1. The ALMIGHTY
RESEARCH Paper

2. Research Writing

3. What is a Research Paper?
A research paper is like a report.
Before you write it, you use books, articles, the internet, and other sources to gather information about your topic.
You GATHER information from these sources and use that information in your paper to tell your readers about your topic.

4. WAIT……WHAT???
A research paper is actually a WRITTEN piece of WORK IN YOUR OWN WORDS that fully discusses a topic that you have spent time learning about. It is to be in depth and intelligent, with support from credible sources. This paper will be YOUR work, but you have based your knowledge on the credible work of others.
Sounds difficult? It’s not really so bad, actually, it gets pretty easy.

5. There’s NO NEED to become this…….we will work on this TOGETHER.

6. Plagiarism is a CRIME

7. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is when you take someone else’s works, ideas or words and use them as your own. Whether it is a sentence, a part of a sentence or an entire paper, it will ruin your grade.
It is an academic crime and an ethical offense. Plagiarism is stealing someone’s intellectual property.
If you plagiarize in ANY college class, you are usually expelled from the college, cannot reapply EVER, and the infraction is placed on your permanent record.
Why is it an academic crime? It is an academic crime because you are stealing another person’s ideas. It is illegal and immoral.
If you are thinking about it, don’t chance it.
If you ever need to help summarizing, properly quoting or paraphrasing, see me! It’s better to ask for extra help than take the sneaky route and copy someone else’s writing. I will have more respect for you if you ask for help.

8. Paraphrase!!!

9. “How do I QUOTE an author?”
If you quote an author, insert “quotation marks” around the text you are using.
At the end of the quotation, parenthetical notations are needed.
Simply write the quote and then put the author’s name and page number:
(Williamson, 148)
You will cite the entire source when you get to the Work Citied page of your paper.
“I WILL NOT PLAGIARIZE I WILL PUT MY PAPER INTO MY OWN WORDS.”

10. Steps in Research Paper
Choose a topic:
Take the time to do a little independent research on your topic utilizing google.com, bing.com, yahoo.com, or any other search engine.
Familiarize yourself with the topic and begin to narrow your topic to something more specific.
This is just intended to get your feet wet.

11. Things to consider when choosing a topic
After you have chosen a general topic, you must narrow it so that it becomes more specific and easier to research.

12. Step 2 in Research Paper Confirm your topic:
After you have taken the time to “get your feet wet” and familiarize yourself with several topics you must confirm your topic.

13. Step 3 in Research Paper Example
Begin Gathering Sources in Library:
Working with the librarian, we will learn how to utilize an online database to help us find magazine, journal, and newspaper articles that connect to our topic.
Example
Sources:
1 book source
2 magazine or newspaper articles
2 web sources – comes from the Internet

14. Step 4 in Research Paper Read, highlight, and annotate sources:
DO NOT HIGHLIGHT everything!

15. Step 5 in Research Paper Create notecards
Each notecard will contain information about each source (1 book, two magazine/newspaper articles and 2 web sources).
This will contain information about the author, publisher, etc.
DO NOT throw out your source cards at any point in the process!

16. Step 6 in Research Paper Begin to develop notecards from your sources:
We will discuss the process of creating note cards in class once we have reached this point.
Note cards help you narrow your information even further and help us practice paraphrasing information in our own words rather than simply copying from a source.
Note cards will be organized according to sub-topics.

17. Author's last name, first name. Title of book. Catalog #
City of Publisher: Publisher, Copyright
“Quote”
Page #
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations
London: Penguin, Print.
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”   
Pg. 56

18. Step 7 in Research Paper Develop THESIS statement
Remember, a THESIS statement tells the reader specifically what will be covered in the written paper.
From this point forward, after we have gathered our research and prepared all of our note cards, we will need to ensure everything connects to our thesis statement.
Ultimately, everything that you write should connect to your THESIS statement.

