Writing the Research Paper...• Protects yourself from plagiarism – Proper citation of your sources in MLA style can help you avoid plagiarism, which is a serious offense. It may

Writing the Research Paper

©South View High School Senior Project

Begin Organizing

• Once you have completed your research, begin organizing all your information.– Break note cards into groups by topic

• Then into subtopics– Determine order– Compare to outline

• Restructure when necessary– Formulate a thesis (around that order)

• Begin Writing


MLA Format• Use MLA Format

– White paper– 1” Margins– 12-point font– Times New Roman– Double spaced– Header

• Last name and page number– Internal parenthetical citation of sources– Work cited page


Why MLA?

• Allows readers to cross-reference your sources easily– Cross-referencing allows readers to locate the publication information of

source material. This is of great value for researchers who may want to locate your sources for their own research projects.

• Provides consistent format within a discipline– Using a consistent format helps your reader understand your arguments

and the sources they’re built on– It also helps you keep track of your sources as you build arguments.

• Gives you credibility as a writer– Writers show accountability to their source material

• Protects yourself from plagiarism– Proper citation of your sources in MLA style can help you avoid

plagiarism, which is a serious offense. It may result in anything from failure of the assignment to expulsion from school.


Works Cited Page

• Complete first (so you know how to reference in your paper)• A complete list of every source that you make reference to in

your essay• Provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and

retrieve any sources cited in your essay• Most citations should contain the following basic information:

– Author’s name– Title of work– Publication information

• Sources should be listed in alphabetical order• Proper MLA format (use citation maker and source cards)


Sample Works Cited Page

Meece 12Works Cited

Barbour, Steven. “History Always Repeats Itself, and so do I.” Long Winded Quarterly. 8 Oct. 2007:

167-901.

Edkins, Brian. I Love Being Principal. Fayetteville: South View Publishing, 2008.

“Flatulence.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2006.

Meece, Dawn. “I Married Johnny Depp.” Johnny Depp Lunatic. 25 Aug. 2004. 10 Oct. 2008

<http://johnnydepplunatic.com/2004/crazygirl/html.>

Sweeny Todd. Dir. Tim Burton. DVD. Fox Home Video. 2007.


The Writing Process• Basic three-part paper:

– Introduction• Contains background information on your topic• Use an introductory strategy• Broad at beginning• Narrows to thesis at end• 1-2 paragraphs

– Body• Paragraphs which support a part of your thesis• One part of the thesis will have multiple paragraphs• Contain a topic sentence• Follow a logical progression

– Conclusion• Reasserts your thesis• Ties everything up


Drafting your Research Paper

• After completing your outline and arranging your note cards to match, you are ready to begin writing your draft.

• Use your outline as a guide.– Explore each main point, supporting the idea with evidence from

your note cards.• Outline Topic: The migration to California• Turned into a topic sentence: The Dust Bowl led to a massive

migration, or movement, or people from Oklahoma to California.

• Information from note card: 400,000 homeless farmers left the panhandle region, which lost more than half its residents.

• Combined: The Dust Bowl led to a massive migration. People went from Oklahoma to California – 400,000 homeless farmers from the Dust Bowl packed everything into old trucks and headed to California to find work (cite source here).


Drafting your Research Paper

• Incorporating summaries and paraphrases– Write them out as part of your text and include a source

reference at the end of the summarized or paraphrased material.– Use transitions to connect the material smoothly to the sentence

that precede or follow it.

• Incorporating Quotations– Must be encapsulated by quotation marks– Work into as part of the text– Quotes should not stand alone– Use a signal phrase


Signal Phrases

• It is necessary not only to cite all sources, but also to make clear which information comes from you and which comes from a source.

• A signal phrase lets the reader know when a writer is going to use a paraphrase, summary or quote.

• Signal phrases are a phrases, clause, or even a sentence with a verb which leads into a quotation or a statistic. These generally include the speaker/author’s name and some justification for using this source as an expert.

• Without signal phrases, the reader will not be able to distinguish between you and your sources.

• Never drop a quote or summary into a paper without some type of signal phrase.


Signal Phrases

• Begin with the author’s full name• Use a signal phrase verb that clearly indicates how the

author has conveyed the information– Ex: argues, claims, suggests

• After the author’s full name has been used once, use only the author’s last name

• Cite the page number of the information in the parenthesis at the end of the information– Ex: According to Steven Barbour, “history is a never-ending

cycle of wars and political strife” (16). Barbour contends that this strife is the “result of the unequal balance of power between the rich and the poor” (23).


