The document provides tips for drafting a research paper. It outlines the steps students have already taken in choosing a topic, researching with sources, and creating an outline. It emphasizes avoiding plagiarism by properly citing sources with quotes, paraphrases, and summaries. When drafting, students should use an objective tone without bias or personal pronouns, and cite all facts with sources. The introduction should outline the entire paper, and research should be organized by sub-topics. Students are advised to set the draft aside before carefully proofreading and making changes based on feedback for the final draft.

1. Drafting the Research
Paper
English III
NCVPS

2. Where we are
O You’ve chosen a topic
O Researched your topic
O 4 sources
O 1 graphic source
O Organized your research into an outline
O You might want to revisit your outline, and
improve it based on feedback before you draft.
O You should be able to write your rough draft
straight from your outline
O Written a clear, concise thesis that states your
topic and position

3. Plagiarism
O Plagiarism is very serious, and incidental
plagiarism is easy to do in a research paper.
Perhaps you didn’t put something in quotes
when taking notes, or you didn’t paraphrase
enough
O Be sure to avoid it!
O Double check your notes for paraphrasing,
direct quotes and summaries
O Be sure to parenthetically cite at the end of
where you got the information
O When in doubt, Google the phrase to double
check

4. Drafting tips…
O You also need to use citations in your paper,
so I know where your information came from
O Research papers include facts, not opinions,
so you should make sure you don’t lean on
one side or another, or have bias in your
paper
O Avoid personal pronouns
O You need to determine what your purpose, or
reason for writing is
O Your paper should have an objective tone to
it, so that the facts can be trusted

5. More drafting tips
O Write an introduction that outlines your
entire paper
O Be sure your research is organized by
sub-topics
O Don’t get hung up on pages. Focus on the
writing, if you’ve done all the steps
correctly, you’ll be fine.
O Once you finish writing, set it aside for a
little bit. Later, come back and read it out
loud to catch any mistakes

6. Feedback
O Once your rough draft is graded, it is very
important that you go back through and
read your feedback.
O I expect to see these changes made in
your final draft.