Black hearts by Jim fredericks

Black hearts by Jim fredericks

Assignment: Perform either an in-depth analysis of one work OR a comparison of two works. This Research Paper should: 1. Communicate your intellectual reactions to the text(s) and 2. The responses of others (critics, literary authorities, the authors, etc.). TOPICS & PROCEDURE: 1. Your Literary Research Paper will either: o Analyze a single text o Analyze a single theme found in two texts – This is not simply a compare and contrast paper; although, it is similar. You could analyze the theme (central idea) of loss in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. o Analyze two texts – This is not equal to the choice above. Ex. You could analyze Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Susan Glaspell’s Trifles. 2. Re-read the texts you loved or had difficulty with and take careful notes: brainstorm, journal, free-write, research with those questions in mind. All of these things will help you narrow down your topic. 3. Read the chapter on The Literary Research Paper, pages 2083-2088, AND be sure to read and reread the “Questions for Writing” on page 364 of your text when developing your thesis. **********I really can’t emphasize this suggestion enough.********** 4. Once you have decided on a topic, begin doing preliminary research. Read what other literary critics have said (Remember, you are a literary critic, too!) This will help you to further narrow down your topic. All students will meet with Prof. Marcum at the end of Week 3 to discuss their topic as part of their final Research Paper grade. You must bring a working thesis and working outline to this meeting. REMEMBER: A research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. Part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. REQUIREMENTS: Your paper MUST: • Have a thesis statement that addresses the work(s), strategies and purpose of your analysis. In other words, you must MAKE AN ARGUMENT. o Note that your personal beliefs must be supported by facts and logic. You may not simply say “Faulkner is a bad writer.” You must provide facts and logic that lead the reader to the conclusion that Faulkner is a bad writer. If you cannot back up a statement with facts and logic, leave the statement out of the paper. • Have topic sentences that lead the reader logically through your paper • Have perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation • Be of at least 2000 words • Use MLA citation format • Be submitted to Turnitin.com through Moodle during Week 7. • Have at least SIX ACADEMIC sources

Research

Paper

Procedure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adapted from Amy M. Keppner

Introduction:

The purpose of this manual is to provide guidelines to help you complete a research paper successfully. Your research will take you to our online Library database, which will enable you to access an amazing variety of sources beyond the books, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, reprints of articles, and other materials available online. Research today is a global endeavor, and you are likely to uncover much more information than you can possibly use.

 

 

Chapter 1: Overview of the Research Process

This chapter provides an overview of the whole research process; it maps the journey you are about to make. It shows the many steps you will have to take between the starting point and destination, and it reminds you that doing an excellent job will require a good deal of time and effort. The chapters that follow provide a detailed description of each step, along with suggestions for avoiding roadblocks and breakdowns.

 

Step 1.          Locate, within a general subject area, a topic that fascinates you.

See Chapter 4          Topic Selection

 

Step 2.          Narrow the topic by finding a specific angle or approach to it so that you can handle it within the prescribed page limit.

See Chapter 5          Narrowing the Topic

 

Step 3 In the online Library database, search for sources of information and record publication information about books, magazines, Web sites, etc. on your 3×5 source cards, following exactly MLA form.

See     Chapter 3                Resources

Chapter 9A     Source Cards

Pg. ____                 Sample Source Cards (MLA)

 

Step 4.          Formulate a thesis statement and a clear method of development. Your thesis statement usually contains a judgment, evaluation or criticism; it states the main idea of your paper. Your method of development shows how you are going to support your thesis.

See     Chapter 6                Formulating a Thesis Statement

 

Step 5.          Make a tentative Topic Outline, writing your thesis statement at the top and indicating the major sub-topics that support it. Each of these sub-topics will make up the body of your research paper – the “meat” of your paper. Under each sub-topic, leave space for listing facts, examples, and supporting details that your research will provide.

See     Chapter 7                Finding Supporting Topics

See     Chapter 8                Creating a Topic Outline

Appendix A              Topic Outlines

Step 6.          Take your second set of index cards (4×6 or larger), and write  a Topic Heading on the first few cards; these are the Major Topics (or Sub-Topics) from your Topic Outline.

Example:       Card 1.          Leaf Damage

Card 2.          Nutrient Limitation

Card 3.          Poisoning

See     Chapter 10     Targeting Useful Information

Chapter 11     Using Relevant Material

 

Step 7.          Locate sources and begin taking notes, selecting only relevant information and entering it only under the appropriate topic headings on your note cards. Use a separate card for each idea of piece of information.

See     Chapter 10     Targeting Useful Information

Chapter 11     Using Relevant Material

Chapter 12     Taking Notes

Pg. ______    Sample Note Card

 

Step 8.          Once you have sufficient information, organize your notecards under your sub-topics and return to your topic outline. Now fill in the blanks for evidence under your major topics. These are the facts, examples, statistics, and expert opinions that support each sub-topic.

