Name: _________________________________ Period: ____________________________
Research Paper! In this packet, you will find all of the materials you will need to complete in order to write an effective research paper. Purpose: Investigation is an important skill to have in college and life in general. As you mature, you will increasingly be required to separate good information from unreliable, inaccurate, and biased information as well as critically analyze facts. Prompt: Choose a topic related to the following prompt that interests you: Investigate the environmental influences that greatly impact your community, and outline a solution to change, shape, or improve that influence. Create a specific research question that will guide your investigation, and then research the answer to your question by using sources from the internet and library. Evaluate the information in your sources and use it to write a formal paper that explains the answer to your question thoroughly using specific and relevant facts. Length: 3-5 pages, typed, double-spaced, size 12-font (Times New Roman or Arial) with 1-inch margins. Sources: At least 5 sources of which ONE must be non-internet. NO WIKIPEDIA! Tentative Calendar for Research Unit Because of some circumstances that may arise unexpectedly, the following dates may be subject to change.
Monday/Tuesday 14/15
16
Wednesday
21/22
23
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY due! o 4 sources required! 27/28
29
Neatly hand-written or typed ROUGH DRAFT is due! 4/5 5th: Sr. Finals (6, 4, 2)
Thursday/Friday 18 (Friday is all periods) Detailed, specific RESEARCH QUESTION is due! 24/25 QUOTATIONS and EVIDENCE due!
30/31
6
FINAL DRAFT due! o 5 sources required!
7/8
POEM/CREATIVE EXPRESSION due! 7Th: SR. Finals (5, 3, 1)
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Choose Your Topic! You now need to select one topic that you think you could research and write about for a few weeks and stay interested in it. Choose wisely – this is your only opportunity to select the topic for your paper. Make sure your research question is not too big or else you won’t be able to fully explain it or too small because you won’t have enough to explain. The QUESTION: Investigate the environmental influences that greatly impact your community, and outline a solution to change, shape, or improve that influence. Define Part 1: Investigate the environmental influences that greatly impact your community. Environmental influences include, but are not limited to: o Health issues (obesity, Type II diabetes, asthma caused by pollution) o Family difficulties (spousal abuse, single-parent families, rape) o Crime (theft, murder, drugs, gang violence, abuse, neglect) o Race issues (negative stereotypes, profiling, lack of diversity) o Income levels (poverty, lack of financial diversity, access to jobs) o Educational system (low-achieving schools, college access, charters, adult school) o Public space (use of parks, traffic patterns, building types, fast food versus grocery store) o Other: _______________________ (get approved by Ms. Beckman before proceeding) Define Part 2: Outline a solution to change or shape environmental influence o Research similar situations across the nation o Research possible solutions to the problem you chose o Proffer a solution based on empirical research I think a solution might be: __________________________________________________, but I need to look into ______________________________________________________. My research question is:
__________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Research Plan
K
W
What I already Know about this topic
What I Want to Know about this topic
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Look at your “W” column. You will want to learn the answers to all of these questions as you complete your research. Where do you think you will look for the answers to these questions? FINAL DRAFT IS DUE ON: ______________________________________!!! Source Citations Source Citation
Definition:
MLA
Definition: Why it is Important:
An effective source citation needs to give the reader all of the information he or she would need to find the book, article, or website where you found the information. Here are a few example citations for your reference: Citation for a Book: Format: Author’s last name, Author’s first name. Title of Book. City of publication: Publisher, Publication year. Print. Example: McNulty, Anna. A+: How Teaching Made Me Rich and Famous. St. Louis: McMiller Publishing, 2007. Print. Citation for a Magazine Article: Format: Author’s last name, Author’s first name. “Title of Article.” Journal Title. Volume. Issue (Year): page numbers. Database. Print. Access date. Example: Kluger, Jeffrey. “Why We Love.” Time. 28 Jan. 2008: 55-60. Print. Citation for a Website: Format: Author’s last name, author’s first name. Web Site. Editor. Site Publisher or N.p., Date of publication or n.d. Web. Date of access. . Example: Sutton, Bettye, et al. “1800-1810.” 19th Century Cultural History. Lone Star CollegeKingwood Library, 2003. Web. 28 July 2007. Guided Practice Instructions: The parts of the following source citations are mixed up, out of order, and have been put together incorrectly. Rewrite them correctly. Book:
Haunted. Doubleday Publishers. 2006. Chuck Palahniuk. New York. Web.
Correction:____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Magazine:
26-29. “How to Go to College – Free!” October 6, 2002. Hannah Arendt. US
News and World Report. Print. Correction:____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Website:
http://www.wikipedia.com/calico.htm. 4.29.06. No Author. “Calico Cat” Online.
Correction:____________________________________________________________________ 3
Independent Practice
Instructions : Below, a messy student who wasn’t very well organized took down information from a bunch of sources she wants to use in her paper. Your mission is to make sense of the information and to put together a properly formatted MLA source citation for each of these sources. 1.
I found this really great website with tons of information on the subject of my research paper, Michael Jordan. The site was called “His Airness” and I really liked the “Michael Jordan: A Biography” page. The author was Phil Jackson… he said something about being Jordan’s coach…? Anyway. I found it yesterday – March 15th, 2007 – and if I want to go back that page was at http://www.mj.com/jordan/biograhy.html .
Source Citation: 2.
My teacher handed me this book that’ll really help with my research project. The book was titled, The Human Condition and it was written by Hannah Arendt. The book was published by Schocken Books in 1999… that publishing company is located in New York City.
Source Citation: 3.
I was reading Newsweek magazine at the gym the other day and there was this really interesting article about Barak Obama called “America’s New Hope?” I think it was on pages 20-23. It was written by Anna Quindlen and it was in the March 5th edition of the magazine.
Source Citation:
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Thesis Statements Topic Sentence
Definition: Example:
Thesis Statement
Definition: Example:
Practice Instructions: Now, take the following topics and write thesis statements about them. Example:
Topic: Pregnancy rates
Thesis: Pregnancy rates in urban areas like South Los Angeles are increasing due to lack of education for girls in primary school and lack of access to birth control. The solution for this is to educate both girls and boys at earlier ages. 1. Topic: the dangers of owning pitbulls Thesis: __________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 2. Topic: state takeover of Locke High School Thesis: __________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 3. Topic: increased pollution due to lack of public transportation Thesis: __________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 4. Topic: the impact of single parent families on children at school Thesis: __________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Independent Practice Instructions: Now, go back to the topic you chose to write about on the bottom of page 2. Write a thesis statement about this topic. What do you want to help your reader understand by writing this research paper? My Thesis Statement: ______________________________________________________
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Topic Sentences to Support your Thesis Instructions: This is where writing papers can get really messy. Sure, you know what you’re going to be writing about. You even have a pretty good idea about what you want to say. Now, you want to take that big idea – your topic – and break it down into bite-sized pieces your reader can understand. This will give your paper structure and will make it more interesting for your reader. Example:
Thesis: Obesity is a health issue that disproportionately affects minority youth. Topic Sentence 1: Hispanic youth are more obese in recent decades than before. Topic Sentence 2: Access to health care is limited for minority youth. Topic Sentence 3: Access to healthy eating options is limited in low-income areas.
Now, give it a shot on your own! Try to come up with different main ideas that you could use to support the following thesis. Thesis: The current immigration system and policy in America is racist. Topic Sentence 1: ___________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Topic Sentence 2: ___________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Topic Sentence 3: ___________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Finally! The moment you’ve been waiting for. Come up with four ideas you can break down your thesis sentence into. You want these to be bite-sized pieces of the topic you’ll be exploring. Focus on four different things that can prove the point you’re trying to make to your reader. My Thesis: _________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Topic Sentence 1: ___________________________________________________________________________ Topic Sentence 2: ___________________________________________________________________________ Topic Sentence 3: ___________________________________________________________________________ Topic Sentence 4:____________________________________________________________________________
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Reliability of Sources Reliability
Definition:
Practice Instructions: Your job is to determine whether the following sources are reliable. Remember: reliability is all about whether you can believe the evidence and the claims the source is making. Does the information they’re presenting to you make sense? Example:
The guy down on the street corner tells you that aliens are everywhere. Is this claim reliable? Explain your answer. ___________________________________
5.
Your doctor tells you that eating fatty junk food like Flamin’ Hot Cheetoes can cause heart disease and other health problems when you are an adult. Is this claim reliable? Explain your answer. _________________________________________
6.
Your mother tells you that there are 55 states in the United States. Is this claim reliable? Explain your answer. _________________________________________ 7.
Coach Crawford tells you a touchdown is worth 6 points in football. Is this claim reliable? Explain your answer. _________________________________________
8.
