RESEARCH PAPER
English III
Objectives
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Students will learn prewriting, drafting, and revising
techniques for writing a literary research paper
Students will learn how to evaluate and cite sources
Students will write a formal research paper
answering the question, “What makes a monster?”
Students will use literature, class discussion, articles,
interviews and informational literature to answer
the question.
Students will be way smarter when this is finished.
A Good Research Paper
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Answers questions about the interpretation of what
makes a monster.
Uses multiple, reliable sources
Documents sources of information
Follows an outline to support a clear thesis
Uses formal but accessible language
Follows the rubric
Prewriting
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Choose a research topic from the essential question
Use Frankenstein as your base
Search the textbook, articles, internet, etc. to find
different opinions and points of view
Jot down sources as you browse in case you want to
use them in the paper
Make a Research plan using the 5W-How method
5W-How
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Answer the questions:
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
5W-How Example
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Who is the monster?
What makes someone/thing a monster?
When does it become a monster?
Where is it a monster? Society? Alone?
Why is it a monster? What is the cause?
How do you create a monster? Origin? Static or
dynamic?
Purpose and Audience
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Purpose is to convey the results of your research to
your audience.
Your audience is usually your teacher and
classmates.
What does your audience already know about the
literary work? Does the essay require a book
summary? What will you need to explain?
Begin Research
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Start with general reference materials.
You want an overview of your topic.
Explore a variety of print and nonprint resources.
Examples: library, books, magazines, newspapers,
museums, art galleries, government offices, universities,
tv and radio, internet.
Balance primary and secondary sources.
Primary- original information, letters, autobiographies,
historical docs, literature and art.
 Secondary- reference works, documentaries, biographies.
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Record Sources
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Part of your research process (and grade) will be to
create source cards as you go. (pg. 507)
Source number
Publishing information
Annotation
Call number
Research & Take Notes
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Gather specific information to answer your research
questions (5W-How).
Direct quote- capture technical accuracy or record
an interesting quote. Word for word documentation.
Paraphrase- Completely rewrite a passage, using
your own words and style. Do NOT cut and paste
and change one or two words (plagiarism).
Summary- use the main idea of a passage; highly
condensed- much shorter than original passage.
Plagiarism
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There are few intellectual offenses more serious
than plagiarism in academic and professional
contexts.
the uncredited use (both intentional and
unintentional) of somebody else's words or ideas.
Results: zero on paper, meeting with parents,
principal and teacher; referral.
Example from Purdue University
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Here, for example, is a statement that Professor Irwin
Weiser of Purdue University has used with his Introductory
Composition courses:
When writers use material from other sources, they must
acknowledge this source. Not doing so is called plagiarism,
which means using without credit the ideas or expressions of
another. You are therefore cautioned (1) against using, word
for word, without acknowledgment, phrases, sentences,
paragraphs, etc., from the printed or manuscript material of
others; (2) against using with only slight changes the
materials of another; and (3) against using the general plan,
the main headings, or a rewritten form of someone else's
material. These cautions apply to the work of other students
as well as to the published work of professional writers.
How to Avoid it…
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Note the name of the idea's originator in the sentence or
throughout a paragraph about the idea
Ex/ Shelley often quoted her husband’s and Byron’s work to
describe Victor’s feelings.
Use parenthetical citations, footnotes, or endnotes to refer
readers to additional sources about the idea, as necessary
Ex/ Most who grow up in an alcoholic home suffer
depression (Smith and Jones).
Be sure to use quotation marks around key phrases or words
that the idea's originator used to describe the idea
Ex/ Clearly Shelley believed in the evil of man stating, “men
appear as monsters.”
Outline