19. What is a thesis statement?
Every research paper requires a thesis statement—it’s what distinguishes a research paper from a research report. Your thesis must be more than a simple statement of fact; it must be something that requires demonstration and proof. Keep in mind that some research papers are expository—that is, they require the writer to develop and explain an idea; others are persuasive and require the writer to argue in favor of or against a specific controversial position on the topic of choice.
EXAMPLES:
Statement of fact: “Bears are among the many kinds of animals which perform in circuses.” [NOTE: This could not be used as a thesis statement.]
Thesis for an expository paper: “Their ability to perform in circuses demonstrates intelligence and good nature of bears.”
Thesis for a persuasive paper: “Because circuses often mistreat the bears and other animals which perform in them, they should be banned from using animal acts altogether.”

20. Step 8 in Research Paper Develop OUTLINE
Once all note cards are completed, we will then organize our note cards into three piles:
Sub-topic 1
Sub-topic 2
Sub-topic 3
We will then organize our information into an OUTLINE. You will receive several samples of outlines and we will thoroughly discuss in class how one can type an outline in Microsoft Word.
The outline is a precursor to writing the research paper. The paper will follow the EXACT order of your outline.

21. Basic Format: Step 9 in Research Paper
Develop Work Citied page
Basic Format:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication:
Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

22. Works Cited Page: The Basics
Sample Works Cited Page:
Basic Rules
･Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.
･Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.
･Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.
･Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations five spaces so that you create a hanging indent.
･List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as
Additional Basic Rules New to MLA 2009
･For every entry, you must determine the Medium of Publication. Most entries will likely be listed as Print or Web sources, but other possibilities may include Film, CD-ROM, or DVD.
･Writers are no longer required to provide URLs for Web entries. However, if your instructor or publisher insists on them, include them in angle brackets after the entry and end with a period. For long URLs, break lines only at slashes.
･If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you retrieved from an online database, you should type the online database name in italics. You do not need to provide subscription information in addition to the database name.Capitalization and Punctuation
･Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc, but do not capitalize articles, short prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle
･New to MLA 2009: Use italics (instead of underlining) for titles of larger works (books, magazines) and quotation marks for titles of shorter works (poems, articles)
Listing Author Names
Entries are listed by author name (or, for entire edited collections, editor names). Author names are written last name first; middle names or middle initials follow the first name.
Do not list titles (Dr., Sir, Saint, etc.) or degrees (PhD, MA, DDS, etc.) with names. A book listing an author named “John Bigbrain, PhD“ appears simply as “Bigbrain, John“; do, however, include suffixes like “Jr.“ or “II.“ Putting it all together, a work by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be cited as “King, Martin Luther, Jr.,“ with the suffix following the first or middle name and a comma.
More than One Work by an Author
If you have cited more than one work by a particular author, order the entries alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author's name for every entry after the first.
Work with No Known Author
Alphabetize works with no known author by their title; use a shortened version of the title in the parenthetical citations in your paper. 22

23. Step 10 in Research Paper
WRITE THE PAPER!!!

24. INTRODUCTION: HOOK – Your Attention Grabber
How will we write this paper once we’ve finished researching and gathering our sources?
INTRODUCTION:
HOOK – Your Attention Grabber
Brief discussion/explanation of topic
Thesis Statement clearly stating opinion or point of view on topic

25. (each sub-topic will be 2 paragraphs):
How will we write this paper once we’ve finished researching and gathering our sources?
BODY PARAGRAPHS
(each sub-topic will be 2 paragraphs):
Explanation of Sub-Topic # 1
Supporting Evidence (supporting evidence may require the use of more than one paragraph to explain a sub-topic)
Explanation of Sub-Topic # 2
Explanation of Sub-Topic # 3

26. CONCLUSION Rephrased Thesis Statement
How will we write this paper once we’ve finished researching and gathering our sources?
CONCLUSION
Rephrased Thesis Statement
Briefly discuss main points (sub-topics) again
Think Big Picture – Attention Grabbing Statement. Leave the reader with a thought-provoking sentence or question for closure.

27. MLA Format All research papers for this class will follow MLA Format.
How will we write this paper once we’ve finished researching and gathering our sources?
MLA Format
All research papers for this class will follow MLA Format.