Research Writing
An Introduction for 7th Grade
What is a Research Paper?
• A research paper is like a report.
• Before you write it, you use books,
articles, the internet, and other sources
to gather information about your topic.
• You GATHER information from these
sources and use that information in
your paper to tell your readers about
your topic.
WAIT……WHAT???
• A research paper is actually a WRITTEN piece of
WORK IN YOUR OWN WORDS that fully
discusses a topic that you have spent time learning
about. It is to be in depth and intelligent, with
support from credible sources. This paper will be
YOUR work, but you have based your knowledge on
the credible work of others.
• Sounds difficult? It’s not really so bad, actually, it
gets pretty easy.
There’s NO NEED to become
this…….we will work on this
TOGETHER.
Magazine
or
Newspaper
Articles
Journals
Books
Internet
Web
Choosing a Topic
• Pick a topic
– You will receive a list of topics you may choose from.
These are simply ideas to start with. You may add
your own topic if you would like, however, it must be
approved by Mrs. Stauss.
– Choose something you are interested in.
• Please look at the attached list.
Things to consider when choosing a topic
•Choose a subject that interests you.
•Choose a subject for which a wide range of source
material is readily available.
•You need to be able to find sources on your
topic
•Choose a subject of some significance. A subject of
lasting interest will be challenging and gratifying to
pursue. You will be spending a great deal of time
and effort on this so make sure it's of value.
Things to consider when choosing a topic
After you have
chosen a
general topic,
you must
narrow it so
that it becomes
more specific
and easier to
research.
Things to consider when NARROWING a
topic
•Do some general reading on your topic so that
you become familiar with various aspects of it.
•Establish the purpose of your paper. What
will you be informing the reader about? Be
sure your topic can be handled within the
assigned length.
•Focus on a particular aspect of your topic that
will lend itself to the sources available.
GENERAL TOPIC:
1. Alcoholism
NARROWED TOPIC:
1. Causes of Alcoholism
2. Scientists/Mathematicians 2. Albert Einstein's Impact
on the 20th Century
3. Drugs
3. Effects of Drug Use Teens
4. Elizabethan England
4. Health Concerns in
Shakespeare's England
5. Tennis
5. The Rise in Popularity of
Women's Tennis
After we Narrow our topics, then what?
We will then narrow our topics even further
into sub-topics. Consider your sub-topics the
same thing as your reasons in the body
paragraphs of your persuasive essay. This will
not take place for a while.
Example: How to Narrow Topic to Sub-Topics
•GENERAL TOPIC: Eating Disorders
•BROAD TOPIC: Anorexia Nervosa
•SPECIFIC TOPIC: Physical Effects of Anorexia Nervosa
•Sub-Topic 1: Depletion of Vitamins and Minerals in the body
•Sub-Topic 2: Negative side effects on internal organs
•Sub-Topic 3: Heart issues
ASSIGNMENT: This week we will complete independent
research to identify what we’re interested in writing about.
•There will be no thorough research (like reading books or
looking up magazine or newspaper articles) until we have
chosen a topic we are interested in writing about.
• Tonight, you will discuss with your parents what you
might be interested in writing about.
• Choose two or three topics and conduct research on
both/all topics. Try to identify which topic you are the most
interested in researching.
•YOU MUST PRINT OUT this information so that I can
see you have done the work AND HAVENT’T
RANDOMLY PICKED ANYTHING FROM THE LIST.
When I start researching, how do I know
if a site is CREDIBLE?
You should know that only a few select sites can be credible.
Follow this checklist to ensure that you can actually use the
source.
1. Know the name of the AUTHOR of the site, and their credentials
(Dr., Researcher, Journalist, etc…)
2. Know what company or organization this site affiliated with.
3. Know WHERE this site exists. (Usually AngleFire, MySpace or
blogger pages and their like ARE NOT credible).
4. Know what type of information is being conveyed.
5. There must be useful information you can gather for your study.
6. Know when the site was updated last.
Examples:
http://www.HoughtonMifflin.com/historical/vampire/ht
ml
Borne From Gaves and Charnel Houses.
by: Dr. Julian Smithee PHD of Supernatural Lit,
Cambridge College.
Following the strange trails of the vampire
through history leads down any number of false dark
alleys and real dark corridors. However they are
regarded, stalker or carrion rogue, the vampire seems to
permeate every society in the world in one form or
another. Yet where do these creatures originate from?
Why do they differ in appearance and behavior from
country to country? And above all, why are such
murderous creatures so terrifying yet so attractive to us
at the same time?
To explore the true birth place
of the vampire, we must look at two of the greatest
empires in the world and their sub-cultures. The Greeks
and the Egyptians were simultaneously the most
powerful and populace empires in the known world.