Example:       A. Nutrient Limitation (Sub-Topic)

1. Atmospheric nitrogen deposited on a forested watershed in Maine (specific support #1)
2. Support #2
3. Support #3
4. Poisoning (Sub-Topic)
5. Red spruce decline near Bay of Fundy (Support #1)

See     Chapter 8      Creating a Topic Outline

Appendix A              Topic Outlines

 

Step 9.          With your completed outline and the information on your notecards in hand, start writing your rough draft, putting in documentation for all borrowed material as you write. Use paraphrasing, summarizing, and direct quotation, as appropriate, and provide discussion of borrowed material.

See     Chapter 13              From notes to rough draft

Chapter 14              Paraphrasing & Summarizing

Chapter 15              Using Direct Quotation

Chapter 16A   Parenthetical Documentation – MLA

Chapter 18              Introduction & Conclusion

 

Step 10.        Self-edit; exchange your paper with other students, study the feedback you receive from your peers and teachers; then revise, REVISE and REVISE. Use a checklist.

See     Chapter 19              Revising and Proofreading

Chapter 17              Using Titles Correctly

 

Step 11.        When your rough draft is the best you can make it, prepare your final version, including a works cited page at the end, based on the source cards you used. Run a spell checker, make corrections, or use an online grammar/plagiarism checker, but remember to proofread carefully! If instructed to do so, include a title page or attach the cover sheet your teacher gave you.

See     Chapter 20              Works Cited – MLA

 

Step 12.        Submit your paper on time and with pride, knowing that it is your best work.

 

 

Chapter 2: Plagiarism, and How to Avoid It

According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, to plagiarize means “to steal and use (the writings of another) as one’s own.”

 

Note: Even when unintentional, presenting someone else’s thoughts, ideas, expressions, or information without proper acknowledgement of the source is an act of academic dishonesty.

 

Avoiding Plagiarism – Five Simple Rules

Rule 1:          A fact that is not common knowledge must have a citation.

 

You may write a fact that is common knowledge – something that most people in

the society would know – without a citation. For example, you need not cite statements like “The United States desired independence from Great Britain in 1776.” Familiar proverbs and sayings such as “Haste makes waste” also do not require citations.

 

Rule 2:          When you write about an idea, you must make clear whose idea it is. If it is your

own idea, you do not cite the source.

 

Rule 3:          If you are writing about someone else’s idea, you must cite your source.

 

Rule 4:          If you use someone else’s exact words, you must put them in quotation marks

and cite the source.

 

Rule 5:          When you use an author’s idea without quoting exactly, you must write the idea

in your own words, not just rearrange or change a few of his or her words, and you must cite the source.

 

Use a direct quotation only when the writer has expressed his or her ideas so perfectly that you could not do them justice with a paraphrase. In that case, use Rule 4. Otherwise, summarize the main point in your own words, following Rule 5.

 

To help you avoid this, the most common form of plagiarism, here is a summary of the important points to keep in mind:

 

On your notecards:

• Take careful, word-for-word notes
• Be scrupulous about the accuracy of wording, punctuation, capitalization, and sources.
• Don’t try to paraphrase as you take down information; record it exactly. Paraphrase and summarize later when you draft your paper.
• When you want to add comments and observations of your own, distinguish them clearly from copied material. Use ink of a different color, or enclose your own ideas in brackets. Or add another card, with the same heading and with yourself as author.

 

In your rough draft:

• Cite as you write. Put in citations for all borrowed material as you write your first draft. Never leave this until later, thinking you will insert sources another time. Trying to find sources later for every citation is tedious.
• Remember that you must acknowledge all borrowed material, whether you use a direct quote, a paraphrase, or a summary. You must express information and ideas entirely in your own words, provide a parenthetical citation in the text, and list the source on your works cited or references page.
• Always go the note card route. Copying material directly into your paper is one of the surest ways to plagiarize. And downloading Internet documents into your paper is a shortcut to disaster.

 

In your final version:

• Check your entire paper carefully to make sure you have included all required parenthetical citations, that they are accurate, and that you have punctuated them correctly.
• Check your works cited page for form and accuracy, making sure that your in-text citations correspond to your list of works cited.

 

Three more varieties of plagiarism that you must avoid:

• Self-plagiarism – submitting a paper that you submitted in a previous class
• Purchasing a research paper from any source, or copying part or all of another student’s paper
• Collaborative Efforts except where the teacher explicitly permits and encourages cooperation

 

Chapter 3 & 4: Resources & Choosing a Topic

 

Resources:

 

There are two great resources for you in writing your research paper.

