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What I Wanted To Know

Write what you would like to learn as a result of conducting your research.

Write a minimum of 5 things/questions that you would like to answer or learn about your topic.

Sample sentence starters for your paragraph:

  • I wanted to know…
  • I was curious…
  • I was interested in…
  • I wanted to find out…
  • I wondered…

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What I Know

Write EVERYTHING that you know about your topic before you do your research.

Sample topic sentence:

I chose (state your topic) because (your reason that you wanted to research the topic). Before researching (your topic) I knew…
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The Search

  1. Tell HOW you did your research.
  2. What did you DO?

Suggestion of things to write about:

  • Tell what search phrases and questions that you used.
  • Tell what Internet search engines you used.
  • If you used books, tell how you searched the library for the books that you needed.
  • Tell about any problems that you experienced. (For example, were you unable to find an answer to a question that you had about your topic).
  • Tell about one or two websites or resources that were helpful.
  • Tell why the resources were helpful. What kind of information did the helpful resources give you?

*Use Transition Words!!!!!*

  • First, Second, Third…
  • Then
  • Next
  • Last
  • Finally

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What I Learned

  1. Tell what kind of information you found during your research.
  2. Tell what you learned from your research. (Include the answers to your questions from your What I Wanted to Know section)
  3. Tell any information about your topic that you learned that you found interesting. Include any information that you learned about your topic that you did NOTinclude in your What I Wanted to Know section.
  4. Conclusion Statement = Summarize what you learned as a result of your research.

Sample Conclusion Statements

  • Overall, by doing this paper I learned…
  • As a result of this paper, I learned…
  • In summary, I learned…
  • In conclusion, I learned…

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How to cite a reference MLA style

Book:(Put your citation at the end of the sentence)

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play professional baseball in the Major Leagues (O’Sullivan, 3).

author’s page

last name number

Website with author’s last name given:

Cyril Thomas Mitchell was born near Carnwath, Scotland. He later changed his name to Paul Mitchell (Clemente).

author’s last name

Website no author listed write the name of the article:

Kobe Bryant is married to Vanessa Laine. They were married in April 2001 (“Kobe Bryant Biography”).

Name of the article

If a website has page numbers, include them in your citation. See MLA style book citation.

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Works Cited Page

Use the following website: Son of Citation Machine to create works cited page.

  1. Left side of screen inside box. Click on MLA
  2. Click the citation format you need and then the type of resource you wish to cite.
  3. Complete the Web form that appears with information from your source.
  4. Click [Make Citations] to generate standard bibliographic and in-text citations.
  5. Copy the citation and paste it into your work or Works Cited Page.

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How to make a hanging indent on the Works Cited page

After you have pasted your resource from Son of Citation Machine…

  1. Highlight the entire resource
  2. Format  Paragraph  Indentation  Special  Hanging

*Make sure your resources are in alphabetical order*

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Another helpful website with information about MLA format:

Purdue OWL: