From Hybrid to The End
Taking the research paper from the
outline/draft to the final copy
Ms. Di Re
Composing a research paper
• You’ve done the legwork: taking notes and
composing an outline.
• Now you need to use the outline and your
notes to prove your thesis statement.
Writing introduction paragraphs
• Follow the details on the outline; they tell you
what belongs in the introductory paragraph:
– You must have a grabber [Get your reader’s
attention.]
• Ask a question and link it to the topic
• Or, provide startling statistics or facts
• Or begin by setting up a scenario related to your topic.
• State your thesis in the form of a sentence.
• In separate sentences, provide the main points
which will prove the thesis.
Writing concluding paragraphs
• Restate your thesis in the form of a sentence
• Restate your main points, in separate
sentences
• Link the main points to the thesis statement
• End with a clincher sentence.
– The clincher is the last thought you leave your
reader about the topic
• It could answer the opening question
• It could offer a different set of statistics, or comment that the
opening statistics would change as a result of …
• It could offer a different scenario from that which opened the
paper.
Proving your thesis statement
• Each of your main points will contain details that prove your thesis
statement.
• Your main points are in the form of a sentence.
• These sentences become the topic sentences of each body
paragraph.
• The details from your outline (and others that you have on your
note cards) will then be included to support the main point.
– Have a sentence that introduces the
quote/embedded/paraphrased material. OR
– Have sentences that discuss the above
quote/embedded/paraphrased material. You must
use transitions between quotations.
– NEVER PLACE QUOTATIONS BACK TO BACK!
• At the end of each main point paragraph, add a sentence which
links the information back to the thesis. This sentence must explain
how the information in the paragraph proves the thesis.
In-text Citations
[or, How Not to Plagiarize]
• If you are using information that did not
originally come from your own brain,
YOU must give credit to the person who
originally had the info, or who inspired the
thought.
• There are several ways to do this:
– Direct quotation
– Embedding
– Paraphrasing
All require
citing your
source.
Quotation
• “Criminals obviously have illegal ways of
obtaining guns” (Cassidy 22).
• Long direct quotations: single space, 2”
margins left/right
Shortly after her husband left for work, a Waco
Texas housewife heard the front door window
break. A strange man reached in, unlocked the
door, and entered the front room. The housewife ran to the Bedroom. She locked the door
and grabbed a handgun kept beneath the mattress.
The intruder kicked the door. He saw the gun
aimed at him. He left (Leddy 144).
Let’s say this info is from a website:
“Criminals obviously have illegal ways of obtaining guns” (Cassidy).
Let’s say this info is from a website and has no author:
“Criminals obviously have illegal ways of obtaining guns” (“Gun Control…”)
Embedding
• Embedding is a combination of your own
wording of the sentence and part of someone
else’s words.
– Daemmrich believes that the purpose of this
amendment was to “secure each individual the
right to keep and bear arms so that he could protect
his absolute individual rights…” (110).
Let’s say this info is from a website:
There is a belief that the purpose of this amendment was to “secure each individual the right to keep
and bear arms so that he could protect his absolute individual rights…” (Daemmrich).
Let’s say this info is from a website and has no author:
The purpose of this amendment was to “secure each individual the right to keep and bear arms so
that he could protect his absolute individual rights…” (“Women Get…”).
Paraphrasing
• You take someone else’s words and rephrase
them or put them in your own words:
– Gun shops reported huge increases in sales prior to
the new law’s implementation (Leddy, 20).
Let’s say this info is from a website:
Gun shops reported huge increases in sales prior to the new law’s implementation
(Leddy).
Let’s say this info is from a website and has no author:
Criminals obviously have illegal ways of obtaining guns (“Gun Control…”).
How to put the bibliography page
together:
• Alpha order
• Start at the margin, let the computer bring you
down to next line, complete the citation, then
indent the 2nd line (and all the lines that follow).
• Double space between citations.
Books
Author’s last name, first. “Title of article.” Title
of book. Place of Publication: Publisher,
copyright.
Or,
Editor’s last name, first. “Title of article.” Title
of book. Place of Publication: Publisher,
copyright.
Web
• Last name, first. “Title of article.”
Organization responsible for site. Web
address. Date of update/access.
Sample Works Cited
Corrected
Daemmrich, Joanna. “Women Get Comfortable with
Guns.” Baltimore Sun. 14 June 1992: 1.
Gest, Ted. “Gun Controls Limits.” US News and World
Report. 6 December 1993, 22-26.
“Gun Control Would Not Control Crime.” 2 July 2002.
www.SHS12RX.edu.
Leddy, Edward F. “Gun Owners Protect Themselves from
Crime”. Gun Control. Ed. Andrew Gingrich. New York:
Doubleday, 1992.