• Information Databases on the Internet, accessible through the GMC Library Database
• The Internet; when using the internet, be careful of the information and/or sources you come across. Websites such as Wikipedia & Yahoo Answers are not reputable and should not ever be used in a research paper. Other websites to avoid: blog sites from Joe Schmoe, any user-defined source (like Yahoo Answers).
• Try using scholar.google.com instead of google.com to research topics.

 

 

Topic Selection:

 

Step 1:                   Select an excellent topic. This means one that:

• Genuinely interests you
• Is consistent with the purpose of the assignment
• Shows awareness of the intended audience
• Is sufficiently narrow for a project of the length and form assigned, for example a 2000+ word research paper
• Is not too technical, that is, does not depend on the audience’s knowledge of advanced nuclear physics.
• Is not trivial, e.g. whether Cherry Garcia is a better ice cream flavor than Chunky Monkey
• Is not exceedingly vague or general, for example, the meaning of life or the causes of world conflict.

Step 2:                   Narrow your topic and find a good angle. It’s a good idea to:

• Consult your instructor to make sure your topic is suitable.
• Heed any special requirements for the assignment.
• Find an approach that will distinguish your paper from 25 others.
• Focus on a specific aspect of the topic instead of trying to deal with a large general subject.

Step 3:                   Do some serious preliminary work. This may include:

• Reading articles
• Consulting your instructor or other local experts
• Using the Internet, databases, etc
• Making sure that adequate resources are available for researching your topic
• Trying a variety of approaches to your topic

Step 4:                   Brainstorm. This may consist of:

• Jotting down ideas or making a rough outline
• Doing a concept webbing or branching diagram (also called a mind-map), where you write down as many ideas as possible that connect with the subject
• Freewriting (also called fastwriting) to generate a flow of ideas about your topic
• Letting your thoughts percolate for a while.

Step 5:                   Ask questions about your subject. When you find a question that intrigues you, you can turn it into a tentative thesis statement. But DON’T use that question in your research paper.

 

Chapter 5: Narrowing the Topic

 

The focus of this chapter is narrowing your topic, a crucial step in writing a successful research paper. You should spend extra time and thought on this task, as it requires quite a bit of preliminary reading. Doing a good job here will also save you from taking voluminous notes that turn out to be useless because they are not on target.

 

Below are three examples that illustrate different methods of trimming a topic down to manageable size.

 

• A good way to start narrowing your topic is to ask at least give searching questions about your general subject.
• Another way to narrow your topic is to break the general subject into smaller parts by looking at it from different angles. A student considering the topic of social criticism in Charles Dickens’ novels might use these strategies:
  1. Concentrate on one novel rather than several.
  2. Focus on a particular problem or aspect
  3. Look at the major elements in the novel – plot, characterization, setting, theme, style, structure, etc.
  4. Compare or contrast two Dickens’ novels that share important elements, for example, attitude toward the abuse of children in David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.
• Many historical events, like the Treaty of Versailles or the struggle to establish a Jewish homeland, are so complicated that you cannot deal with them adequately in a single paper. But you can focus on a specific aspect or take an unusual approach.

 

Chapter 6: Formulating a Thesis Statement

 

There are several approaches to the selection of a thesis statement. The easiest way to write a “beginners” thesis statement involves the following formula:

 

General Topic: Dogs

Specific Topic: The Cocker Spaniel is the best dog.

 

3 things you want to write about that demonstrate why the Cocker Spaniel is the best dog:

• Cocker Spaniels are friendly.
• Cocker Spaniels are always happy.
• Cocker Spaniels have a cute, wagging tail.

 

Thesis Statement:

 

Cocker Spaniels are the best dogs because they are friendly (1), they are always happy (2), and their tails are really cute when they wag (3).

 

A good thesis statement is:

• A declarative sentence that states clearly and concisely the main point the author wishes to make.

The perceived injustices of the Treaty of Versailles made it a major cause

of World War II.

• Usually a sentence that embodies a judgement, evaluation, or criticism, often apparent in its use of value terms, e.g. good, better,  best, valuable, worthwhile, desirable, favorable, major, most important, effective, significant, insightful, or should.

The major problems that made enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles difficult concerned disarmament, reparations, and the punishment of war criminals.

• A statement you consider significant, so that if someone says “so what?” you can answer that question.

 

*NOTE, ASKING A QUESTION AS YOUR THESIS STATEMENT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

 

A good thesis statement may also:

• Suggest a comparison or contrast
• Focus primarily on the causes or effects of a particular event, condition, or change.
• Propose a solution to a problem or recommend a policy.

A good thesis is NOT:

• A statement of fact.

The Treaty of Versailles was signed by the four major powers and became effective January 1920.

• Merely the expression of a personal opinion.

I think the Treaty of Versailles was a foolish mistake.

• A vague generalization

The Treaty of Versailles caused the world a lot of problems.

• A question

Was the Treaty of Versailles a major force in precipitating World War II?

Is this the question you were looking for? If so, place your order here to get started!