Mrs. Duke's English III Guide to Research Papers

1. So, you have to
write a research
paper. . .

2. You were given a topic, you asked
some questions, and you
gathered information.
Now, you have to put it into an
argument. Most arguments begin
with a . . .

3. THESIS
or
CLAIM

4. Thesis Generator
1. Identify your subject
2. Turn your subject into a guiding
question.
– Specific, limited, open to potential
disagreement, analytical

5. Thesis Questions
• What should the audience/reader do/feel/believe?
• Which are the most important?
• What was the impact of?
• How can you defend?
• What should be? What are/would be the possible
outcomes of?
• What are the problems related to?
• What is the value or, what is/are the potential benefit(s)
of?
• What is the significance of?

6. Thesis Generator
3. Answer your question with a
statement.
4. Refine this statement into a working
thesis.

7. Put your thesis through the
machine and see if it works:
• Is it clear?
– Will everyone know what you are talking about?
• Is it specific?
– Do the limits provide you space in which to complete
a reasonable, interesting 5 page paper within 2
weeks? Is it one main point?
• Is it debatable?
– Is it too obvious? Has it already been answered?
• Does it pass the “so what?” test?
– Do you care? Will others? Does it go beyond personal
opinion?

8. Put your thesis through the
machine and see if it works:
• Does it take a side?
– Is it something that should be proven, not just
discussed?
• Does it indicate what will be discussed?
– Is it a blueprint that will guide the paper?
• Does it have the right shape?
• Does this thesis fit the kind of things you want
to discuss and the question you want to
answer?

9. Now that you have a thesis, you have
to support it. The best way to plan that
support and to judge whether or not it
will work is an outline. An outline
helps you organize your material and
can also help you discover connections
between pieces of information that
you weren't aware of when you first
conceived of your paper. It can also
make you aware of material that is not
really relevant to the purpose of your
paper or material should remove.

10. Outlining
• Are all of your outline’s parts systematically indented and labeled?
– Main ideas = I, II, III, etc.
– Concrete Details = A, B, C, etc.
• Are all of the headings are expressed in parallel grammatical form?
• Do topics of equal generality appear in parallel headings?
• Do all subdivided headings break into at least two parts because a topic
cannot logically be divided into only one part?
– Anytime there is a “I”, there must be a “II”.
– Anytime there is an “A”, there must be a “B”.
• Does the outline reflect logical relationships between sections and
subsections and doe each of these section or subsections transition
logically to the next?

11. An Outline about Outlines
I. Reasons to write an outline
A. Organizes your ideas
B. Provides a “map” for the paper
C. Your teacher made you do it
D. You decided to give it a try
II. Parts of the outline
A. Title
1. Should include the subject of the paper
2. Descriptive title will grab reader’s attention
B. Introduction
1. States the subject of the paper
2. States what areas will be focused on
3. Keep introduction concise and brief
a) Helps to keep reader’s attention
b) Save something for the “Main Body”
C. Main Body
1. Where all your information is presented
2. It’s time to use your notes
a) Find all your notes
b) Review your notes
c) Put the information in order
d) Write brief phrases for ideas to be discussed
(1) No need to write in complete sentences
(2) Write just the main ideas down
(3) Elaborate on the main ideas in the actual paper
e) The ideas should follow in logical order
f) If you have an "A" or an "a" you must have a "B" or "b"
g) If you have a "1" you must have a "2"
D. Conclusion
1. Think of how you want the paper to end
2. Be sharp, concise and to the point
3. Breathe a sigh of relief! The outline is done.

12. Homework: Post your outline on your
blog by tomorrow. Your outline should
BE SPECIFIC and should include:
•All of the components of an
outline
•Your thesis
•Major arguments you will be
making
•Sub points
•Evidence, quotations that will
support your points

13. Once you have your outline, you
can begin drafting. Write
deliberately, based on your
plan, thinking about what you
want to say and how to support
it. One of the biggest challenges
is embedding quotations.

14. Using secondary sources
How do I know when to summarize, paraphrase, or quote?
Summarize when you have a longer passage whose main points are
important but whose details are not. Leave out the details, keep the
main points, and use your own words. Be sure to cite your source.
Paraphrase when the source is not worth quoting but it contains
details that you need to include. Do not keep the original wording
or syntax. Use quotation marks for any part of the paraphrase in
which you use the original wording. Of course, you must cite the
sources.
Quote when the wording is worth repeating or it makes the point so
well that you can’t or shouldn’t do better. You should also quote if
you want to emphasize the source or its authority.

15. Embedding Quotations- why?
Embedding quotes serves two purposes:
• It allows us to include important information
like who said the quote, who they were
talking to, and what they were talking about.
• It allows us to make quotes fit our own voices
as writers.

16. Embedding Quotations
• Don’t quote and run- Frame your quotations.
• Introduce quotations with signal phrases X
such as acknowledges, agrees, argues,
believes, denies, claims, demonstrates, etc.
• Explain your quotation with phrases such as:
Basically, X is saying, X is important because, X
is insisting, Incidentally, In other words, etc.

17. Punctuating Quotations
Introductory information needs to be separated
from the rest of the quote with a comma or
the word that, but not both.
• Antigone says, “It is the dead, not the living,
who make the longest demands” (1023).
• Antigone says that “It is the dead, not the
living, who make the longest demands”
(1023).

18. Punctuating Quotations
Page numbers for quotes need to come after the
quote, but before the end punctuation. The
period always comes after the page
number, not before. However, a question
mark or exclamation mark still needs to be
included within a quote.
• Right: “Is it really the sun?” (35).
• Wrong: “Is it really the sun” (35)?
• Wrong: “Is it really the sun” (35).

19. Punctuating Quotations
Sometimes you will need to replace a pronoun with a proper name or make other
small changes to quotes to get them to fit the context of your embedded quote.
These changes should be made in brackets.
Original quote: “Kind of like he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy” (26).
Clarified quote: “Kind of like *Curley’s+ mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy” (26).
Sometimes you will want to omit parts of a quote that are not necessary. These
omissions should be marked with ellipses. Note: you only have to do this when the
part of the omitted quote is in the middle of a sentence, not the beginning or the
end.
Original quote: “Kind of like he’s mad at ‘em because he ain’t a big guy” (26).
Shortened quote: “He’s mad…because he ain’t a big guy” (26).
If a quotation itself contains words in quotation marks, use single quotation marks
around those words.
The breathless narrator exclaims, “Jack said, ‘You’re pretty,’ and I practically fainted.
Then he said, ‘I like your shoes’!” (1).

20. Try to avoid these common
mistakes:
•Calling everything a novel
•Incorrect MLA format
•Making plurals with
apostrophes.
•Your common errors.
•Not consulting your evaluation
guide
•Font- 12 pt TNR double space
•Title punctuation