Mr. Holmes tells you that there are 210 degrees in every triangle. Is this claim reliable? Explain your answer. _________________________________________
Instructions: Now, we’re going to make things a little more difficult. This is your chance to show that you understand what reliability is and how it works. Make up one claim that is reliable and one claim that is not reliable in the space below. Reliable: _______________________________________________________________________ Not Reliable: ____________________________________________________________________
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Credibility of Sources Credibility
Definition:
Bias
Definition:
Practice Credibility is all about the person giving you the information. Do they know what they’re talking about? Can you trust them? Would it benefit or hurt them for you to think one thing or the other? Now, your job is to determine whether the information you’re reading is coming from someone you could believe to give you true information about the subject. Example:
A doctor is giving you advice about healthy foods. Is she credible? Explain your answer. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________
1. A bus driver is giving you advice on the busses you can take to get from Watts to the Galleria Mall. Is he credible? Explain your answer. __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 2. The guy selling you a new cell phone is trying to get you to buy the fanciest one they sell. He says it is a better value than the others. Is he credible? Does he have a bias? Explain your answer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________. 3. The referees don’t show up for your game, so the coach from the opposing team volunteers to be the official for the game. Would he be a good referee or would he be biased? Explain your answer. __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________. 4. The used car saleswoman tells you that the Escalade you’re looking at is totally safe and is a great value. It certainly hasn’t been in any car crashes and you’d better buy it fast because someone else was looking at it pretty hard about an hour ago. Is she credible? Does she have a bias? Explain your answer.___________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________
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Internet Research Guide Instructions: If you need information odds are that it’s just a click away on the internet; however because just about anybody can make a webpage on the internet, we have to be very careful when using it exclusively for our sources. Books and newspapers at least have to be approved by an editor and publisher before they reach us. For that reason, you are required to use at least one noninternet source (interview, book, newspaper article). In order to carry out your research, start by going http://scholar.google.com/ and entering the term you want to explore in the box located in the middle of the screen. For example, if I was doing my research paper on diabetes, I’d put “diabetes” in this box. If I wanted to get something more specific, I’d go back up to the search box and add more terms – for example, “diabetes rates for Hispanic youth in Central Los Angeles”. *You will have to scan and sort through a lot of crappy articles written by people who aren’t experts on your topic before you actually find CREDIBLE and UNBIASED sources! BE PATIENT!* Wikipedia is a great place to start because the footnotes often lead to credible sources, but don’t just use it because it is a footnote on Wikipedia! Over the next few days you will be responsible for finding at least five solid sources – websites that provide valuable and reliable information about the topic you’re exploring. You will print out the five pages that you think are the best at helping you answer your research question. You will also complete a “Source Sheet” for each of these pages, to remind yourself of where and when you found this information and how you think it can help you write your paper.
Internet Source #1 Name of website: _______________________________________________________________ Name of article: ___________________________________________________________ Web address: ___________________________________________________________________ Author of this article: _______________________________________________________ Date I found this webpage: ________________________________________________________ Helpful information I found on this webpage •
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
How I could use this information in my paper: _________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ 9
Internet Source #2 Name of website: _______________________________________________________________ Name of article: ___________________________________________________________ Web address: ___________________________________________________________________ Author of this article: _______________________________________________________ Date I found this webpage: ________________________________________________________ Helpful information I found on this webpage •
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
How I could use this information in my paper: _________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________.
Internet Source #3 Name of website: _______________________________________________________________ Name of article: ___________________________________________________________ Web address: ___________________________________________________________________ Author of this article: _______________________________________________________ Date I found this webpage: ________________________________________________________ Helpful information I found on this webpage •
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
How I could use this information in my paper: _________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________
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Internet Source #4 Name of website: _______________________________________________________________ Name of article: ___________________________________________________________ Web address: ___________________________________________________________________ Author of article: _______________________________________________________ Date I found this webpage: ________________________________________________________ Helpful information I found on this webpage •
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
How I could use this page in my paper: _______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________.
Book/Newspaper/interview Source #5 Name of source (title): __________________________________________________________ Name of article or page number in book:_____________________________________________ Author of this book/article: _______________________________________________________ Publisher and date published: _____________________________________________________ City and state published:_________________________________________________________ Helpful information I got from this webpage •
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
•
________________________________________________________________________
How I could use this page in my paper: _______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________. 11
Evaluate Reliability and Credibility of Sources Instructions: Today, your job is to go back, review, and evaluate the reliability and credibility of the evidence you found for your research paper. As a reminder, we worked on reliability and credibility on pages 8-9. You will be asked to rate the reliability and credibility of the websites you want to use. Do these ratings on a scale of 1-5, with 1 meaning “I don’t trust this person or evidence at all” and 5 meaning “If I had to bet my life on this being true, I would.” Reliability Rating (1-5)
Explanation
Credibility Explanation Rating (1-5)
Name of Source #1
Name of Source #2
Name of Source #3
Name of Source #4
Name of Source #5
Look back through the sources you just analyzed. Remove any that you realize aren’t reliable or credible. The remaining sources will be the sources you use in your research paper. Spend the rest of your time today going back through these sources and underlining the passages that you’d like to use in your paper.
