Writing the Research Paper

Ten Steps

The Ten Steps

• 1. Mark calendar.

• 2. Prepare preliminary bibliography.

• 3. Narrow your topic.

• 4. Write your working thesis.

• 5. Write your working outline.

• 6. Take notes.

• 7. Sort cards to match outline.

• 8. Write the first draft.

• 9. Edit paper.

• 10. Make final revision.

•

What a Research Paper Is

• A synthesis of your discoveries

• Your evaluation of the data

• A work that shows your originality

• A work that credits all sources used

What a Research Paper Is Not

• A summary of another work• The ideas of another writer repeated uncritically

(that’s a report)• A series of quotations• Unsubstantiated personal opinion• Plagiarized information

– Verbatim quotations not credited to writer– Paraphrased passages not credited to writer– Information and interpretation not credited to source

Ten Steps to Writing the Paper: Steps 1 and 2

• STEP ONE: Mark Calendar

– Schedule D-day and work backwards

• STEP TWO: Prepare the preliminary bibliography

– Search the Web

– Check library resources

• Reference works

• Catalogue

• Librarians

– Record sources in MLA form on note 3 x 5 note cards.

ASSIGNMENT I:The Preliminary Bibliography

Print sources:>On individual white 3 x 5 index cards, follow the MLA form given in your manual in the chapter entitled ‘Documenting Sources: Works Cited Form.” >In the upper right hand corner of the card, write the call number of the printed work. On the backside of the card, write a short description of the kind and extensiveness of the work’s information. Rate its usefulness: 1 to 5 stars, 5 being the most useful.Web Sources: >Give the source information as directed in the MLA manual.>On the back of card comment on the usefulness of the source using the Checklist for an Informational Web Page and give it a 1-5 star rating.

Step 3: Narrow the TopicNolan’s Law: THE BROADER THE TOPIC, THE MORE SUPERFICIAL THE PAPER.

Begin with a general article *Look for an angle

-use subtopics, cross references*Look for statements that prompt you to ask:

How or why is this true?A RESEARCH PAPER SHOWS WHY OR HOWTHE THESIS IS TRUE.

Narrowing the Topic

• Make a rough outline of subject -- and then choose a subdivision.

• Ask reporter’s questions.

• Brainstorm.

• Use a book’s Table of Contents or Indexes.

Narrowing the Topic:1. Using a rough outline:

Charles Dickens’ England

Using the reporter’s questions: Dickens’ Novels

3. Brainstorming: A Christmas Carol

5. Using the table of contents and an index of a book: Labor Issues

Step Four: The Thesis

• The thesis is a specific declaration of the point of view you will take in your paper.

• The thesis is limited so it can give direction to your paper.

• The thesis is specific. Vague words won’t do.

• The thesis unifies the ideas presented in your paper.

• The thesis provides coherence for your paper.

• What a Thesis is NOT• Not a promise or a statement of purpose:

– In this paper I am going to describe the problems of the working class in Dickens’ era.

– The purpose of this paper is to discuss Dickens’ social protest.

• Not a few words added to a title, but not forming a complete sentence:

– What was wrong in the educational system at Gradgrind’s school.

• Not a question:– What did Charles Dickens protest about his society?

• Not a weak or vague statement:– Charles Dickens wrote an important book about industrialism.

• Not– Negative– Conjectural– Split

The Thesis Statement

• Is a single, declarative sentence

• States the writer’s position or findings on the topic.

• States the paper’s specific focus.

• Suggests what the conclusion will say.

• Reflects what the paper’s notes will provide.

Step 5: The Working Outline:The Format

• Place the title above the outline –it is not one of the numbered or lettered topics.

• The terms Introduction, Body, Conclusion should not be in the outline.• Use the correct arrangement of numbers and letters, indenting as

required.• Begin each topic and subtopic with a capital letter; otherwise

capitalize only proper nouns and adjectives. • In a topic outline, do not follow topics with a period.• There must never be under any topic a lone subtopic.• As a rule, main topics, and subtopics under the same topic should be

parallel in form. Subtopics need not be parallel with the main topics.• Don’t mix the topic and sentence outline.

