The Research Paper

1. The Research Paper What does this quote mean?

2. What are you trying to tell your audience? Start with your Basic topic

3. Then… figure out why your topic is important Examples: --the impact of the atomic bomb of modern warfare --how aggression and anger affects personality --the assassination of JFK remains one of the biggest and most controversial American mysteries to date --the battle of Antietam was one of the bloodiest battles in American history

4. What does your audience need to know about your topic to be informed? Group similar sub-topics together Shakespeare’s Shakespeare’s Playwright & The Returning Death & Parents & Siblings Education Poet Globe to Stratford The Folio Childhood Career Later Years

5. Add supporting details and extra information Shakespeare’s Career -several plays on London stage by 1592 -wrote Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, etc. -divided his time between London and Stratford

6. What is a thesis statement? • A thesis statement is an opinion-based sentence that names the topic of your paper. It is the last sentence in your introduction.

7. A thesis statement must do three things: • Make a claim (that is debatable) • Be supportable with research • Be specific and narrow (only covering what is discussed in paper) • Be expressed in one sentence **You may need to revise it after you’ve written your paper in its entirety.

8. Types of Claims • Claims of fact or definition: These claims argue about what the definition of something is or whether something is a settled fact. Example: What some people refer to as global warming is actually nothing more than normal, long-term cycles of climate change. • Claims of cause and effect: These claims argue that one person, thing, or event caused another thing or event to occur. Example: The popularity of SUV's in America has caused pollution to increase.

9. Types of Claims • Claims about value: These are claims made of what something is worth, whether we value it or not, how we would rate or categorize something. Example: Global warming is the most pressing challenge facing the world today. • Claims about solutions or policies: These are claims that argue for or against a certain solution or policy approach to a problem. Example: Instead of drilling for oil in Alaska we should be focusing on ways to reduce oil consumption, such as researching renewable energy sources. **Types of Claims from Purdue OWL

10. Example Argumentative RP Thesis: Example of an argumentative thesis statement: High school graduates should be required to take a year off to pursue community service projects before entering college in order to increase their maturity and global awareness. The paper that follows should: Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that students should pursue community projects before entering college. *From Purdue OWL

11. Weak Drug addiction is a big problem. Strong Drug addiction has caused a huge increase in violent crimes.

12. Weak Home and schools. Strong Parents need to participate more in the education of their children.

13. Weak I want to share some thoughts with you about the space program. Strong The space program is a waste of money.

14. Never use first (I, me, we, my, mine, our) or second (you, your) person in your final thesis statement. It’s too informal.

15. Write a belief statement about your topic: • I believe…. Example: I believe that the SAT tests should be eliminated.

16. Now add a fact to the belief statement • I believe….because…. Example: I believe that the SAT tests should be eliminated because they cannot predict success in college.

17. Finally, take away your “I believe” statement and you have your thesis! Example: SAT tests should be eliminated because they cannot predict success in college.

18. The Introduction

19. The Introduction The Hook—opening sentence that catches the reader’s attention Quote from a source Startling Statement/fact/statistic (use a misconception about the topic) Vivid word picture description (of a scene or story related to topic) Image bursts (Ancient buildings. Spicy food. Colorful clothing.) Rhetorical question (make sure it is appropriate and thought-provoking)

20. The Introduction The Link-bridge between hook & thesis statement, explaining the significance of the hook All Hard Core Rock musicians are drug-seeking Satan worshippers who are hardened criminals. This is a misconception that many people share about those who perform Hard Core Rock music, but this is not an accurate image of all of these artists.

21. The Introduction Thesis Statement—purpose of paper and preview of points Hard Core Rock music is a genre that is misunderstood because the positive message is often overlooked. Write your thesis from your worksheet in the box on your handout.

22. How can you avoid PLAGIARIZING in your research paper? 1. Use QUOTATION marks to identify a direct quote from yoursource. ALWAYS use quotation marks around quotes taken from your text which are word for word. Only use direct quotes when it is important for the reader to know the exact words that the author used. You also need to cite the source of your information immediately after your direct quote.

23. The Crime of Plagiarism 2. CITE the source of your information when using ideas and information taken from the text. Even if you put the information in your own words, you must still cite your source.

24. The Crime of Plagiarism 3. PARAPHRASE correctly. Just changing one or two words in a sentence from your source is not acceptable, even if you cite it. You must use your own sentence structure and ideas.

