1. Chapter Nineteen Writing a Research Paper
English Skills with Readings, 5E John Langan

2. Writing a Research Paper
1) Select a topic that you can readily research.
2) Limit your topic and make the purpose of your paper clear.
3) Gather information on your limited topic.
4) Plan your paper and take notes.
5) Write the paper.
6) Document accurately.

3. Writing a Research Paper
Step 1: Select a topic that you can readily research.
Check your library’s catalog (or that of a major online library or bookseller) to be sure there are books on your topic;
Check periodicals indexes to be sure there are articles on your topic;
Do an online search to see whether reliable sites on your topic exist.
If sufficient information exists, go ahead! Otherwise, modify your topic.

4. Writing a Research Paper
Step 2: Limit your topic and make the purpose of your paper clear.
A research paper should thoroughly develop a limited topic -- one that can be developed fully in 10 pages or so.
Pay attention to subject headings as you research your general topic -- these can help you limit your focus.

5. Writing a Research Paper
Step 2: Limit your topic and make the purpose of your paper clear.
Remember, research papers generally have one of two purposes:
1: to make and defend a point of some kind (e.g., elected officials should be limited to a single term in office);
2: to present information about a topic (e.g., the most recent scientific findings about the effect of diet on heart disease).

6. Writing a Research Paper
Step 3: Gather information on your limited topic.
Try to gather all the information you need in one place:
Check out books you need from your library, or request them via interlibrary loan.
Make copies of relevant articles, or read them and make careful notes. (Some online articles can be printed out in their entirety.)

7. Writing a Research Paper
Step 4: Plan your paper and take notes.
Prepare a scratch outline for your paper that shows both its thesis and the areas of support for the thesis.
Thesis: There are things parents can do to overcome the negative influences hurting their families.
Support: (1) Create quality time with families
(2) Increase families’ sense of community
(3) Minimize the impact of media and technology

8. Writing a Research Paper
Write your notes on index cards or loose-leaf paper, or type them into computer files.
Notes should be in the form of
direct quotations
summaries in your own words
a mix of direct quotation and summary

9. Writing a Research Paper
Direct quotations must be reproduced faithfully: if you omit unnecessary words, supply an ellipse ([. . .]) in their place; if you supply a word or capitalize a letter to clarify meaning, you must indicate that you have done so using [brackets].
Otherwise, quotes must be written exactly as they appear in the original.

10. Writing a Research Paper
In summaries, you condense original material by expressing it in your own words.
Summaries may be written as lists, brief paragraphs, or both.
In paraphrase, you also express the original material in your own words, but do not condense.

11. Writing a Research Paper
Keep in mind the following:
Write on only one side of each card or piece of paper, and only one kind of information on each. (If using a computer file, decide whether each file should contain notes on a single topic or from a single source.)
Write a topic heading at the top of each card.
Identify the source and page number at the bottom.

12. Writing a Research Paper
Beware of Plagiarism!
If you do not document specialized information or ideas that are not your own, you will be plagiarizing -- stealing, in other words!
When in doubt, DOCUMENT.

13. Writing a Research Paper
Notecard:
Direct Quotation
Movie content
“We cannot guarantee that bad things will happen,
but we can argue that good things are not happening
[. . .]. [I]ncreasing numbers of young people are
left to their own devices at a critical point in their
development.”
Medved and Medved, 62
topic heading
ellipse: indicates omitted material
brackets: indicate capital not in original
source, page number

14. Writing a Research Paper
Notecard:
Summary
Movie content
Study conducted in 1996 showed that of PG-13 movies, 91 percent had crude language, 89 percent had obscene language, 45 percent had actual or suggested sex. Worrisome because most parents assume PG-13 movies are OK for their kids.
Medved and Medved, 62

15. Writing a Research Paper
Step 5: Write the paper.
Make a final outline and use it as a guide to write your first full draft.
a topic outline contains your thesis plus supporting words and phrases;
a sentence outline includes the above expressed as full sentences.

16. Writing a Research Paper
In an introduction, include a thesis statement expressing the purpose of your paper and indicating the plan of development that you will follow.
Writing a Research Paper

17. Writing a Research Paper
As you move from your introduction into the main body and conclusion, strive for
UNITY
SUPPORT
COHERENCE
SENTENCE SKILLS!

18. Writing a Research Paper
Step 6: Document accurately.
You must tell the reader the sources of the borrowed material in your paper.
The documentation style used by the Modern Language Association is relatively simple and widely accepted. Follow the rules for this system described in your text, unless your instructor specifies another.

19. Writing a Research Paper
Sample In-Text Citation
Book with a single author
Other parents work at home, even if it means earning less money than before. “[H]eading home is a real possibility for those parents who can master the new home-office technology [. . .]. If enough people can manage to do this, the neighborhoods might once again come alive for workers and their children” (Louv 285).
capital in brackets indicates capital not in original
ellipse: indicates omitted material
start of quote
end of quote
source, page number

20. Writing a Research Paper
Sample Works Cited Entry
Book with a single author
indent second and subsequent lines .5 inch
author’s name, last name first
Louv, Richard. Children’s Future. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1990.
title, underlined or in italics
publisher
year of publication
place of publication