10th Lit/Comp Research Packet
Redding/Palmer/Sapere
Name______________________________________________________________________
Informative/Persuasive Research Paper
Man’s Inhumanity to Man
RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
ELA10W3: The student uses research and technology to support writing.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
ELA10W1: The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a
coherent focus throughout, and signals closure.
William Golding says of Lord of the Flies that “The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society
back to the defects of human nature.”
Your research paper for this semester will center on discovering the truth (or lack thereof) behind this
statement. To do this, you will choose one example of man’s inhumanity to man and, in a well-developed
essay of three to five pages, examine the history of this inhumanity, the evidence of this inhumanity
across cultures, and the reasons for this inhumanity. Consider the philosophy we have studied, along
with any injustices, prejudices, or mistreatment that you can think of in our society or in societies that
came before us as valid topics for your paper. You should be answering the question: Is this inhumanity
the fault of society or the fault of human nature?
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE RESEARCH PAPER:
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minimum 3 typed pages (MLA format—NO MORE than 5 pages)
minimum 4 sources; one of these MUST BE from Hobbes or Rousseau
minimum of 5-10 notes per source
detailed outline
rough draft
final draft with complete Works Cited
When you turn in your final draft, you will be turning in the following:
 all practice exercises done in research process
 Online bibliography and note cards or pages of notes with bibliography sources written on top
(minimum 4 sources)
 detailed outline with thesis statement
 completed/edited rough draft
Final draft typed. Everything should be placed in a manila envelope — do not staple together
Research Paper Topics
Apartheid
Armenian genocide
Braceros/Bateys in Dominican Republic
Darfur
Slavery
Child Slavery
Children soldiers
Holocaust
KKK
Sierra Leone
Rwanda (1994 genocide)
Katrina
Earthquake in Haiti
Ethnic Cleansing in former Yugoslavia
Child Labor
Mistreatment of Haitians in the Dominican Republic
Native Americans
Japanese Internment Camps
9/11 and/or terrorism
Hate Crimes
The Ukraine Genocide
The Cambodian Genocide
Operation Search Light
The Mississippi Burning Case of 1964
The Execution of Troy Davis
Discrimination against
 obese people
 mental and physically handicapped
 people from various races
 religion
 “little people”
 LGBT people
Dates to know:
Media Center for initial research: February 25th and 26th
Bibliography page due: March 1st
Media Center to work on outline: March 4th
Outline due: March 6th
Media Center to work on outlines and rough drafts: March 6th
Rough Draft due: March 11th
Media Center to work on final draft: March 14th
Final Draft due: March 18th
Write 6-10 questions you want to answer in the course of your research. Do not write yes/no questions or
questions that require only short answers.
TOPIC _________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS ON TOPIC:
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Thesis Statements/Intros
A thesis statement:
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Tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
Is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
Directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the
subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then
offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
Makes a claim that others might dispute.
Is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader.
The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader
of the logic of your interpretation.
Example Thesis Statements
In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the characters of Lennie and Crooks to develop the themes of
Naturalism, in which many “common people” were considered victims of forces beyond their control
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World was written to warn future generations against the dangers of advanced
technology and rampant consumerism within society.
Your Thesis Statement:
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Your thesis statement should be the last, or next to last, sentence of your introduction. The other sentences in
your introduction should “build up” to your thesis statement. In other words, your thesis should be the most
specific part of your intro. Begin with a broad idea, and link each sentence to the next, getting more and more
specific as your intro continues until you get to the thesis statement.
Practice writing an intro here:
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OUTLINE TEMPLATE
Student Name
Teacher’s last name
10th Literature and Composition
Date (Day Month Year)
Paper Title
Introduction:
Thesis: Write the actual one sentence thesis statement.
Body Paragraphs:
I.
Complete sentence expressing a main idea to support the thesis.
A. For all capital letters, put a phrase representing what you will offer as proof from your research
to support the main idea.
1. Phrase of specific support/details/examples/statistics
2. More specific support
B. Same as A
1. Same as above
2. Same as above
II.
Another main idea to support the thesis. Each body paragraph must have a main idea. You will have as
many roman numerals as you have body paragraphs.
A. Continue your outline as it is above. For every A, you must have a B. For every 1, you must have
a 2. This is just an example, so do not expect to have only two body paragraphs.
Conclusion:
Write a sentence that summarizes the main ideas of your paper. Your paper should come full circle here, which
is why you restate your thesis (but not verbatim) in this paragraph.
Redding
Research Paper Checklist
Name: ____________________
Period: ________
Directions: Use this checklist as a guide and staple it to the final copy of your research paper which
due on Monday, March 18th. Along with the final copy of your paper, please place your bibliography
page, thesis page, outline, and rough draft in a manila envelope or folder for collection.
___ 1. Length (at least 3 full pages, not including the Works Cited page)
___ 2. Thesis Statement
___ 3. Introduction (thesis statement at the end of this paragraph)
___ 4. Topic sentences introducing main points of each paragraph
___ 5. Minimum of 2 in-text citations per body paragraph (alternating between direct quotes,
paraphrasing, and summarizing)
___ 6. Conclusion
___ 7. Works Cited Page (minimum of 4 sources in your paper, one of which is from Hobbes or
Rousseau)
___ 8. MLA Format:
___ a. Typed in twelve point font (Times New Roman)
___ b. Double-spaced
___ c. One inch margins all around
___ d. Correct heading on first page
___ e. Heading and page numbers from page 2 through the end of the paper
___ f. Correctly formatted Works Cited
___ 10. Black ink only
___ 11. Spelling and grammar check
___ 12. Rough draft with comments and peer editing worksheet
___ 13. Outline
___ 14. Bibliography page
___ 15. Turnitin.com receipt
YOUR PAPER WILL BE DEDUCTED 10 POINTS FOR EVERY DAY IT’S LATE – NO
EXCEPTIONS!!!