Thus, it is only fitting that from such great societies
come the world’s most renowned fiends. Somewhere
around eighty years before the birth of Christ, we find
the first written evidence of vampiric happenings in
Greek grave yards and Egyptian tombs.
pg. 1
http://www.geocities.com/MorganLF/vampires.html
Vampires are undoubtedly the coolest creatures out
there. In comparison to werewolves or ghosts,
neither is more real or more powerful than the
vampire.
I myself am a vampire, and so it is with pride I tell
you about myself to scare you a little more…people
taste better when they’re scared.
I, like all vampires, originate from Los Angeles.
Some people think vampires are from other places,
but the true vampires are seen only in LA clubs. I’ve
been to N.Y. clubs, and they’re just posers.
Despite popular belief, vampires have been around
as long as humans…longer, actually. We began as
angels, fallen like the demons, but we made our way
from Hell to earth where our lesser forms developed
into humanity. Real vampires do not develop, we
feed and continue.
pg. 1
• From the good site you could clearly see WHO wrote the article,
WHY they were a credible source, and INFORMATION that
would actually help you with your research. Furthermore, look at
the WEB ADDRESS, (Houghton Mifflin is a school textbook
company, thus a trustworthy source).
• The bad site is quite opposite. It is based on opinion, “I am a
vampire….” Has irrelevant quotes as to helping you, and has no
credible author or company to back them up. Furthermore, look at
the address. Any time it is from Geocities, Angelfire, Tripod, a
personal blog, or any other company that allows any and all
individuals to make personal web pages, it is usually NOT a
credible or accepted source.
Once I start researching my topic, what do
I do with the information?
STEP 1:
• Print the information OUT. Be sure to print
out the information from the website.
• I encourage you NOT to copy and paste it into
Microsoft Word because you will lose
valuable information, including who wrote it,
when it was published, etc. You will need this
information when we create our bibliography.
• REMEMBER: The first step is to just get
familiar with your topic. You are simply
using any search engine to research your topic
to see if you are interested in writing about it.
• More serious evaluation and gathering of
information from credible sources will take
place next week in the library.
Once I start researching my topic, what do
I do with the information?
STEP 2:
• YOU MUST READ your
information.
• After you have printed out a
valuable piece of information about
your topic, highlight important
information.
• Decide if this is the topic you want
to write your paper on. Don’t be
surprised if your opinion changes.
• We will begin a thorough
evaluation of sources in the library
next week.
How will we write this paper once we’ve finished
researching and gathering our sources?
INTRODUCTION:
•HOOK – Your Attention Grabber
•Brief discussion/explanation of topic
•Thesis Statement clearly stating opinion
or point of view on topic
How will we write this paper once we’ve finished
researching and gathering our sources?
BODY PARAGRAPHS
(each sub-topic will be 2 paragraphs):
•Explanation of Sub-Topic # 1
•Supporting Evidence (supporting evidence may require the
use of more than one paragraph to explain a sub-topic)
•Explanation of Sub-Topic # 2
•Supporting Evidence (supporting evidence may require the
use of more than one paragraph to explain a sub-topic)
•Explanation of Sub-Topic # 3
•Supporting Evidence (supporting evidence may require the
use of more than one paragraph to explain a sub-topic)
How will we write this paper once we’ve finished
researching and gathering our sources?
CONCLUSION
• Rephrased Thesis Statement
• Briefly discuss main points (sub-topics) again
• Think Big Picture – Attention Grabbing
Statement. Leave the reader with a thoughtprovoking sentence or question for closure.
How will we write this paper once we’ve finished
researching and gathering our sources?
MLA BIBLIOGRAPHY
• This will be done in the library with the help
of Mrs. Stendardi.
•MLA stands for Modern Language
Association. It is a specific format we will
follow. This will all be explained to you in
class.
Steps in Research Paper
Step 1:
• Choose a topic:
•Take the time to do a little independent
research on your topic utilizing google.com,
bing.com, yahoo.com, or any other search
engine.
•Familiarize yourself with the topic and begin
to narrow your topic to something more
specific.
•This is just intended to get your feet wet.
Step 2 in Research Paper
• Confirm your topic:
•After you have taken the time to “get your feet
wet” and familiarize yourself with several
topics you must confirm your topic with your
parents.
•Parents must sign a release sheet/permission
sheet.
•Bring permission sheet to school
Step 3 in Research Paper
• Begin Gathering Sources in Library:
• Working with the librarian, we will learn how to utilize an online
database to help us find magazine, journal, and newspaper articles
that connect to our topic.
•This will take place for 4 days in the library (subject to change due
to class progress).
•If you do not complete this step in the days allotted, you will need
to return to the library on your own independently. There are
specific due dates you are required to abide by for the project.
Sources:
1 book source
2 magazine or newspaper articles
2 web sources – comes from the Internet
• As you research, you will begin to brainstorm sub-topics
Step 4 in Research Paper
• Read and highlight sources:
•We will tackle one source a day. You will be
required to read through each source and
highlight information that you think will be
beneficial to use in your research paper.