Internal Parenthetical Citations

• When you use the ideas, words, or findings of another to support your paper, you must give credit to that person for the information within your paper.– Must be cited even when summarized or paraphrased – not

only when quoted. • Citations are found at the end of the sentence containing

the information.• Information is placed within parenthesis

– Contains author and page number– No punctuation within citation– Put after information; before period

• Ex: …20% of all IB students do not work up to their potential (Meece 26).

Author page

Punctuation comes after reference



• If the name of the author appears in the text, do not repeat it in the parenthetical citations– Ex: According to Meece, 20% of all IB students do not work to their

potential (26).• If you are using information from the same source from two different

pages, cite both pages separating each page with a comma.– Ex: Studies show that 20% of all IB students do not work to their

potential, but only 3% actually fail (Meece 26, 35).• If you are using information from continuous pages, list the pages

using a hyphen.– Ex: In a recent study, it was reported that 20% of all IB students do not

work to their potential because many of them are involved in extra-curricular activities which prevent them from completing all of their work (Meece 26-29).



• If you are using information from more than one source within one sentence, cite both sources within the same parenthesis, separating each with a semicolon.– Ex: The best part about working at South View is the strong

student body and the high standards of the IB Program (Edkins 3; Barbour 19).

• When using a direct quote, the citation comes after the quotation marks but before the period.– Ex: Mr. Barbour reported that “all his favorite students have

been in the IB Program” (19).



• When quoting four or more lines, set the material off from your text.

• Indent it ten spaces, double-space it, and do not enclose it in quotation marks.– Example:In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character states:

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. (4)


Manipulating Quotes

• Ellipsis– When only using part of a quote, use an ellipsis to show

the omission of information.• Full quote ex: “All wars that are based on civil unrest

between one people are result of the unequal balance of power between the rich and the poor.”

• Ellipsis ex: “All wars…are the result of the unequal balance of power between the rich and the poor” (34).

• Ellipsis ex: According to Barbour, “…the unequal balance of power between the rich and the poor” leads to the majority of wars around the world (34).


Manipulating Quotes

• Brackets– When wanting to clarify information found in a quote, use a

bracket to include additional information.

• Full quote example: “All wars that are based on civil unrest between one people are result of the unequal balance of power between the rich and the poor.”

• Bracketed information example: “All wars [in the Middle East] that are based on civil unrest between one people are result of the unequal balance of power between the rich and the poor.”


Manipulating Quotes

• Sic– When copying a quote that contains an error, copy that

error exactly and cite that the error existed in the original source.

– Original Source Ex: “All wars that are based on civil unrest between one people is result of the unequal balance of power between the rich and the poor.”

– Sic example: “All wars that are based on civil unrest between one people is [sic] result of the unequal balance of power between the rich and the poor.”


Using Graphic Aids

• You may use tables, maps, charts, diagrams, art, and photography to present information.

• If you use a graphic aid from a source, or if you use information from a source to create a graphic aid, then you must credit the source of the information.

• Tables should be labeled “Table 1” “Table 2” and so on.• Other graphic aids should be labeled “Fig. 1” “Fig. 2”• Place the label after the figure and follow it with a caption

that is either the title or a description of the graphic aid.


Using Graphic Aids

• Example

Fig. 1 Charleston harbor, 1863. Adapted from Peter Burchard, Charleston Great Battle. (New York: St. Martin’s, 1965) 110.


Writing in Appropriate Style

• Objective, formal, academic writing• Do not use first or second person

– No: I, me, my, mine, we, our• Use an active voice

– Avoid verbs such as: were, will, was, seems, feels• Ex: After school tutoring was scheduled by Ms. Meece• Instead: Ms. Meece scheduled after school tutoring.

• Vary Sentence Structure– Use transition words

• Avoid Jargon– Specific to topic (use laymen terms)

• Be concise– Avoid wordiness

• Use nondiscriminatory language– Avoid gender specific words– No slang


Final Reminders

• This is just a rough draft! It can change and it doesn’t have to be perfect.

• At this point, work on:– Developing a provable thesis– the incorporation of information– Following a logical pattern– Citing all sources

• Although important, worry less about– Spelling– Grammar usage– mechanics


Documents

Writing the Research Paper...• Protects yourself from plagiarism – Proper citation of your sources in MLA style can help you avoid plagiarism, which is a serious offense. It may