http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/
Bell Ringer (Quick Write)
Take 10 minutes and create a list of concepts you do not understand, find confusing, or difficult about a research paper. What are some of the easy aspects?
The Right Approach to Choose Interesting and Informative
Topics
The first step of any research paper is for the student to understand the assignment. If this is not done, the student will often travel down many dead-end roads, wasting a great deal of time along the way. Do not hesitate to approach the instructor with questions if there is any confusion. A clear understanding of the assignment will allow the student to focus on other aspects of the process, such as choosing a topic and identifying one's audience.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/
Methods for choosing a topic
Thinking early leads to starting early. If the student begins thinking about possible topics when the assignment is given, she has already begun the arduous, yet rewarding, task of planning and organization. Once she has made the assignment a priority in her mind, she may begin to have ideas
throughout the day. Brainstorming is often a successful way for students to get some of these ideas down on paper.
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The instructor should be considered only one member of the paper's audience; he is part of the academic audience that desires students to investigate, research, and evaluate a topic. Try to imagine an audience that would be interested in and benefit from your research…if the student is writing a twelve page research paper about ethanol and its importance as an energy source of the future, would she write with an audience of elementary students in mind?
Who is most likely to be interested in the research I am doing?
What is it about my topic that interests the general audience I have discerned?

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/
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If the audience I am writing for is not particularly interested in my topic, what should I do to pique its interest?
Will each member of the broadly conceived audience agree with what I have to say?
If not (which will likely be the case!) what counter-arguments should I be prepared to answer?
Where do I begin?
Choosing Topic
Due MONDAY MARCH 28
WHEN YOU TURN IN YOUR FINAL TOPIC, THIS
GRAPHIC ORGANIZER MUST BE TYPED, AND TURNED
IN WITH SPECIFIC TOPIC. Quiz
Research
3 valid sources must be used, one being a hardcopy text.
Books, magazine, newspapers, etc.
When turning sources in, full copies of each source must be submitted for a grade. The source MUST have significant relevance to the topic of the paper.
Annotated Bibliography

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/ bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "references" or "works cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).
An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation.
Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources.
Typed
Outlining
Outline will be explained in further detail as we work. It will be TYPED, DETAILED, and clear out of the entire paper.
Drafting
Drafting is one of the last stages in the process of writing a research paper. No drafting should take place without a research

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/ question or thesis statement; otherwise, the student will find himself writing without a purpose or direction. The rough draft will be a rough draft of the ENTIRE paper…TYPED.
Final Draft
Typed, Times New Roman, 12pt font, APA, annotated bib, resource page, cover page, double spaced, turnitin.com, 5-
7pages…Any questions?

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/
Activity one:
Generate 2 topics. When finished, walk up and post them on the board. If the topic is already posted, you must think of something new.
PART 2
General words such as "media,""war," "life,"or
"nature"are often incorrectly used as if they were topics
(even "dragons"is too broad).
However, students often begin to write essays with nothing more in mind than a general concept, and the result is a vague and generalized essay, of little interest to the student and less to the instructor. If you start with a broad area, concentrate on narrowing your subject it will also help you deal with your topic within the length of the paper assigned and the time you have been given to complete it.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/
Now choose a MOCK topic from the board and Narrow it down, use the following Graphic organizer:
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Am I writing of one specific,________or of _______in general?
 What kind of _______ do I wish to write about?
 What activities, qualities, or myths of that particular
___________do I wish to explore?
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Am I concentrating on the history of the ________, or its causes or outcome?
What specific events or examples will illustrate my points?
THEN….
General subject: Dragons
Narrowed topic: Fire-breathing dragons
Specific topic: Problems in fighting the medieval firebreathing dragon.
WITH REMAININ TIME, CREATE YOUR OWN BRAIN
STORM MAP. USE BULLETS, MAPPING, TREES, ETC
TO GENERATE TOPIC IDEAS. IF NOT COMPLETE,
COMPLETE FOR HOME WORK. WHEN YOU TURN IN
YOUR FINAL TOPIC, THIS GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/05/
MUST BE TYPED, AND TURNED IN WITH SPECIFIC
TOPIC.
Due Monday