•Not all the information is connected to YOUR specific
topic.
•As you read, confirm sub-topics that narrow
down your specific topic even more.
•Highlighted notes will be checked each day. DO
NOT HIGHLIGHT everything!
Step 5 in Research Paper
• Create source cards
• Each source card will contain information
about each source (1 book, two magazine/newspaper
articles and 2 web sources).
Will count as a quiz grade
• This will contain information about the
author, publisher, etc.
• DO NOT throw out your source cards at
any point in the process!
Step 6 in Research Paper
• Begin to develop note cards from your
sources:
• We will discuss the process of creating note cards
in class once we have reached this point.
• Note cards help you narrow your information
even further and help us practice paraphrasing
information in our own words rather than simply
copying from a source.
Note cards will be organized according to subtopics.
Each set of note cards will count as a quiz grade.
Note cards will be staggered and completed in sections.
Step 7 in Research Paper
• Develop THESIS statement
•Remember, a THESIS statement tells the reader specifically
what will be covered in the written paper.
• We will THOROUGHLY discuss the thesis statement, and
how we can write a thesis statement together in class, once we
reach this point.
• From this point forward, after we have gathered our
research and prepared all of our note cards, we will need to
ensure everything connects to our thesis statement.
• Ultimately, everything that you write should connect to your
THESIS statement.
Step 8 in Research Paper
•
Develop OUTLINE
•Once all note cards are completed, we will then organize our
note cards into three piles:
•Sub-topic 1
Will count as two quiz
•Sub-topic 2
grades.
•Sub-topic 3
•We will then organize our information into an OUTLINE.
You will receive several samples of outlines and we will
thoroughly discuss in class how one can type an outline in
Microsoft Word.
• The outline is a precursor to writing the research paper. The
paper will follow the EXACT order of your outline.
Step 9 in Research Paper
•
Develop Bibliography
• We will then return to the library and type our
bibliography.
Will count as a quiz
grades.
• The bibliography will be based off of our source
cards.
• The bibliography will follow the MLA format.
•Don’t worry! Mrs. Stendardi and I will show
you how to do everything!
Step 10 in Research Paper
• Learn
how to include Parenthetical Citations:
• Parenthetical citations give credit to the author or source you
retrieved your information from.
• You must understand that a research paper focuses on the
information you have retrieved from other sources, NOT your own
information, therefore the researched information needs to “cited”.
• It’s very simple: Whenever you provide a specific quote or
evidence that is not your own, you will put the author’s last name
and page number of where you retrieved your information.
SAMPLE:
In a recent study by the FDA, researchers found that over 70% of
high school students have thought about taking steroids in order to
enhance their performance (Livingston 56).
Parenthetical Citation
Step 11 in Research Paper
• WRITE THE
PAPER!!!
• Every step in the research
paper process is graded and
will contribute to the final
product. If you choose to
become lazy at any point in
the process, it will affect the
final product and frustrate
you in the end.
• Take PRIDE in your work
and REMEMBER: it reflects
your work ethic and
commitment to excellence.
Choose a topic you would
be interested in reading.
And, above all, create
something you are proud
of altogether.
• Plagiarism is when you take someone else’s works, ideas or words and
use them as your own. Whether it is a sentence, a part of a sentence or
an entire paper, it will ruin your grade.
• It is an academic crime and an ethical offense. Plagiarism is stealing
someone’s intellectual property.
• If you plagiarize in ANY college class, you are usually expelled from
the college, cannot reapply EVER, and the infraction is placed on
your permanent record.
• Why is it an academic crime? It is an academic crime because you are
stealing another person’s ideas. It is illegal and immoral.
• If you are thinking about it, don’t chance it.
• If you ever need to help summarizing, properly quoting or
paraphrasing, see me! It’s better to ask for extra help than take the
sneaky route and copy someone else’s writing. I will have more respect
for you if you ask for help. We will discuss how to avoid this much more
in class.
EXTRA SLIDES
Integrating Sources
Use a variety of lead-ins to introduce concepts or findings from researchers:
1.
According to Smith (2001), the presence of a television set in the home even
changed eating habits; frozen TV dinners, TV trays, and TV tables altered the
physical and social contexts of family meals.
2.
By the early 1960’s, “90 percent of all households had at least one television set” (Bishop
& Marx, 2006, p. 2).
3.
Television programs and commercials reinforced rigid gender roles and
promised consumers material wealth if they could fit the roles. One social
critic from the era remarked that “television certainly nurtured both consumerism and
conformity” (Cole, 1966, p. 24).
Student Learning Center
39
Questions
• Now you should come up with some
questions you can research about your
topic:
– When was the first Thanksgiving and why
was it held?
– What happened at the first Thanksgiving?
– How has this celebration/event changed over
time?