RESEARCH PAPER

English III

Objectives

Students will learn prewriting, drafting, and revising techniques for writing a literary research paper

Students will learn how to evaluate and cite sources

Students will write a formal research paper answering the question, “What makes a monster?”

Students will use literature, class discussion, articles, interviews and informational literature to answer the question.

Students will be way smarter when this is finished.

A Good Research Paper

Answers questions about the interpretation of what makes a monster.

Uses multiple, reliable sources Documents sources of information Follows an outline to support a clear

thesis Uses formal but accessible language Follows the rubric

Prewriting

Choose a research topic from the essential question

Use Frankenstein as your base Search the textbook, articles, internet,

etc. to find different opinions and points of view

Jot down sources as you browse in case you want to use them in the paper

Make a Research plan using the 5W-How method

5W-How

Answer the questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

5W-How Example

Who is the monster? What makes someone/thing a monster? When does it become a monster? Where is it a monster? Society? Alone? Why is it a monster? What is the cause? How do you create a monster? Origin?

Static or dynamic?

Purpose and Audience

Purpose is to convey the results of your research to your audience.

Your audience is usually your teacher and classmates.

What does your audience already know about the literary work? Does the essay require a book summary? What will you need to explain?

Begin Research

Start with general reference materials. You want an overview of your topic. Explore a variety of print and nonprint resources. Examples: library, books, magazines,

newspapers, museums, art galleries, government offices, universities, tv and radio, internet.

Balance primary and secondary sources. Primary- original information, letters,

autobiographies, historical docs, literature and art. Secondary- reference works, documentaries,

biographies.

Record Sources

Part of your research process (and grade) will be to create source cards as you go. (pg. 507)

Source number Publishing information Annotation Call number

Research & Take Notes

Gather specific information to answer your research questions (5W-How).

Direct quote- capture technical accuracy or record an interesting quote. Word for word documentation.

Paraphrase- Completely rewrite a passage, using your own words and style. Do NOT cut and paste and change one or two words (plagiarism).

Summary- use the main idea of a passage; highly condensed- much shorter than original passage.

Plagiarism

There are few intellectual offenses more serious than plagiarism in academic and professional contexts.

the uncredited use (both intentional and unintentional) of somebody else's words or ideas.

Results: zero on paper, meeting with parents, principal and teacher; referral.

Example from Purdue University Here, for example, is a statement that Professor Irwin Weiser

of Purdue University has used with his Introductory Composition courses:

When writers use material from other sources, they must acknowledge this source. Not doing so is called plagiarism, which means using without credit the ideas or expressions of another. You are therefore cautioned (1) against using, word for word, without acknowledgment, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc., from the printed or manuscript material of others; (2) against using with only slight changes the materials of another; and (3) against using the general plan, the main headings, or a rewritten form of someone else's material. These cautions apply to the work of other students as well as to the published work of professional writers.

How to Avoid it…

Note the name of the idea's originator in the sentence or throughout a paragraph about the idea

Ex/ Shelley often quoted her husband’s and Byron’s work to describe Victor’s feelings.

Use parenthetical citations, footnotes, or endnotes to refer readers to additional sources about the idea, as necessary

Ex/ Most who grow up in an alcoholic home suffer depression (Smith and Jones).

Be sure to use quotation marks around key phrases or words that the idea's originator used to describe the idea

Ex/ Clearly Shelley believed in the evil of man stating, “men appear as monsters.”

Outline