Research Writing:

1. Research Writing: Professor Che

2. INTRODUCTION: • Similar to essay writing except using documented sources (articles) to support, illustrate, or explain your ideas. • Still need thesis statement, restatement of the thesis statement, and body paragraphs. • Remember to underline the thesis statement and restatement. • By citing sources (articles), you show readers that you investigated your ideas and found support for your ideas. • After you read an article, select information/quotes which support your ideas. • Your paper must be 5 pages not including the title page.

3. FOCUSING YOUR TOPIC: • Must be related to your major. • Choose a topic which interests you. • Choose essay pattern: • Compare and contrast • Cause and effect • Persuasive • Use information you already know about your topic to start.

4. BEGINNING RESEARCH: • You need to have at least threesources, one must be academic (professional article, not news article). • Online Catalogs: • Ewha Library—Lion for English Literature majors. Use databases appropriate for your field. • Can only use sources in English. • Google Scholar • After you find a source, read it. • Highlight information or quotes which seem interesting to you.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY: • After you find a good source, you need to cite it, so you don’t have to go back later to do it. • Open a new file • Start bibliography page • List of your sources • Works Cited—MLA • References--APA • Sometimes, websites will cite your source for you. If so, copy and paste it to a bibliography page. • Look at Owl to determine how to form it. • Remember to use hanging indent, double-space, and alphabetize. • Do not choose sources older than 2000.

6. TAKING NOTES: • After you find good information, decide how to use it. • 1. Direct Quotations—If you use information word for word (copy directly). • Need page number • Use if the original information is easy to understand. • 2. Paraphrase—Your words, but not your information. • Use if the information is too difficult to understand. • 3. Summary—Use if you want to address a large amount of information in a shorter way. • If the information did not come from you, you need to cite it.

7. INCORPORATING YOUR SOURCE MATERIAL: • USE YOUR SOURCES IN A CLEAR, LOGICAL WAY—Make sure you understand the information from the article. • It will be obvious to the reader if you truly do not understand what you are writing about. • Your sentences will be confusing and not make sense. • DON’T OVERUSE DIRECT QUOTATIONS—Use if the original words are good, not because you don’t want to paraphrase or summarize. • Again, it will be obvious to the reader if you don’t understand the quotation. • WHEN YOU DO DECIDE TO USE DIRECT QUOTATIONS, DON’T MERELY DROP THEM INTO YOUR WRITING—You must explain how the quotation is related.

8. PUNCTUATE YOUR QUOTATIONS CLEARLY: • If your quotation is more than four lines, you need to use block form without quotation marks. • If you omit non-related words from the quotations, use ellipsis points… • MAKE CERTAIN YOUR SUPPORT IS IN THE PAPER, NOT STILL IN YOUR HEAD OR BACK IN THE ORIGINAL SOURCE—Always explain the information from a source if it is not original thought. • DON’T LET REFERENCE MATERIAL DOMINATE YOUR ESSAY—Don’t just use someone else’s ideas, use your own ideas and opinions, especially about someone else’s ideas.

9. AVOIDING PLAGIARISM: • It is always very obvious when you plagiarize. • There is a sudden change in writing style and ability. • When you direct quote, paraphrase, or summarize, you need to include a lead-in (introductory phrase identifying the author). • As humorist Mike McGrady once said about housekeeping, “Any job that requires six hours to do and can be undone in six minutes by one small child carry a plate of crackers and a Monopoly set—this is not a job that will long capture my interest” (13). • Only one time in the entire essay for each source.