1. Ways to improve your research paper
May 2015
Dudek

2. General Observations

3. Book titles
Book titles in italics:
In the novel Catch-22, the main protagonist is conflicted by his need for…
Note: it’s a novel, not a book. Your reading for this assignment was a novel.

4. Research style Never first person! No “I,” “we,” or “us.”
Do not speak to your reader:
No “you.”

5. MLA Style

6. MLA Style on http://mrdudek.pbworks.com/
Click on English IV

7. Run-on sentences Review run-on sentences activities
Use FANBOYS to connect two similar or dependent ideas.
When in doubt, split your sentence into two with a period.
If your sentence is entering its third line, you may have gone too far.
izzes/runons_quiz.htm

8. Follow your outline
Each roman numeral had two letters and each letter had two numbers. Does your paper have all that?
One piece of research is not enough to support a paragraph/topic sentence.

9. Support assertions with research!
You cannot state something as fact without research citation, unless it is commonly known.
Even if known, research strengthens your credibility.
This is particularly true of statistics and figures.
Let’s test you…

10. Do you need research to support the following information:
Michigan is in the United States
Michigan leads the country in violent crimes
30% of Americans do not attend church
Church attendance has declined in the U.S.A.
Many people find church a good place to reflect on their guilt. NO
YES
PERHAPS
(anecdotal evidence)

11. How to incorporate quotes/summaries from your novel
The novel takes place in present time.
“Smith has big dreams,” not “Smith had big dreams.”
Please be careful. It’s not necessarily the author’s beliefs or the author’s words. It is fiction. They wrote it, but it is usually a character or narrator that is speaking.
“In the novel, the author states…” is not always the best way to do this.

12. The Bad, the Worse and the Ugly
Quote Dumps
The Bad, the Worse and the Ugly

13. Quote Dumps are bad
A quote dump is when you simply drop a quote into your paper as a stand-alone sentence.
You should orient your reader so they know where the quote is coming from or why it is important.

14. Quote Dumps are bad
Gatsby is not to be regarded as a personal failure. "Gatsby turned out all right at the end.”
Wrong!
Instead…
Gatsby is not to be regarded as a personal failure. His friends know he has made up for his earlier mistakes. "Gatsby turned out all right at the end" (176), according to Nick.

15. An introducing phrase or orienter plus the quotation:
In this poem it is creation, not a hypothetical creator, that is supremely awesome. [argument sentence]. The speaker asks, "What immortal hand or eye / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?“ [data sentence; orienter before quote]

16. An assertion of your own and a colon plus the quotation:
Vivian hates the knights for scorning her, and she dreams of achieving glory by destroying Merlin's: "I have made his glory mine" (390).

17. An assertion of your own with quoted material worked in:
For Nick, who remarks that Gatsby "turned out all right" (176), the hero deserves respect but perhaps does not inspire great admiration.

18. Other variations: According to Jane Doe, "..."
As Jane Doe goes on to explain, "..."
Characterized by John Doe, the society is "..."
As one critic points out, "..."
John Doe believes that "..."
Jane Doe claims that "..."
In the words of John Doe, "..."

19. Support your thesis/topic sentence
Your quote must have a purpose
You must explain that purpose
So, after you put (not dump) a quote, you should tie it back to the purpose of your essay, or the purpose of the paragraph.

20. Quote dumps on http://mrdudek.pbworks.com/
Click on English IV

21. Finishing your paper in a powerful way
Conclusions
Finishing your paper in a powerful way

22. Conclusions handout
Revising%20the%20Conclusion.doc

23. Conclusions on http://mrdudek.pbworks.com/
Click on English IV

24. Works Cited

25. Rules for Works Cited at https://owl. english. purdue
Sample Works Cited:
47/12/

26. Final Draft

27. Turn it in! You must submit a copy online at turnitin.com
Due date: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 – 11:59 p.m.

28. This presentation is at http://mrdudek.pbworks.com/
Click on English IV