Reading and Writing for Informational Research
English 11-Research Paper
Directions: You will read at least three sources (1 book (provided), 1 database, and 1
Internet source) about a famous author, Tennessee Williams, and then you will write a
research paper describing the life of this author and his importance in history.
Your Task:
After you have read, and completed a research outline, you will write a research essay
complete with a cover page and works cited page giving information about Williams.
You will tell about the author’s early life, marriage, career, and information on his
accomplishments.
Guidelines:
Be sure to:
 Establish a thesis statement telling why Williams is important to know about
 Use specific and relevant evidence from each of your sources to develop your
thesis
 Use correct parenthetical notation and create a Works Cited Page in correct MLA
format
 Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner
 Use language that communicates ideas effectively
 Follow the conventions of standard written English
Modern Language Association of America Format and Citation Sheet
MLA Format Notes
 Every piece of writing should be typed and double-spaced including the Works
Cited Page.
 Quotes longer than three lines should be indented 12 spaces, but if quotes are
indented there is no reason for quotation marks.
 All type should be 12 point font in Times New Roman.
 Headings should include the following information (Name, Teacher, Class, and
Date).
 Headers should appear at the top of the paper to the right side – The information
for the headers should always be last name of the author and page number of the
essay.
 All papers should have a title.
 There is no comma in between the name and page number in a parenthetical
citation.
Sample Citations
Encyclopedia Source:
Subjects Last Name, First name Middle Name or initial. Name of the Encyclopedia.
Year. Name of the Encyclopedia Company. Date Accessed (Day first three initials
of the month. Year) <website url>.
Garnett, Kevin Robert. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Britannica Online. 20 Mar. 2007
<http://www.britannica.com/cgi-bin/garnettarticle?/050113>.
Database Source (Student Resource Center):
Author Last Name, Author First Name Middle name or initial. “Name of the Article.”
Periodical Name. Date Published: Date Accessed. City: Database Company, Year.
Name of Database. <website url>.
Thomas, Jane. “William Shakespeare.” Literature Weekly. May 2002: 20 May 2007.
Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center - Bronze. Thomson Gale.
<http://find.galegroup.com>.
Book:
Author’s name. Title of the book. City of Publication: Publishing Company, Year.
Daniels, Henry K. The Life of D.H. Lawrence. Las Angeles: Market Publishing, 1991.
SAMPLE WORKS CITED PAGE
Smith 5
Works Cited
American Politics: How Campaign Finance is Ruining the United States. 28
Oct. 2002. CNN/SI. 1 Nov. 2003
<http://www.cnnsi.com/americanviews/camfi.html>.
Daniels, Benjamin. “The Campaign Finance Bill that Must be Passed.”
Politics Weekly 28 Apr. 2002: 34-38.
Lincoln, Jeffery. “Campaign Finance.” Harper’s Encyclopedia. 2002.
Martin, Fred. Campaign Finance in Focus. New York: Random House,
1998.
“Thompson Helps Pass Finance Reform Bill.” News Weekly 3 May 2003:
12-17.
Zinkler, Henry. A Country Free of Corruption. 1 Dec. 2002. Views of the
World.com. 31 Oct. 2003 <http://www.viewsoftheworld.com/freecor>.
Steps for Writing the Research Paper:
STEP 1: Research –All sources except for the Database source will be provided to you.
STEP 2 Reading and Note cards – Once you have collected your three sources you will
read over the sources and take information for your research paper. You will need a
source card for each source that you need. Here is how the note cards and source cards
should be formatted.
Source cards format
A (letter of the card – first source is A,
second is B, third is C)
Bibliographic information (correct format
is shown above)
Sample
B
King, James. John Milton: A Religious Man. May 2000.
Authors In History 20 Mar. 2007
<http://www.authorsinhistory.com/17century/miltonjohn/> .
Note cards format
A (source that it comes from)
(# of the card) 3
Title (identifies the information on the card)
1 piece of information (you cannot have more than 1 piece
of information per card!)
Page # that it comes from (if no page is available, use
page 1)
Sample
B
Works
4
John Milton wrote Paradise lost which was
his most famous work
page 34
STEP 3 Outline – After completing the note cards and having them checked off, you
will write an outline for the research paper. Follow the outline provided to you.
STEP 4 Rough Draft – After you have outlined and have your outline checked off by
the teacher, you may begin a rough draft. In the rough draft, you must have correct
parenthetical referencing.
Internal Citation – Parenthetical Referencing
Citation in a research essay, including a literary essay with criticisms cited, with more
than one source:
(Author’s last name page #)
e.g.
“It seems an unfair fate, since he wishes no physical harm to Hamlet, and is only
trying to ingratiate himself with Claudius” (Bevington 300).
Also, this could be the first word in the citation if there is no author (Religious 5).
Sample Body Paragraph with Internal Citation:
Although Brick Tamlin was not the most intelligent man in the world, it is
difficult to argue that he was not a great newsman. In 1987, Brick was hired by a little
known news station called ESPN (Ford 83). Although the news network did not
appreciate the fact that Brick continued to report the weather on the all sports network,
fellow sports anchor Dan Patrick had this to say: “It took guts for Brick to report the
weather on a channel that was so dedicated to sports” (Thompson 55). Brick’s antics
continued to become more problematic through the years. During one telecast, Brick
reported the weather completely covered in mayonnaise (Goldman 3). In an interview
Brick had this to say about what would later be dubbed, “The mayonnaise incident”:
I’m not going to lie to my fans out there by saying what I did was right.
However, it happens that I live in a country where men are free to express
their rights and feelings. I live in a country where if a man wants to have
an unusual and beautiful relationship with mayonnaise, then that is his
own business. I don’t know about the rest of the people in this country,
but I am proud to be a Mexican. (Snyder 23)
Tom Snyder states that it was later pointed out to Brick that he was, in fact, not Mexican,
but a citizen of the United States. Tamlin disagreed (24). If nothing else, Brick Tamlin
should be looked at as a man who stood up for what he believed in regardless of how
much in the wrong he truly was.
STEP 5 Final Copy: After you have finished the rough draft and had it checked off by
the teacher, you may work on the final draft. The final draft must be turned in with a
cover page and a Works Cited Page.
Information for the Cover Page (This should be centered on the paper in the middle of the
paper)
Title of the Paper
Name
English 11
Date
Research Paper
Your Teacher’s Name
NOTES ON WORKS CITED PAGE
 List all of the sources you have used.
 Every line in a citation is indented EXCEPT the first line
 A Works Cited Page is NOT a Bibliography
 Titles of books, magazines, or encyclopedias are underlined while articles are in
quotations.
 All citations end with a period
 Citations are in alphabetical order. Alphabetical order is determined by the first
word in the citation, which is usually the author’s last name.