has been asked.

d.  Creates interest by making a claim or assertion with which others may disagree

e.  Provides a one-sentence, main idea of the written piece, typically at the beginning of the paper

How to determine if your thesis is strong-

a.  Does it answer the question in one sentence?

b.  Does it state a position that others might challenge?

c.  Is it specific? Does it avoid vague, unclear language?

d.  Does it create interest in the topic?

e.  Does it pass the “how” and “Why” test?

f.  Does it avoid using first person language (I think)?

g.  Does the rest of the writing prove that the thesis is valid?

h.  Does the rest of the essay focus on proving the assertion in the thesis?

Examples

Although females were not permitted to run the marathon for many years, it is now a popular event for women throughout the world.

Vachel Lindsay loved Springfield, but he was a misfit who was understood by few in “the City of [his] Discontent.”

Prepare a Working Bibliography

A Working Bibliography is a collection of sources you may use during your research. (You probably will not use all of them.) You will record the information about these sources on notes cards. The Working Bibliography will eventually evolve into the Works Cited page of your research paper.

1.  Keep these sources on separate note cards.

  1. This will help you later as you discard, alphabetize, and organize cards.
  2. Prepare the cards with care.
  3. This information is needed for the Works Cited page at the end of your paper—it is extremely important that you are accurate.
  4. Each card must have ALL of the information illustrated in the cards that are shown here.
  5. Prepare your cards exactly as the following examples are prepared.

Book (Punctuate each item with a period)

1.  Author’s full name (last name, first name—separated by a comma)

2.  Full title—including any subtitles (italicized)

3.  City of publication (note only the first city if several are listed)

4.  Publishing Company

5.  Most recent copyright date

6.  Write “Print” at the end.

7.  Call number from library in the upper right hand corner (optional)

8.  Consecutively number the cards for each source—upper right hand corner

Book with Two or More Authors (Punctuate each item with a period)

1.  All author’s names in order (of last name), last name first for first author, first name first with remaining authors

2.  Full title—including any subtitles (italicized)

3.  City of publication (note only the first city if several are listed)

4.  Publishing Company

5.  Most recent copyright date

6.  Write “Print” at the end.

7.  Call number from library in the upper right hand corner (optional)

8.  Consecutively number the cards for each source—upper right hand corner


Book with Editor (Punctuate each item with a period)

1.  Last name, first name, ed. (ed—stands for editor)

2.  Full title—including any subtitles (italicized)

3.  City of publication (note only the first city if several are listed)

4.  Publishing Company

5.  Most recent copyright date

6.  Write “Print” at the end.

7.  Call number from library in the upper right hand corner (optional)

8.  Consecutively number the cards for each source—upper right hand corner

Magazine or Newspaper Article (Punctuate each item with a period)

1.  Author’s full name (last name first)

2.  Title of article (in quotation marks)

3.  Title of magazine or newspaper (italics)

4.  Date of publication

5.  Page numbers of the article

6.  Write “Print” at the end

7.  Consecutively number the cards for each source—upper right hand corner

Internet (Punctuate each item with a period)

1.  Author’s full name—if applicable (last name first)

2.  Title of article (in quotation marks)

3.  Page or site name (italics)

4.  Date that you used the site

5.  Write “Web” at the end

6.  Consecutively number the cards for each source—upper right hand corner.


Film or Videos (Punctuate each item with a period)

1.  Full title (italics)

2.  Director’s full name (last name first)

3.  Production Company

4.  Date of production

5.  Write “DVD” at the end

6.  Consecutively number the cards for each source—upper right hand corner.

Personal Interview (Punctuate each item with a period)

1.  Full name of person interviewed (last name first)

2.  Write “Personal Interview”

3.  Date of interview

4.  Consecutively number the cards for each source—upper right hand corner.

Broadcast Radio or Television Show (Punctuate each item with a period)

1.  Title of episode (quotation marks)

2.  Name of program or series (italics)

3.  The network name

4.  Call letters of the station followed by the city

5.  Date of broadcast.

6.  End with the publication medium (e.g. Television, Radio).

7.  Consecutively number the cards for each source—upper right hand corner.


Electronic Databases (i.e. Student Resource Center-Gold)

1.  Last Name, First Name.

2.  “Title of Article”.

3.  Title of Source (Magazine, Newspaper, etc.) in italics.

4.  Date of publication or Volume.Issue (Year):

5.  Page Numbers.

6.  Title of Database.

7.  Medium of Publication. (Web)

8.  Date You Accessed the Material.

9.  Consecutively number the cards for each source—upper right hand corner.