Parallelism

PARALLEL STRUCTURE:(Outline of paper on TV commercials)III. Insulting

A. Implied virtues of productB. Meaningless testimonials

IV. DangerousA. Create demand for luxuries

1. Dissatisfied family members2. Debt-ridden parents

B. Promote phony cure-allsFAULTY PARALLELISSMIV. DANGEROUS

A. Create demand for luxuries1. Dissatisfied family2. Parents in debt

B. Promotion of phony cure-allsC. Public can be victim of fraud.

Step Six: Taking Notes• First thing: Make a bibliography card for the source.• Use the working outline as a guide to taking notes.

– Ask: Where does this information fit into my plan for the paper?

– Use one of the subtopics for the slug line of the note card.

• Add subtopics to outline and/or rearrange topics as the research progresses.

• Look for ideas for cards whose slug line reads : “Introduction” or “Conclusion.”

• (Sample note card)

Kinds of Notes

• Take notes in the form that is appropriate.

• The verbatim quote

• The paraphrase

• The mixed quotation and paraphrase

• The summary

• The outline or list

Notes: The Verbatim Quote

• Make clear who is being quoted.• Allowable changes in verbatim quote:• Weave in quote to make a complete, grammatical sentence.• Use: sic (in parentheses) to indicate an error you recognize.• Use the ellipsis to indicate words omitted.• Use brackets to indicate words added or altered within the

quotation.• Quote verbatim sparingly: Avoid lengthy quotations and

the stringing together of a series of quotations. 2/3 of paper should be in your words.

• Sample note card: p. 2. “Introduction,” Hard Times: quote Shaw’s statement telling what Dickens is protesting in the novel.

How to Interpret Your Notes

• Words in quotation marks . . . A verbatim quote• Words not enclosed in any way . . . A paraphrase• Words in brackets . . . Changes in quote or

comment by note taker• Words in single quotation marks . . . A quote

within a quote.

• Try to take all notes as you anticipate using the information in your paper.

Step Seven: Sort Cards to Match Outline

• 1. Sort cards into your main topics.• 2. Sort each main topic into subtopics.• 3. Each subtopic will be a paragraph (or several paragraphs) in your paper. If

the subtopic can be divided into another level of subtopics, resort.• 4. Pick up the cards for each subtopic in a separate stack.• 5. For each stack choose the most general card for the topic sentence of that

section.• 6. If there is no general note, write that note card now. • 7. Pick up the rest of the cards in logical order.• 8. When the stacks are then put in order according to your outline, you have

your paper! You can write the first draft directly from the cards!• 9. When paper not “balanced”:

• Reorganize, making the short section a subtopic in outline.• Omit that section if it isn’t essential and won’t over -shorten paper.• DO FURTHER RESEARCH ON THAT SECTION.

Step Eight: Write the First Draft

• Each note card will be a sentence (or more) in your paper. With outline in view, begin turning over each card, writing the paper.

• Write straight through the paper. You can go back later and revise.

• Document in parentheses as you write the paper.

Documenting Sources: I• No citation needed when citing an entire work.:• Dickens’ Hard Times focuses on the hardships of the working class.• Author’s name given in citation:• Dickens’ satire seems to have been unnoticed at the time (Collins 15).• Fielding “considers the episode a flaw” (Collins 223).• Another critic (Gallagher 32) points out the satiric tone in chapter 20.• Author’s name cited in your paraphrase:• Collins questions the use of humor in this passage (45).• Do not give author’s name both in your text and in the citation.

WRONG: Collins questions the humor in this passage (Collins 45).• If you cannot locate the source of the quotation. • Adamson quotes an article in which Collins interprets Dickens as

saying that “forbearance and consideration were needed at the strike in Preston ”(qt’d in Adamson 31).– (Here Adamson, not Collins, is cited in Works Cited.)

• For classical works published in many editions:Give page number of the source in your Works Cited followed by a semicolon, then chapter,or book ,or section, etc.– In subsequent chapters, Dickens discusses “another thing needful” (167;

Bk. 3, chp. 1).

• From Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado”:– In the short story “The Cask of the Amontillado,”

verbal irony heightens the theme of revenge.

• From Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, p.141:– Slackbridge tells the crowd that it is time to “rally

around one another as One united power.”

• From Busch’s Introduction to Hard Times, p.3– Dickens can be said to moralize in his use of

allegorical names.

• From GBS, Introduction to Hard Times, p.334 Shaw tells us Dickens’ tone is no longer “light hearted.”

• From E.P. Whipple, “On the Economic Fallacies of Hard Times.” The Atlantic Monthly, 1887, p.323 In a letter to Charles Knight, Dickens wrote of his

opposition to those who “see figures and averages, and nothing else.”

