You have two tasks to perform before you write this paper.
1st : Based on your major and/related to your field of study, select a notable event (discovering a new species of jellyfish), person (professor/person who is preeminent in the field of engineering-Henry Petroski).
2nd : Select 5 articles related to the event or person and fill out the Evaluating Publications information about each
(Parts I and II only). Of the 5 articles you find, 2 of them must be from a print source, the other 3 may come from an online database or other online service. If you take information from the web, be sure to research the site and verify its validity (watch out for the blogs!).
After you have your 5 articles and filled out the
Evaluating Publications information, write a paper following the outline below:
Abstract
 Summary of the paper (sort of a short executive summary). Be sure to again look over the document
“Summarizing What Someone Else Said” for helpful tips on writing your summary.
Introduction
 Introduce the person (could be a group) or event. Try to situate or contextualize its significance to your field. For instance, Professor Billy Joe Jim-Bob’s research made nano technology feasible.
Background Information
 Research the person, group, or event so your audience knows what led up to learning about this person, group, or event.
Situation that vaulted person or event into notoriety
 Highlight, in detail, what situation took place that led to notoriety – the Pasteurs discover the process for pasteurization of milk: how did that happen, what did they do? (Who should really get credit??)

 Opinion on person’s or event’s significance/importance to the field or the expansion of knowledge. Provide your readers with an opinion about why you think this person, group, or event is important. Should it get the notoriety it deserves? What did this person or group do to advance knowledge in this area/field of study?)
 Things to think about/examples: o Teddy Roosevelt played a major role in the formation of our national park system. o How about Mendel? o What contributions do Aldo Leopold and Rachel
Carson make to the environmental field? o What are the implications for humans in the study of how lizards re-grow their tails? o How important and what is the impact of mapping the human gnome? o How significant was it that the first computer was developed at ISU? o What would the discovery of water on Mars have to the future study of biology or the colonization of the planet? o How should we deal with the asteroid that will have a close encounter with Earth in 2010?
Audience and Purpose:
Your audience for this paper consists of others interested in this person or event– this may help you think about what you should include. Remember, your audience may be interested in your topic because they know something about it; they may not. Make the paper interesting to those who know something and to those who don't know anything about your topic.
Your purpose for this paper is to provide people in your field some detailed information about a person or event.
Many people and situations have come before you to help provide a knowledge base for your field of study. You will provide other students with a “if you go into this field you should know this” type of paper.
Because not all the readers will agree with your position, you will want to consider opposing positions and address

those views. You can look for areas of commonality and acknowledge the differing opinions of the importance/significance of this person/event. You definitely need to show that you are knowledgeable about the topic, so do your research.
Planning and Drafting:
You may wish to introduce your audience to your topic in an innovative way. As a beginning, be sure your claims, as well as reasons, warrants, and evidence, are sound. Think about how you will explore this topic and construct your argument in such a way as to be broad enough in appeal, yet focused on presenting pertinent information.
Also, make sure that your paper adds to the conversation and discussion surrounding the topic . Your search to argue for your position is difficult because you will have to come up with information that makes your paper worth reading. That new information might be evidence; it might also be a careful analysis of how you position the paper.
Make your argument so the readers can better appreciate the ideas you profess.
Evaluation Criteria:
In addition to using the COMES rubric, you should think of the following before you construct your paper.
Your paper:
 Has a clear thesis
 Has well-organized, logical, and coherent paragraphs
(Topic Sentence, Primary Support, Secondary Support)
 Paragraphs are unified (transitions) and linked to a clear thesis
 Provides adequate support or evidence to support your position – each of the 5 sources are present
 Adds to the conversation (does more than simply restate the original source material)
 Projects a reasonable tone
 Uses correct format for quotations/documentation (APA format)
 Contains few errors in correctness/mechanics