Outlines, Intros, Theses, Conclusions, and Citations

 The purpose of an outline is to help you organize your thoughts and paper topics.  Research papers involve a lot of materials. Your outline should help you organize your notes.

 An introduction is the first paragraph of a research paper. It has two parts: I. 1. A general introduction to the topic you will be discussing II. 2. Your Thesis Statement (We’ll get to this later.)

 Start with a couple of sentences that introduce your topic. You do not want to give too much detailed information; save that for the body of your paper. Your introduction is the place to be creative. You can start with a startling fact, “One in three animals in rural South Carolina are abused every year,” or an interesting story, “Susan was your ordinary teenager, until she found out she was pregnant.” Remember, it’s about catching the readers attention, and keeping them engaged.

 Teenagers in many American cities have been involved in more gangs in the last five years than ever before. These gangs of teens have been committing a lot of violent crimes. The victims of these crimes are both gang members and people outside of gangs. Many people do not want to travel to areas in our cities because of the danger from this problem. For this terrible situation to stop, it is going to take a combined effort on the part of many people. Supervised after-school programs, more jobs available for teens, and healthy family relationships will go a long way towards ending the gang crisis in our society.

 The thesis statement is the most important sentence in the paper. Because the thesis statement is sort of an outline of the research paper in one sentence, it’s good to go back and reexamine it at the end of the paper. It’s okay if your thesis statement changes.  Remember that your thesis statement should be CLEAR and CONCISE.

 Topic: The Effect of Mozart’s Music on Short Term Memory  Thesis: Listening to Mozart’s music has no effect on human memory.  Topic: Musicals: A Bygone Pastime or A Contemporary Phenomena  Thesis: While musicals have definitely seen their rise and fall in popularity, the genre has never been more prevalent than it is today.  Topic: The Significance of Athletic Helmets and Protective Gear  Thesis: Proper athletic gear and helmets prevent injuries that can cause permanent brain damage, and in some cases, save a life.

 The purpose of the conclusion is to give your reader closure. You want them to feel that you supported what you stated in your thesis.  For example, if your thesis statement says, “Listening to Mozart’s music has no effect on human memory,” then your conclusion should echo that, not repeat it.

 A conclusion, in some ways, is like your introduction. You rephrase your thesis and synthesize the main points of evidence for the reader. End it with a closing statement that sticks with the reader.

 There are two ways you are going to cite your sources in this paper. 1.In-Text Citations (Within the paper) 2.Works Cited a.k.a Bibliography (At the end of the paper.)

 When should you use in-text citations?  When quoting any words that are not your own. If you copy without quotes, it is plagiarism!  Quoting means to repeat another source word for word, using quotation marks.  “  Quotation Marks  ”

 You should also cite your sources when you are summarizing facts and ideas from a source and paraphrasing a source.  Summarizing means to take ideas from a large passage of another source and condense them using your own words.  Paraphrasing means to use the ideas from another source but change the phrasing into your own words.

 Remember…  Make it easier for your reader! ◦ Keep quotes short ◦ Give only information needed to identify the source on your Works Cited page ◦ You do not need to cite information that is “Common Knowledge”

The author’s last name and page number(s) of quote must appear in the text. For example: Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263). or Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263). If the source has no known author, then use an abbreviated version of the title: Full Title: “California Cigarette Tax Deters Smokers” Citation: (“California” 14).

 The works cited page should be the easiest part for you. Those of you who correctly wrote your citations for the annotated bibliography will simply cut and paste your citations onto a separate document. This will go at the very end of your paper, on its on page.  If you did not do this on your annotated bibliography, you will need to go to the OWL Purdue website to figure out how to do this.