The Research Paper (9H):
Organizing and Composing the Rough Draft
Believe it or not, if you have organized you information well, taken good notes, and done
enough research, your rough draft should be very easy for you to write. If you have spent
the proper time and effort on your outline and notecards, your rough draft will not take
you long at all.
Steps to Transforming the Outline into a Rough Draft
1.
The Introduction:
Your introduction should follow the same format as any five-paragraph essay the
you have written this year in the sense that it should contain ALL of the
following:

one to two lead-in sentences--general background
information that will interest the reader and lead to your
central idea.

The central idea should have already been written before
you began doing research.

The thesis should already have been written as well: It
should contain three to four points for discussion that will
PROVE your central idea.
A Sample Introduction:
The similarities between Chaucer's The Shipman's Tale and Boccaccio's
tale are obvious as both contain elements of treachery, lechery and deception.
However, some definitive differences still exist, and one of those differences is
that In Boccoaccio's tale, a soldier deceives the merchant's wife, but in Chaucer's
tale, a monk becomes the deceiver. (LEAD-IN) Chaucer made this change
because he intended for The Shipman's Tale to be told by the Wife of Bath.
(CENTRAL IDEA) Through examination of the Wife of Bath's anecdotes, five
marriages, and behavior during the pilgramage to Canterbury, the reader can
easily surmise and understand Chaucer's intention for The Shipman's Tale to be
narrated by the Wife of Bath. (Thesis Statement)
2.
The Body Paragraphs:

There is not "right" or "wrong" way of converting the body of your
outline into a rough draft. Depending on how many supporting
details your outline contains, either your numbers (1, 2, 3) or your
capital letters (A, B, C) and the information contained in each
section will become a paragraph.

Be sure to provide a clear topic sentence for each paragraph.

Be sure each paragraph somehow relates each point you make.

Remember to put ANY words that are not your own in quotation
marks.

Remember to CITE any idea that is not your own.
3.
Parenthetical Documentation:

ANY idea that is not your own must be cited by following the
statement with a set of parentheses containing both the name of the
author of the source and the page number of that source. Ex:
(Bloom 34)

If the source has no author, use the first word of the article's title,
not including words like "a," "an," or "the."

Do not provide citations after EVERY sentence. Only cite when
will be CHANGING sources.

If you include the writer's name in the content of your paper, you
only need to follow the sentence with the appropriate page number.
Example: Cheryl Wall says that "Clifton closes the gap between
past and present for her reader" (556) as she does the same for
herself while standing on the banks of the Mississippi.

If you change page number but not sources, you do NOT need to
restate the name of the writer. Just include the change in page
number.
Example of a paragraph with parenthetical documentation:
For Wordsworth nature was “a refuge from the vain striving of
corrupt worldlings and a temple for the free worship of dedicated spirits”
(Gurney 5). Wordsworth sees nature as a holy asylum capable of
providing any willing spirit with the potential to transcend the confines of
the material world and the depraved entities that exist within it. In other
words, Wordsworth's relationship with nature becomes a vehicle for
spiritual realization outside the confines of organized religion, its icons,
and its buildings. In “Tintern Abbey” and “Daffodils,” Wordsworth
develops and refines a personal relationship with nature, which provides
specific medicinal effects for his spirit. Those effects, which have strong
religious associations, include healing, asylum, regeneration, and insight
(Saylor).
4.
Direct quotations:

Be sure to lead into all direct quotations.

Explain the content of each quotation that you use as well.
Example: Later in the poem, as Christabel and Geraldine "couch"
in Christabel's room, Geraldine casts off the spirit of Chrstabel's
mother, claiming: "This hour is mine-- / Though thou her guardian
and spirit be, off woman, off" (204-06). Since the reader infers
that Geraldine is there to do harm, it can also be inferred that the
spirit of Christabel's mother is there to do good by protecting her
daughter.
DO NOT DO THIS: Geraldine says, "This hour is mine-- /
Though thou her guardian spirit be, off woman, off" (204-06).
5.
The Conclusion:

Remember to restate the central idea (the point you are trying to
prove).

Restate the main parts of your thesis.

End your conclusion with a statement that broadens the content of
your paper and gives the reader something to ponder.
Example: The reason Chaucer changed the lover from a soldier to a monk
is for the sole purpose of fitting the tale to the Wife of Bath's beliefs and
background. If the Wife of Bath had told a tale of an honorable soldier
humiliating a young woman of questionable character, then the Wife of
Bath's entire prologue and other feminist postulations of hers included
throughout the tales, would be easily annulled by readers. With the monk
as the despicable character, however, the Wife of Bath's tenets are
supported and even proven true.
DO NOT BEGIN OR END YOUR PAPER WITH A DIRECT
QUOTATION!
6.
The Works Cited Page:

This page should be separate from the rest of your paper.

It should contain all of the sources that you CITE in your paper.

It should be in the correct MLA format.

It should be in alphabetical order.
Note: All you really need to do (if you have done your source cards
correctly) is transfer the information from your source cards.
See attached for an example of a works cited page.
Raub 9
Works Cited
Clifton, Lucille. Interview with Charles H. Rowell. Project Muse. The Johns Hopkins
University Press. Lehigh University. 22 January 2004
<http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/callaloo/v022/22.lrowell.html>.
Clifton, Lucille. the terrible stories. Brockport, NY: BOA Editions, Ltd., 1996.
Holladay, Hilary. "black Names in White Space: Lucille Clifton's South."
Southern Literary Journal. Spring 2002: 120-123. Literature Online. Proquest
Information and Learning Company. Lehigh University. 22 January 2004
<http://lion.chadwiych.com>.
Ostriker, Alicia. "Kin and Kin: The Poetry of Lucille Clifton." The American Poetry
Review. Nov-Dec 1993: 22, 6. Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale Group.
Lehigh University. 22 January 2004 http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark>.
Wall, Cheryl. "Sifting Legacies in Lucille Clifton's Generations." Contemporary
Literature. 44:4 (2004): 552-574.