• Cite source at end of sentence:– From George Bernard Shaw, p. 332:

• In the XIX century, the conversions resulted from “convictions of . . . social sin.”

• Cite source within the sentence:– From George Bernard Shaw, p. 333:

• A later critic was quick to point out Dickens’ tone in Hard Times is no longer light-hearted.

• Shaw writes of Dickens’ changing his views, suggesting in Hard Times he is “newly stricken by the discovery of the real state of England.”

• Do not cite every sentence as long as you are still making the same point and using the same source and on the same page. One citation at the end of the point you’re making is sufficient.

• The first time a work is cited, give the writer’s name and page number. Do not repeat the name until another writer’s citation intervenes.

• .– The novel targets the individual’s cruelty. Dickens is “always

intolerant” of abuses (Whipple 224). He criticizes with humor those situations he understands. But he “humorously misrepresents” what he doesn’t understand (325). In Hard Times he presents “only oppressors and victims, oppressing and suffering in spite of themselves” (Shaw 334). However, the characters are products of Dickens’ quick wit and socially-conscious emotion (Whipple 225).

Documenting Sources II – Internet Sources

First – download or print any online material you plan to use, in case it becomes inaccessible online later.

Your Works Cited entries should contain as many items from the following list as are relevant and available – in the order given.

• Name of author, editor, compiler or translator.• Title of poem, short story, article or other short work within

the larger work, in quotation mark.• Title of the book, or periodical where work cited appears,

underlined (italics).• Name of editor, compiler, translator of book.• Publication information for printed material.• Version number (volume, issue, other identifying number)• Date of electronic publication.• Date you accessed the source.• URL (in angle brackets)

Citing Internet SourcesLansburg, Steven E. “Who Shall Inherit the Earth?” Slate

1 May 1997. 1 Oct. 1999 <http://www.slate.com/ Economics/97-05-01/Economics.asp>.(Parenthetical documentation): “Parents know in advance . . . that they will be addicted to their

children”(Lansburg).

Pellegrino, Joseph. Home page. 16 Dec. 1998. 1 Oct. 1999 <http:/www.english.eku.edu/pellingrino/personal.htm>.

*Don’t introduce a hyphen at the break of a URL between two lines.

* If you must divide a URL between two lines, break it only after a slash.

*See http:/www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite5.html for further illustrations of citations.

Writing the Introduction

• Use the inverted pyramid structure.

• Use a “hook” to engage your reader.

• Lead up to your thesis statement.

• Don’t summarize the main points your paper is going to make.

• Put your transition sentence in the following paragraph.

Writing the Introduction:Some Strategies for the “Hook”

• Relate your topic to one that is well-known:– Television news comes daily into our homes; however, another

medium that has gained . . . is the news magazine.• Provide background information when helpful:

– It was the poet Yeats who first suggested that Synge should write about the Aran Islands.

• Use a brief relevant quotation.– “Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out

everything else.”• Challenge an assumption.

– Children’s watching movies about drugs and violence may not be such a bad thing after all.

• Use provocative data or startling information.– Thirteen boys in a small farm community committed suicide in the

last three months.Take exception to a widely-held point of view.

Writing the Conclusion(One or more of the following)

• Restate (don’t simply repeat!) the thesis and reach beyond it. Often you can give the thesis a wider application.

• Close with an effective quotation -- if you didn’t open with one.

• Return the focus of a literary paper to the author.• Offer a directive or a solution.• Compare the past to the present.• Focus on the significance of your thesis --

– historical– philosophical– cultural

Step Nine: First Revision

• Use the spell-check.

• Make a hard copy of the paper.

• Read the paper over slowly out loud.

• Fix sentences that sound awkward.

• Be sure each paragraph begins with strong transition that links it to the previous paragraph and indicates what will follow.

• Provide connectives between sentences.

• Check entire paper for consistency in tense.

• Ask someone else to read the paper and give you honest criticism.

Step Ten: The Final Revision

• Put the paper away for a few days.– Let it “incubate.”

• Read through the entire paper aloud again.– It is remarkable how often we find a page missing (or upside

down), or passages left out, or words missing, or pages out of order, or typographical errors.

• All mistakes must be corrected.– Minor corrections may be made neatly in black ink. Any other

corrections or changes should be reprinted.• Do not delete your work -- ever.

– Save all your hard work on disk! You never know if you might want it even after your present computer is long gone.