How-to Research Paper Still got time to fix it!

Soooo I’ve picked a topic, now what do I do? With your research paper, you are not going to summarize your experiment (necessarily). You are going to research background information on what is occurring in your experiment. What should you include?

Introduction: Your paper needs an introduction. It can be more than 1 paragraph. It should be a kind of overview of what you will discuss in your research paper. It should state what you are going to find out in your experiment. You can/may include why you chose this project and what is interesting/important about it

Include a purpose Your paper should include a purpose. What is the point of the experiment? Why was it so important that it needed to be tested? What implications will your study have in the future?

After the introduction Include previous experiments, if relevant, that have been done that provide some information to your experiment. Include a history of what you are studying Discuss the science behind what happens in your experiment (this is the important part)

The wha? The science.

For example Let’s say I wanted to do the experiment “Making music with glass bottles”. The goal of the project is to determine the relationship between musical note frequency and fluid level when producing notes by blowing over the top of a partially filled bottle.

Like these guys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPkhOoBLqRY

So let’s say I were doing the experiment What would I include in my research paper? Sound (vibrations, waves, etc) Musical notes and frequencies How resonance works How musical instruments, especially wind instruments like flutes, work How the note produced is matched to the size of the space in which air travels

How would I write it? I’d start with some basic info Musical instrument history blah blah, this experiment will demonstrate blah blah, it is important for blah blah reasons Then I’d move on to the good stuff

Good stuff Musical notes are related to frequency of travelling sound waves Sound waves blah blah blah Frequency of the sound wave is related to the length of the column by blah blah So by elongating the tube (i.e. less water in the glass), a lower pitch should result This is demonstrated by blah blah

Then conclude Don’t say “In conclusion”, or “this summarizes my report”; we don’t do that in academic writing. We also don’t tend to use “I” in academic writing, especially in scientific research.

Hypothesis You should try to include a hypothesis. What do you think the results will be and why? What information did you gather within your research that made you think that? Note: you do not need to include a hypothesis, but if you are pressed for what to include, this is a good start

Sources 3 scholarly sources. NOT WIKIPEDIA. They must be in the correct MLA format. If you don’t know how to format something correctly, Google MLA format or ask me.

Pages The number of required pages – 3 – is the number of pages with your actual research paper. Title pages (not necessary), bibliographies, etc, do not count as one of the 3. Don’t cheat on this. I was (I promise) a student for a long time. I know alllllllllllllllll (yes, all) the tricks. Margin changing, text size changing, making a huge title, including images, etc.

Images Should be on a separate page at the end. If you include an image, make a name for it to include in your paper. Like “figure 1”, “table 2”, etc. Label them properly so they are easy to find.

Text size and spacing Times new roman 12, double spaced. Margins set at 1 inch

WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN ABOUT THIS, MS WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN ABOUT THIS, MS. FUENTESSSSSS AAAAAAAAAARGHGBKFLJADFARRRGH! This is what it needs to be! Sorrrrrrries! Questions? Concerns? Email me or see me after class. fuentes@cksla.org