Writing the Research Paper

1. Writing the Research Paper Ms. Cantrell English III Famous American and his/her Contributions

2. Source Cards Reminders: 1- you must use a minimum of 5 source 2- at least one source must be a book source www.easybib.com ****Follow MLA Format**** 1- Choose source: Click here to select a source 2- Enter source data in the appropriate boxes *You may copy & paste the url address. *After that, you may click Autocite! *This will usually fill in the appropriate information. 3- At the bottom click Create citation. 4- This will take you to a new screen where the citation is listed. 5- Save this information to a Word document, so you can access. 6- Copy this information onto 3x5 index cards.

3. SOURCE CARDS *Source and number (#) at the top right corner *Skip first line on note card *Begin entry at the left *Any line after the 1stmust be indented

4. MAKING NOTE CARDS 1- Record source number in the upper right-hand corner. This eliminates recording the bibliographic information on every card. 2- The note card subject is recorded on the top line beginning at the left. 3- Skip a line so that the topic header is noticeable when you begin to flip through numerous note cards.

5. Making Note Cards 4- Put careful thought and planning behind topic headers; this will be useful when you begin to create an outline and a rough draft. 5- After the subject line, you will write things down in your own words. I would STRONGLY suggest that you write things down in your own words. Unless it is a VERY powerful quotation, don’t use it. The temptation to plagiarize will be strong if you don’t put it in your own words. Also, if you don’t put it in your own words, you might not know what it means outside of the context of the page it was written on. 6- Put ONLY one subject on each card. This will make it easy to put the cards in order when you make your outline. 7- Put the page number/numbers that the information is found on.

6. PREPARING YOUR OUTLINE Now that you have completed your research and your note cards, you should begin an outline. Follow the following steps: 1—Looking at your note cards, locate the subject/topic lines; begin to place note cards into stacks that have same/similar subject/topic lines. 2—If you have note cards with subject/topic lines that aren’t similar, place them in a separate stack. These might be helpful when writing the opening and closing paragraphs. DO NOT throw away any note cards at this point!!! 3—I would encourage you to paperclip each stack so that note cards remain organized. 4—Now you need to decide what order you will present your research. You might find it helpful to approach this chronologically, beginning with your person’s birth, schooling, etc. Place the paper clipped stacks in order. 5—Within each stack, you now want to put the note cards in an organized order. This, too, may be chronological. 6—Begin drafting your outline. Subject/topic lines will most likely be your Roman numeral titles; note cards will complete the information under your Roman numerals.

7. OUTLINE PAGE OUTLINE (center & bold type) Return 2x Thesis: (tab) Type your thesis statement here. If you need a 2nd line, indent the 2nd line. Return 2x I.(tab) Brief Biography of Oprah Winfrey (tab) A. Early life B. Later Life OR ***To manipulate spacing, go to format, • Life of Oprah Winfrey spacing, dangling A. Early life 1. Childhood ***If you create a Roman numeral, you 2. Adulthood must at least have an A & B • Oprah Winfrey’s Education ***MUST have at least 5 Roman numerals A. Elementary School B. High School • Oprah Winfrey’s Career 4 = IV A. “Oprah talks” 5 = V B. Oprah Winfrey Show 6 = VI 7 = VII

8. WRITING THE RESEARCH PAPER • Opening paragraph: • Must catch the reader’s attention (this may be done through an interesting fact, quote, or statistic) • If you reference one of your sources, document. • Briefly introduce your topic (save place of birth, parents’ names, etc. for your first body paragraph) • Thesis should be the last sentence of this paragraph • Body paragraphs: • These paragraphs come from your note cards • Provide transition/explanation between facts so your paper doesn’t read list-like • Every body paragraph should have documentation • Examples: (www.oprahwinfrey.com 2). (Smith 2-5). • Closing paragraph: • Restate thesis (use different words) • Choose 2-3 facts and summarize them in this paragraph • Last sentence should be a final thought on your topic (AVOID 1st person-point-of-view----- • I think, I feel, etc) • Don’t ask a question.

9. Title Page Requirements: • Title of your paper (be creative) DO NOT underline titles you create • English III • Ms. Cantrell, Instructor • October 15, 2010 (due date of paper) • Your first and last names • You may use any font/size on this page

10. WORKS CITED PAGE Works Cited (bold & center) Return 2x All sources are alphabetized; DO NOT number/bullet sources THIS IS THE SAME INFORMATION ON YOUR SOURCE CARDS Gainer, J. Ellen. “Neil Simon.” American Writers. Supplement IV, Part 2. Ed. A Walter Litz. New York: Charles Scribner Sons, 1996. 573-594. Return 2x Green, Mark. “The –OAC Backlash: When Money Talks, Is It Democracy?” Points of View. Ed. Robert E. Diclerico and Allan S. Hammock 3rd ed. New York: Random House, 1986. 154. Senecal, Michael D. “Conrad Aiken.” Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography: The Age of Maturity, 1929-1941. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1989. 2-19.