Summative Research Essay for 3C
Overview: Research essay meets literary essay
Introduction
Body Paragraph 1—research
Body Paragraph 2-point, proof, explain * 3
Body Paragraph 3—research
Body Paragraph 4-point, proof, explain*3
Body Paragraph 5-research
Body Paragraph 6—point, proof, explain*3
Conclusion
Breaking it Down…
Your research…
For this assignment you will be researching 3 characteristics of autism. You will write 3 paragraphs.
Each of the paragraphs will explain 1 characteristic of autism. Each paragraph will have a fact and a
statistic and an appeal to authority; you may also include a case study.
Reading the novel…
You will argue that the author has created an accurate depiction of an individual with autism in the
character Christopher. Each research paragraph will be followed by a paragraph that cites specific
incidents from the novel where Christopher exhibited the trait you explained in your research
paragraph.
Part A
Step One: Select 3 characteristics of Autism that you would like to research.
Step Two: For each characteristic find




a statistic,
an appeal to authority
a fact
a case study (optional)
Later you will use this information to write a paragraph in your essay
Part B
Use the notes you have taken for “Tracking Christopher’s Journey” to help you complete this task.
 If you have not been keeping track of the traits Christopher exhibits that match the
characteristics of Autism make sure you do so from now on!
Step 1: Select 3 quotations that match-up with your 1st research category.
Step 2: Select 3 quotations that match-up with your 2nd research category.
Step 3: Select 3 quotations that match-up with your 3rd research category.
 Later you will use standard essay format to complete this section of your essay.
Categorizing the information you find—
what are you looking at?
 A case study?
 An appeal to an
authority?
 A statistic?
 A fact?
Case Study
A case study involves putting subjects through a certain experience and looking for patterns.
Case studies can involve putting one subject through an experiment, or many subjects
through the same experiment.
The paper proposes possible use of interactive robots in the remedial practice for children with autism,
who have difficulties mainly in interpersonal communication. For this purpose, we built a small creaturelike robot, Keepon, which was carefully designed to get autistic and non-autistic children involved in
playful interaction. We observed how autistic children (2-4 years old) interacted with Keepon without
any experimental setting or instructions in a playroom at a day-care center for children with special
needs. From the longitudinal observation for a year and a half (totally, over 500 child-sessions), we
found that Keepon's simple appearance and predictable responses gave the autistic children a playful
and relaxed mood, in which they spontaneously engaged in dyadic play with Keepon, which would then
expand into interpersonal communication where Keepon worked as the pivot of triadic play with adults
or other children. Each child showed a different style and a different unfolding of interaction over time,
which tell us a "story" of his or her personality and developmental profile, which would not be explained
thoroughly by a diagnostic label like "autism".
Published in:
Robot and Human Interactive Communication, 2005. ROMAN 2005. IEEE International Workshop on
Statistics
If you are looking at a ratio or a percentage you are probably looking at a statistic.
It was once thought that poor parenting caused autism. This is definitely not true. Although the cause
of autism is unclear, it is known that genetics do play a role. The disorder is seen often in identical
twins: different studies have shown that if one identical twin has autism then there is a 63-98%
chance that the other twin will have it. For non-identical twins (also called fraternal or dizygotic
twins), the chance is between 0-10% that both twins will develop autism. The chance that siblings
will be affected by autism is about 3%.
Chance that both people will develop autism:
63-98%
Identical Twins


0-10%
Fraternal Twins
3%
Sibling
Autism occurs in approximately 1 out of every 110 children in the U.S. (Reference: CDC,
2009)
Autism is seen more often in boys; four or five boys will have autism compared to one girl.
Appeals to Authority
If you are looking at a fact as stated by a doctor, or a scientist or an “expert” what you are reading
might not be true—but because an authority figure is saying it, it might be true.
1. appeals to authority rest on claims that assert that “Anything, or almost everything, that A
says about S is true, or probably true.” This is the “authority claim”.
2. An appeal to authority is good when the authority claim is plausible; it’s fallacious when the
authority claim is not plausible.
3. Judgments about the plausibility of authority claims are sensitive to differences in the the
experience and background of different audiences.
One audience might recognize A as an authority on a subject while another audience might reject A,
or at least be skeptical about A as an authority. In cases like this, if you want to pursue an appeal to
authority then you’ll need additional argumentation to defend the authority claim.

Leo Kanner first described autism as the "inability to relate themselves in the ordinary way to
people and situations from the beginning of life" in the 1943 paper "Autistic Disturbances of
Affective Contact."Facts
If what you are looking at reliable information that
doesn’t fit any of the above categories we label it a
“FACT”





Autism is the third most common developmental
disorder in the U.S., affecting at least 500,000
people.
Girls with autism are often more severely affected than boys and score lower on intelligence
tests.
Autism usually is seen within the first three years of life.
Some people with autism are gifted in certain areas such as math or music.
Autism has also been called "early infantile autism," "childhood autism," "Kanner's autism,"
and "pervasive developmental disorder."