General Topic: Greece General Requirements: 2 pages types, MLA Style Source Requirements: Minimum of 3; 2 must be from print. You will turn in the following in order from back to front: Topic brainstorm and selection, pre-write, notes, outline, rough draft (handwritten) with edit marks, first draft (typed preferred) with your edit marks, final draft with your edit marks, final copy with citation page. BE AWARE – YOU WILL HAVE TO DO SOME OF THIS AS HOMEWORK

Finding a Topic Write about what you know. Whenever possible, seek out a research topic that interests you and that you care about. Aim to build on knowledge that you already have. If the topic is assigned, try to develop an angle that will interest you, then run the idea by your instructor.

Why should you write about what you know? Starting with your own views and opinions will motivate you. Writing about a topic familiar to you will help you to ask the right questions. If you care about the topic, you will care about your paper.

The Just Right Topic This topic is way too big: when it cannot be covered in detail in your assignment when all you can write are general statements about a general subject when it is hard to research because there is so much information For example, if during your overview research, you found 100s or 1000s of items relevant to your topic, it is too broad. (EGYPT)

The Just Right Topic This topic is way too narrow: when it can be discussed in great detail in less than the required size of your assignment when it is hard to research because there is so little information For example, if, during your overview research, you found only 3 or 4 items relevant to your topic, it is too narrow. (Why Did Egyptians Make Mummies)

The Just Right Topic This topic is just right! when you can find enough information to examine the subject in detail when you can create an interesting and informative project that meet the requirements of your assignment. (Mummies in Egypt)

MY BRAINSTORM ABOUT ___________ THINGS I KNOWKNOW IDEAS FROM SKIMMING  CIRCLE 2-3 POSSIBLE TOPICS

BRAINSTORM 1.CREATE A LIST OF THINGS YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT EGYPT 2.USE YOUR TEXTBOOK, SKIM THE CHAPTER OVER ANCIENT EGYPT AND ADD TO YOUR BRAINSTORMING LIST 3.DISCUSS WITH A SHOULDER PARTNER TOPICS YOU KNOW ABOUT OR HAVE DISCOVERED 4.LOOK OVER YOUR LIST TO DETERMINE 2-3 “JUST RIGHT TOPICS” AND CIRCLE THEM.

Developing an Effective Research Question and Points about the Question. The best research papers begin with a question because … Questions help you to find direction. Questions help you to narrow your scope. Be careful of questions that are too broad. Make sure that your question is relevant to the length of your paper and you can determine 3 areas of focus. Most students use research questions that are not focused enough.

Research Questions/Points Is my question too narrow? Does it allow me to find enough information to fill the length of my paper? Can I come up with 3 points about the question? Is my question too broad? Is there so much information that I cannot adequately cover my question in the length of the paper?

WRITE YOUR LEADING QUESTION Look at the topic you have chosen and write 2-3 questions that will lead your research. Choose one question Write 3 points about the question. These will be the areas that you focus on.

The Prewrite Techniques to Help You Start Writing Brainstorming Freewriting Clustering Using Drafts Stay within the parameters of your question and 3 points.

Brainstorming Before you begin doing any research, take some time to brainstorm. When you brainstorm, list everything that comes to mind about your topic, all of your thoughts and ideas, in the order in which they occur to you. Let your mind free associate and make connections. Write down everything — even those things which appear silly and unimportant at first.

Freewriting Freewriting is nonstop writing. Set aside ten or fifteen minutes, and write whatever comes to you without thinking of word choice, spelling, organization, etc. Don’t stop. Don’t get in your own way—you will be surprised what gets down on paper. Freewriting is similar to brainstorming, in that you write what comes to you in the order it comes to you. However, rather than a list of your ideas, you develop your thoughts by having more of a conversation with yourself.

Clustering/Web While brainstorming and freewriting are ways to get information down on paper, clustering allows you to begin to see relationships among ideas. To cluster, put the main idea in the center of the page, circle it, and list other sub-topics around it, connecting ideas that belong together with lines. The result looks a lot like a spider’s web and will do wonders when you being to organize your paper.

Brainstorm/Freewrite/Cluster/Web Your turn. Choose one method. You are required to prewrite using your chosen method for the entire time given. I will stop you when the time is up.

What Are Sources? A source is what you turn to for information about your topic. A source can include any of the following: a book a magazine or newspaper article a scholarly journal article a film, television show, or radio program a web site a personal interview

RESEARCH TIME! Use several types of sources. Use as many primary sources as possible. First hand accounts: diary, letters, maps Use secondary sources too. Interpretations of primary sources: magazine, newspaper, encyclopedia, TV, video, websites etc.

Speaking of web sites… Even if you have Internet access on your home computer, you should still visit a library. Let’s play “True or False.” The Internet has been called an information highway. TRUE. It is free. It is vast. It is democratic. It is accessible 24 hours a day. Anyone can post anything. You can believe everything you read on the Internet. FALSE.

Taking Notes Notecards Write your notes on 3x5 cards, on each card, write the source of the information including the title and page#. Then you may record the information. Pane Style Divide your paper into 4+ panes. Title each pane with the idea. Record your info taking care to write the source info including the title and page #.

