RESEARCH JOURNAL
BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTRY MLA FORMAT AUTHOR TITLE PUBLISHER CITY YEAR OF PUBLICATION PAGES SOURCE DATE VIEWED (IF INTERNET-BASED)
QUOTES 3 QUOTES 5-10 WORDS LONG FOLLOW WITH MLA CITATION (Fergueson 156) FIND MEANINGFUL PHRASES PUT IT IN QUOTATION MARKS !!!
SUMMARY 1 PARAGRAPH 5 SENTENCES NO ANALYSIS NO INTERPRETATION JUST PUT THE RESEARCH IN YOUR OWN WORDS
ANALYSIS 1 PARAGRAPH 5+ SENTENCES APPLY RESEARCH TO PAPER TOPIC ANY ANALYSIS/INTERPRETATION MUST BE IN 3RD PERSON (NO I, YOU…) If you do a good job with this part you can just copy and paste it into your rough draft!
EXAMPLE Fergueson, Adam The History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic. Philadelphia: Classic Press,1805. 467. Google Books. Web.
QUOTES “[Brutus] was supposed to have acted from the purest motives of public virtue” (Ferguson 133) “[Brutus was] revered in secret by every person who had any memory…of the Roman Republic” (Ferguson 134) “Even Anthony…expressed the highest respect for [Brutus’] memory” (Ferguson 134)
SUMMARY Fergueson examines Brutus and Cassius’ roles in the death of Julius Caesar. He uses several original sources to examine Brutus’ position in the Roman Senate as a man of great patriotism. Further, he examines how Brutus’ assumptions about the political structure of Rome were fatally flawed and how the opinion of the Roman people were manipulated to turn them against him. Brutus is depicted as a patriot. Nevertheless, his murder of Caesar was a political and literal act of suicide.
ANALYSIS Brutus was a man who genuinely believed that was he was doing was right. Even his political enemies, such as Mark Anthony, recognized that he was a man of principles. However, killing a man without trial, even if done for ethical reasons, is not in itself an ethical action. Ultimately Brutus did not have the good fortune to survive his moral imperative, and history has drawn him as a traitor to a friend instead of a patriot. However, his character does prove that a man of deep moral conviction can still accomplish immoral things.