Develop a Research Plan

Once you have a topic picked out, you need to formulate a plan that will allow you to narrow that topic and proceed with the research on it. Write 10 questions that ask what you’d like to

discover about your topic.

Review Research Paper Steps

Step 1: select a topic Step 2: write research questions Step 3: search for information to answer

those research questions

Step 4: Create a Graphic Organizer to find the main points of your paper

Step 5: start creating notes for the sources you find

Step 6: take notes

Graphic Organizers

Graphic Organizers show the relationship between the topic you have chosen for your paper and the main points you are going to make about it.

Use Smart Art to create a graphic organizer.

Sample Graphic Organizer

Immigration to SD

•Why immigrants came here

•Where immigrants came from

Pioneer

Life

•Transportation and communication•Food Preparation•Surviving pioneer hardships

My Famil

y

•Ethnic background•tradition and history

Taking Notes “Review your sources, and when you find

material that answers your research questions, take notes. Good notes are key to crafting a good research report. You should include information paraphrased from your sources, as well as quotations that will support your ideas and make your paper interesting.”

Option #1: Source-Based Notes

Source: list reference List all the information you find

from that one source Later, take a highlighter and find

which pieces of information go with each of your main points

Option #2: Topic-Based Notes

Put a main point from your graphic organizer at the top of the page. Add notes each time you find

something that fits with that topic.

Make sure to keep track of which notes come from which source.

Taking NotesUse all three of these methods equally throughout your paper…

Paraphrase A restatement of someone

else’s idea in your own words. Paraphrases are usually the same length as the original work.

Summary Restating someone else’s

ideas in your own words, making it shorter than the

original statement.

Direct Quotation Using someone else’s ideas word for word because the way that person put

it says it best. Direct quotations should be less than 5 lines long.

For Example…Hiding in her mother's pouch, the little wombat can't work out what the fuss is about.But staff at the Cleland Wildlife Park, in the Adelaide Hills, are in raptures over their newest

addition - a baby common wombat.South Australian Environment Department spokesman Michael Hamilton said it was

extremely difficult to breed wombats in captivity but this youngster - a female - was the second common wombat born at the park in the past two years.

"We were thrilled to become one of a few parks in Australia that have ever bred common wombats," he said.

"To happen again is just icing on the cake."The wombat was born about seven months ago but she was only recently noticed after

emerging from her mother's pouch.At 30cm in length and weighing about 5kg, the unnamed wombat is now becoming a star

attraction at the 35-hectare park.

From: AAP General News Wire. Sydney: Feb 28, 2006.  pg. 1

Write a Paraphrase, Summary, and a Direct Quote for the passage above…

Plagiarism “Derived from the Latin word plagiarus (kidnapper), plagiarism refers

to a form of cheating that has been defined as “the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and presenting it as one’s own” (Alexander Lindey, Plagiarism and originality [New York: Harper, 1952] 2). Plagiarism involves two kinds of wrongs. Using another person’s ideas, information, or expressions without acknowledging that person’s work constitutes intellectual theft. Passing off another person’s ideas, information, or expressions as your own to get a better grade or gain some other advantage constitutes fraud. Plagiarism is sometimes a moral and ethical offense rather than a legal one since some instances of plagiarism fall outside the scope of copyright infringement, a legal offense.” (Gibaldi, Joseph. The MLA Handbook for writers of Research Papers. New York: Harper, 2003.)

Plagiarism Consequences

Deliberate No credit for the

assignment.

Accidental Points deducted

from final draft for every “accident.”

For more information on how to avoid plagiarism, see…http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/

How to get your information on paper…

Outline You need to take

the information from your notes to create a full sentence outline.

Graphic Organizer Use the main key

points in your paper to arrange in a format that works for you to brainstorm.

A sample outline can be seen at:http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/

“Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft—you just get it down.

The second draft is the up draft—you fix it up.”

~ Anne Lamott, novelist

Drafting Arrange your notes based on the information

in your outline or your graphic organizer and begin writing.

It doesn’t matter where you start when you are drafting. Pick the section you are the most comfortable with and go for it!

Thesis Statement THESIS STATEMENTS

A thesis statement has 2 parts: the topic of your paper and the point you are making about your paper.

Use the information you find in your graphic organizer and your outline to figure out what to include in your thesis statement

For more information on writing thesis statements: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/

Writing an Introduction

The introduction should set the tone of your entire paper.

For more information see… http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/72

8/01/

Parenthetical Documentation As you write, you will be including information you

wrote down on your note cards. When you do, you must add a parenthetical reference.

These will direct your reader to your works cited page on the back of your paper so he or she can look up the information for him or herself.

We will review these in December…for now, while you write, keep track of where you used your sources.

Revision Time!

Check These…. Effective Word Choice Parenthetical Documentation Grammar, Spelling, Usage MLA Guidelines Share it with others…

Checklist for Research Editing

_____ included a strong introduction with a clear thesis statement.

_____ used evidence from all my sources._____ credited my sources of information_____ used an effective organizational pattern_____ used transitions between ideas_____ summarized my ideas in a satisfying conclusion_____ provided a properly formatted Works Cited list

at the end of the report.