OutlineOutline the Information Use your notes to record information into the outline format. Decide on how you will organize the report Order of importance Chronological order Use detailed information

Drafting Intro: hook the reader and identify the subject Body: discusses each main idea in it’s own paragraph(s), supports the main ideas with facts, examples, and quotations Conclusion: summarize and draw conclusions

Drafting Rough Draft Proof First Draft Proof Final Draft Proof Final Copy

Proofreading Proofreading takes time. There is no way around it. Once you have begun to finalize your paper, you need to give yourself ample time to read it over (and over) again. Proofreading is another kind of writing. It is not as creative, perhaps, as brainstorming or developing your ideas, but it is still a part of the writing process. Reading your paper one time through is not adequate proofreading. Here are some tips.

Go back to the computer after several readings and make corrections on the screen. Print out another clean copy. Ask a friend, parent, or tutor, to be a second set of eyes. This is not cheating; it is common sense. Even great writers get help.

Always correct a hard (paper) copy of your essay; you will catch things on paper that you can’t on screen. Decide on the areas that you should pay attention to. For instance… Punctuation Spelling Transitions Verb Tense For each of these areas, read through your paper at least once, paying attention to only one area at a time. YES, that means reading it at least 4 times!!!!

Read the paper backwards, sentence by sentence. Sounds crazy? It works. Out of context, sentences with problems stand out in ways they don’t when you are reading along for meaning.

What is a Citation? When you bring research (quotations, paraphrases, facts, statistics, etc.) into your paper, you must give credit to the source and its author(s). Quotations: Someone else’s exact words, enclosed in quotation marks. The ideas, opinions, and theories of someone else—even if you restate them in your own words in a paraphrase or summary. Facts and statistics—unless they are common knowledge and are accessible in many sources.

Common Knowledge is information that can be found in many sources and that no one can claim owning. It is information that “belongs” to everyone. Often, it is the stuff of encyclopedias. Examples: 6 million Jews perished in the Holocaust. The Empire State Building is 1,454 feet tall. The Civil War ended in You may not have known this before you started your research, but it is still common knowledge. Often, you will encounter knowledge that is common in your field of study, even if the general population may not know it.

Quoting When you quote, you borrow an author’s exact words. Use a quotation when… the wording is so memorable or expresses a point so well that you cannot improve or shorten it without weakening it; when the author is a respected authority whose opinion supports your own ideas; when an author challenges or disagrees profoundly with others in the field.

Paraphrasing Paraphrasing is putting material (including major and minor points) into your own words and sentence structure. You can paraphrase a theory, an idea, the results of a study, or a passage in an original source, as long as you use your own words to describe it. A paraphrase is often the same length as the original, but it is in your own words.

Plagerism The most blatant form of plagiarism is putting your name as the author of a paper you did not write, including copy and paste. Other types of plagiarism are more subtle and include any of the following: failure to cite quotations and borrowed ideas; failure to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks; failure to put summaries and paraphrases into your own words. Most students who plagiarize are simply unaware of the proper way to document sources in academic writing. However, teachers also know how to use the Internet and are quite adept at searching the same sites that students use.

What is MLA? If you are writing a research paper in English, foreign languages, or other humanities classes, use MLA-style documentation. MLA stands for the Modern Language Association. The MLA publishes the MLA Handbook for Writing Research Papers. This book contains all of the rules that govern MLA-style documentation.

Points to Remember (About MLA-Style Documentation) All written material (the body of your paper and the “Works Cited” page) is double-spaced. Font is black, Calibri, 12 point MLA-style has two main elements: In-text Citations “ Works Cited ” Page

Use in-text citations in the body of your paper when you quote, paraphrase, summarize, or use other borrowed material. Citations should be as concise as possible, while still giving readers enough information to find the full bibliographic information on the “Works Cited” page. The ”Works Cited” page is a separate page and carries the heading “Works Cited” (or “Work Cited” if you are using only one source). This is where you list all of your sources, giving the reader full bibliographic information.

On the “Works Cited” page, sources are always listed alphabetically by the author’s last name. If your source has no author, go by the first word of the title to alphabetize. When listing sources, indent every line after the first line five spaces or one-half inch. Underline book titles and web sites. Use quotation marks around articles, stories, poems, and essays.

An in-text citation looks like this: (Smith 165) If there are two authors, give both last names: (Jones and Nichols 18) If there is no author, give the first word of the title: ( “ Recent ” 23) If there is no page number, give the paragraph number: (McKnight par. 10)

Examples Many young women, from all races and classes, have taken on the idea of the American Dream, however difficult it might be for them to achieve it (Sidel ). The adult mountain lion population in California is now estimated at four to six thousand (Reyes and Messina B1).

Avoid overusing the verb “said” in your paper. Here is a list of strong, active verbs that you can use in your signal phrases. You can write that someone… acknowledges, adds, admits, or agrees argues, asserts, claims, or comments confirms, believes, declares, or implies insists, notes, observes, or points out, reports, states, theorizes, or writes

Creating a “Works Cited” Page A “Works Cited” page contains the full bibliographic information to which you have been referring in the body of your paper. The “Work Cited” page is… the last page of your paper double-spaced alphabetized

Confucius says… “I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.” The more you write—the more research papers you write—the easier writing will be and the better writer you will become. This is the truth! Good luck!