25. The Crime of Plagiarism 4. Do NOT use others’ WORKS and IDEAS as your OWN. The most obvious form of plagiarism is turning in work that you did not complete at all, but that you “borrowed” from another and turned it in as your own. Just changing the name and some words does not make it yours.

26. Avoiding Plagiarism • If you have any information that contains a NUMERICALfigure, make sure that you document it. As a rule, numbers are not common knowledge.

27. Avoiding Plagiarism • Do not try to write as PROFESSIONALas the sources you are using. Use coherent language and avoid long technical terms whose meaning you do not know.

28. MLA Format

29. Sample 1st Page*

30. Works Cited Page: Books* Basic Format: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. Examples: Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Print. Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print. Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism. New York: St. Martin's, 1997. Print. ---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1993. Print.

31. Works Cited Page: Periodicals* Article in a Magazine Format: Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication. Example: Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping Mar. 2006: 143-8. Print. Article in Scholarly Journal Format: Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication. Example: Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise." Arizona Quarterly 50.3 (1994): 127- 53. Print.

32. Works Cited Page: Web* Web Source Format: Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). “Article Name.” Name of Site. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher). Date of last update. Medium of publication. Date of access.

33. Works Cited Page: Web* Examples: Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web.” A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites. A List Apart Mag., 16 Aug. 2002. Web. 4 May 2009. Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003. Web. 10 May 2006. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow.com. eHow, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2009.

34. Parenthetical Documentation

35. Parenthetical Documentation How much of my paper should be documented? You do not have to document your TOPIC or TRANSITION sentence because you wrote them. The rest of every body paragraph must be from a SOURCE, and must be documented. How do you document? To document, you put important information in PARENTHESIS after the information you have QUOTED, PARAPHRASED, or SUMMARIZED.

36. Author-Page Style* In-text Example: Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263). Corresponding Works Cited Entry: Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. London: Oxford U.P., 1967. Print.

37. Print Source with Author In-text Example: Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3). Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).

38. Print Source with Author* Corresponding Works Cited Entry: Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley: U of California P, 1966. Print.

39. With Unknown Author* In-text Example: We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has “more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change . . .” (“Impact of Global Warming” 6).

40. With Unknown Author* Corresponding Works Cited Entry: “The Impact of Global Warming in North America.” GLOBAL WARMING: Early Signs. 1999. Web. 23 Mar. 2009.

41. Where do you put the period?

42. In-Text Citations • 1 sentence • “In 2013, more than 59 percent of the population still believed that more than one person was involved in the murder of John F. Kennedy” (“Who shot the president” 78).

43. In-Text Citations More than 1 sentence In contrast to the conclusions of the Warren Commission, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded in 1978 that Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The HSCA found the original FBI investigation and the Warren Commission Report to be seriously flawed. While agreeing with the Commission that Oswald fired all the shots which caused the wounds to Kennedy and Connally, the HSCA stated that there were at least four shots fired (only three of which could be linked to Oswald) and that there was a high probability that two gunmen fired at the President. (“Who Shot JFK” 56-58)

44. In-Text Citations More than one source in a sentence Although some medical ethicists claim that cloning will lead to designer children (Miller 12), others note that the advantages for medical research outweigh this consideration (James 46).

45. Body Paragraphs

46. Writing Paragraphs Organized around one “controlling” idea that is usually stated in a topic sentence Made up of supporting sentences that develop the main idea Typically 5-8 sentences Topic Sentence: doesn’t have to be the first sentence (you can begin a paragraph with details that build up to a summary topic sentence) Topic Sentence formula: topic + something particular about the topic You should always be able to find a topic sentence in a paragraph!

47. Body Paragraphs Topic Sentence—clearly identifies main point of the paragraph…it is like a mini thesis statement for each paragraph. The variety of cuisine in Brussels provides a delicious culinary experience. Write a topic sentence for each of your body paragraphs.

48. Body Paragraphs Transition sentence to next point (reviews current paragraph and previews relationship with next paragraph; it is the puzzle piece that connects your paragraphs). Belgians enjoy eating their delicious food while watching popular sporting events. Write a transition statement for each of your body paragraphs. The last body paragraph’s transition sentence is a summary of that paragraph’s main idea.

49. Body Paragraphs Meat of the paragraph: Find information about the topic of each paragraph and put it in your own words. Start writing after the topic sentence. Make sure you are putting the information in a logical order and are paraphrasing correctly! Don’t forget to document at the end of each block of information you paraphrase from a source.

50. THE WORKS CITED PAGE