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Select and Analyze Evidence My Thesis: ______________________________________________________________________
An Analysis Refresher: **Focus point: How does your quotation prove that your topic sentence is true?** Paraphrase Sentence (one sentence): Explanation of Quotation *Put the ideas from the quotation in your own words, emphasizing the most important ideas. Analysis Sentences (two sentences): Elaboration + Relation Back to Topic Sentence *Show the importance of the evidence by thoroughly explaining what the quotation reveals, demonstrates or proves. Explain how it proves the point you are making in that paragraph.
Copy your MAIN IDEAS from page 7
Paraphrase Sentence 1 Elaboration Relate quote back to main idea A QUOTATION “This is important from my evidence that because…” supports this main idea “This shows that…” “This proves that…” “This demonstrates…” “This means…”
Analysis Sentence 2 – The Effect Analyze the importance of that quotation “As a result…” “This proves that…” “This reveals…”
Topic Sentence #1 First Quotation:
Second Quotation:
Topic Sentence #2 First Quotation:
Second Quotation: 13
Topic Sentence #3 First Quotation:
Second Quotation:
Topic Sentence #4 First Quotation:
Second Quotation:
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Introduction Paragraphs Instructions: Your introduction paragraph is where you grab your reader’s attention and tell them what your paper will be about. Get them interested in what you have to say! Without a good introduction, it is likely that your read will put your paper down without reading the whole thing. An introduction paragraph FOR A RESEARCH PAPER contains the following four main parts: Hook Grab your reader’s attention and get them interested in what you’re writing about. Background Give any general facts or information that would be helpful in understanding the rest Information of your paper. Thesis Write the main point of the paper. Tell the reader what this paper will prove. Transition Find a way to melt or slide into the topic of your first body paragraph. sentence Here’s an example of an effective introduction paragraph: Hook Over 11 million innocent people were taken to concentration camps and systematically murdered. 5% of the entire world’s population was killed. Sound like science fiction? It actually happened in the not so distant past during World War II. Background This war, which primarily involved the United States, England, Germany, Russia, Information France, and Japan, took place in battle fields across the world from 1939-1945. Thesis World War II proved to be one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of humanity. Transition One of the biggest losses was that of human life although property, historical Sentence landmarks, and priceless artwork were also destroyed. Practice Instructions: Fill in the blank boxes to complete the introductory paragraph for this research paper. Hook
Background Thesis Transition Sentence
The St. Louis Cardinals have been a very successful baseball team.
Write Your Introduction! Hook Background Information Thesis Transition Sentence 15
Conclusion Paragraphs Instructions: The purpose of a conclusion paragraph is exactly that – to tie up all of your loose ends and bring your paper to a solid ending. A conclusion paragraph contains the two following parts: Go Back! Closing Thought
Use a transition word/phrase, then revisit your thesis statement and four main reasons (topic sentences) End your persuasive essay with a call to action (something interesting!). Tell your reader exactly what you want them to feel, think, or do!
Here’s an example of an effective conclusion paragraph: In conclusion, World War II was one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of Go humanity because of the far-reaching effects of the Holocaust, the destruction of land and Back! buildings throughout Europe, and finally because of the loss of irreplaceable items such as painting and historic places. Closing Though 62 million deaths seems unthinkable, it is important to remember that this really Thought happened and that we need to keep it from happening again in the future. Practice Instructions: Fill in the blank boxes to complete the conclusion paragraph for this research paper. Go back and use the main points you came up with when writing your introduction on page 15! Ultimately, the St. Louis Cardinals have been a very successful baseball team because… Go Back!
Closing Thought
Write Your Conclusion!
Go Back!
Closing Thought
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Peer Editing Checklist This paper was edited by: _________________________________________________________ The most interesting thing about this paper is… ________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Something I think you should work on is… ___________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ___.
Put “sp” by words that are or you think might be misspelled.
___.
Write “punct” by places where punctuation is missing.
___.
Write “awk” in places where the paper sounds funny or awkward.
___.
Put a question mark in parts of the paper where what the author is saying doesn’t make sense to you.
Peer Editing Checklist This paper was edited by: _________________________________________________________ The most interesting thing about this paper is… ________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Something I think you should work on is… ___________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ___.
Put “sp” by words that are or you think might be misspelled.
___.
Write “punct” by places where punctuation is missing.
___.
Write “awk” in places where the paper sounds funny or awkward.
___.
Put a question mark in parts of the paper where what the author is saying doesn’t make sense to you.
FINAL DRAFT IS DUE ON: ______________________________________!!!
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