The Dreaded Research Paper

Your resources You must have ten separate sources of information. Eight of these MUST BE CITED in your paper. Only three of these may be from the internet. You must complete an Internet evaluation sheet on all Internet sources. EBSCOhost articles will not count as internet sources. You may use books, magazines, films, interviews, pamphlets, etc. Make sure that each source is credible. Make copies or print out everything. Make sure that you have all publishing information on your copies. (dates, cities, publisher, etc.)

Your source cards You will need index cards for these. Your sources will be documented according to MLA guidelines. (Mrs. Rush will give examples in class.) They will be alphabetized so that you can use them later for your Works Cited page.

Your note cards You will need at least 65 note cards. You will have only one note per card. One note is one bit of information. The note may be a direct quotation, a summary, or a paraphrase. You should identify this with a P, S, or DQ at the bottom of the card. You must give the person credit regardless of the form of the note. You must give a heading (subject) for the note in the top left corner and the author’s last name (or article title) with the page number in the top right corner. You must put the number of the source card and the page number of the source you use for each note card.

Sample note card ImageryAdams 26 The imagery used in descriptions of the castle help to establish the mood early in the story. P (paraphrase)

Your outline Once you have read all your sources and taken notes, you need to divide those notecards into separate categories. These categories will become the sections of your outline. Your research question and its answer will be your thesis. The outline must be a topic outline, in which the entries are only topics, or a sentence outline, in which all entries must be complete sentences. Your outline cannot be a mixture of the two. The outline will be a formal one, and it will be included in the final copy.

Your rough draft Some of your rough draft will be completed in class. Your rough draft is simply a compilation of information from your source cards and note cards. To avoid problems in your final copy, please be certain that you document everything carefully in your rough draft. Your rough draft must be typed. I will check your rough draft for structure and will answer any specific questions that you may have. I will only proofread the first two pages. You must, however, have five typed pages to receive full credit.

Plagiarism Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s ideas as your own. Word-for-word plagiarism is when the writer repeats the exact words of a source without giving the source credit Paraphrase plagiarism is when the writer only changes a few words and does not cite the original source. Spot plagiarism is when the writer uses key words or ideas as his/her own without giving credit. Plagiarism in any form is still plagiarism and will cause you to receive a 0!!!!

Your final copy This will be completed on your own time. It must be typed according to MLA guidelines. It must be 5-8 double-spaced pages of text. You do not include the title page, outline, or works cited page in that number. Make sure that you have documented carefully. Plagiarism gets you an F automatically.

Your whole research package You will need a plastic, expandable folder that can be closed. You will need to keep all information in this folder at all times. Everything that you have used to develop this paper must be turned in with the final copy even though they have all been checked previously. You will be given daily grades at each step in the process. The total grade for the project will count as three test grades.

The end! Happy researching!!!!!!!!!