English 3
RESEARCH PAPER ASSIGNMENT
“Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think
what nobody else has thought.”
~Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Project Overview
The culminating product of this project is an interesting and informative
research paper on the life of a local Civil War veteran. Over the next two
weeks, you will be working on this project in class and at home. While the
objective is to produce a well-written, MLA formatted research paper,
including internal citations and a Works Cited page, the project itself has
several parts. First, you will choose a topic. Your topic will be a Civil War
veteran who has connections to Putnam County. Next, you will research your
approved topic, giving particular attention to his involvement in the Civil
War, and find at least three authoritative resources on which to base the
information in your essay. Using both print and electronic sources, you will
develop a clear thesis statement and determine at least three main points
with which to support the thesis statement. This information will be
structured in a graphic organizer. Then, using the graphic organizer as a
plan for your essay, you will draft, revise, and edit your paper. While you will
only turn in a final, polished draft, you should follow the steps of the writing
process and draft, revise, and edit your paper before submitting it for a
grade. Finally you will develop a clear, concise abstract that summarizes
your claim and supporting evidence.
Choosing a Topic
You should already have chosen your research topic in U.S. History. Now is
the time to further develop your topic and conduct final research for your
paper.
As you develop your topic, remember:
 Your final essay will be 4-6 pages long, not including the Words Cited
page.
 You will be using at least three separate sources of information and at
least one source must be a non-internet, print source (book,
magazine article, newspaper article, or article from an approved
online database).
 All sources must be published, authoritative sources. Wiki’s (i.e.
Wikipedia) are NOT considered authoritative sites and are not
acceptable sources for this project. And, while certain blogs may be
considered authoritative, be sure to validate the authenticity of a blog
before using it as a source.
The Research Process
PLAGIARISM: In Chapter 2 “Plagiarism, and How to Avoid It” of Research
Paper Procedure, Amy Kleppner writes, “Even when it is unintentional,
presenting someone else’s thoughts, ideas, expressions, or information
without proper acknowledgment of the source is an act of academic
dishonesty.”
While this research paper is your work and most of the writing in it will be
your ideas written using your own words, it will be necessary to give credit
to others as extensive research and the use of at least three outside sources
is required.
As you are expected to properly cite others’ ideas, expressions, and words in
your paper so that you avoid plagiarism, it is important that you keep
accurate records of your sources during the research process. You will need
these details to complete your Works Cited page and format your internal
citations.
INFORMATION (SUMMARY, PARAPHRASE, AND QUOTATION):
 In your final paper, each source listed on your Works Cited page will
be cited at least once in the body of your research paper.
 As you research, summarize information from your sources,
paraphrase important details that you may want to cite in your paper,
and note brief word-for-word quotations that you may want to use to
support your main points in your essay.
 Since you must use at least one citation from each source, the more
information you have to choose from as you write your essay, the
easier it will be to support the main points of your argument
Using a Graphic Organizer
Once most of your research is complete, you will prepare a graphic organizer
as a plan for your essay. A complete graphic organizer includes your thesis
statement, at least three main points, supporting evidence for each of these
main points, and transitions between your main points.
A blank graphic organizer is attached to this assignment. Use this graphic
organizer to plan and organize your essay. You will turn this in for review
and for a grade.
The Graphic Organizer is worth 20 points and is due at the end of
class on
_____________________________________,
Drafting your Essay
Once you have completed the graphic organizer, you will begin writing your
research paper. The only draft that you will submit for a grade is the final,
polished paper; however, it is expected that you follow the steps of the
writing process and draft, revise, and edit your paper carefully. For more
information on The Writing Process, review pages R30 – R39 in the back of
your textbook. The “Writing Workshop” on pages 444-53 also provides
excellent suggestions for planning and writing a historical research paper.
NOTE: Even though you will not be turning in a rough draft for teacher or
peer review, asking for feedback from parents, siblings, or friends is a great
way to get help revising and improving early drafts of your paper.
The complete, polished final draft of your research paper, including
your abstract is worth 100 points and is due at the BEGINNING OF
CLASS on
______________________________________________.
Final Comments
Use class AND homework time productively, and do not put this off until the
last minute. LATE PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
It is important that you remain organized, save all of your work throughout
this project, manage your time well, and work on your paper at home as
well as in class. Also, as you will be earning participation points for in-class
work time, your grade will be adversely affected if you do not use class time
productively. This means that you MUST have your paper and your research
in print or on a travel drive in order to transport the files between home and
school and you must have this information with you on in-class workdays.
A copy of the rubric that will be used to grade the final paper is included on
the following page. USE this rubric to plan, draft, revise, edit, and finalize
your paper so that you meet assignment requirements.
Before submitting your paper for a grade, remove the rubric from the back
of this assignment, review it one more time to make sure you have met all
requisites of the assignment, put your name on the rubric, and turn it in with
your final paper.
RESEARCH PAPER – RUBRIC
NAME____________________________________
__________ Paper is a well-written Research Paper, composed in 3rd person point of view,
that follows conventions of academic writing and successfully meets the
assignment requirements (60)
 Introduction clearly and effectively presents the focus of the paper (15)
o Attention-getter is well-written and effective
o Thesis statement clearly states the topic and claim of the paper
o Main points used to support the claim are previewed in the introduction
 Body paragraphs support the thesis, provide authoritative detail, and are well-organized (30)
o Paragraphs are grammatically structured to include a topic sentence, detailed body
sentences, and a closing or transition sentence
o Main points are effectively supported by detail
o Paper introduces quotes and utilizes paraphrases effectively
o Sources are properly acknowledged in citations
 Concluding paragraph brings the paper to a logical conclusion (15)
o Thesis statement is sensibly restated
o Main points of the paper are clearly and effectively summarized
o Paper concludes with a well-thought out closing
__________ MLA Formatting and Proper Use and Citing of Authoritative Sources (15)
 Paper is formatted according the MLA requirements (5)
o Heading, Header, Title, Margins, Spacing, 12 point Times New Roman font, Abstract
 In-Text Citations (5)
o Research is supported by citations from at least three authoritative sources, including
at least one non-internet, print source
o Citations are formatted and punctuated properly
o There is at least one citation for each Works Cited entry
 Works Cited Page (5)
o Page is titled, entries are alphabetized, and hanging indent is used
o Information in entries is formatted correctly
___________ Mechanics, Style, and Abstract (25)
 Paper is 4 -6 pages long (10)
 Grammar and Word Choice (10)
o Sentence Structure is clear and avoids fragments and run-on sentences
o Clauses, phrases, and varied syntax are utilized effectively
o Punctuation (i.e. end stops, commas, semi-colons, colons, apostrophes, etc.) is used
correctly
o Spelling and Word Choice (i.e. homophones, plural v. possessive) are precise
o Subject-verb agreement, verb tense, phrases, modifiers are used correctly
o Academic language is utilized throughout paper (i.e. no contractions or slang)
 Abstract is a complete, 5-7 sentence, grammatical, well-developed paragraph and concisely
summarizes the thesis and main points of the paper. (5)
_________ / 100 POSSIBLE POINTS