1. Agenda
 Writing Prompt/Discussion
 Presentation
 HW: FOLLOW THE CALENDAR

2. WRITING PROMPT
 How will the skills you learned during the
Rhetorical Analysis help you with the
final research paper? Be as specific as
possible.
 How will the skills you learned during the
Exploratory Essay help you with the final
research paper? Be as specific as
possible.

3. Study/Support Groups
 To help us all complete this final research paper, we
will be working in groups.
 Nearly every day for the rest of the term, we will be
updating members of our group on our progress,
giving and getting feedback, discussing the research
and writing process and generally providing both
academic and attitude support.
 I encourage you to meet with your group outside of
class as well.

4. Group Selection
 Random selection of groups.
 Sit with your group.
 Exchange TCC contact information
 Discuss your response to the writing
prompt.

5. Research Paper
What is a research
paper?

6. Research Paper
Why do we assign a research paper
in an English Composition class?
What are the skills involved in an
English Composition Research
Paper?

7. Research Paper
Why do instructors in other
subjects assign research
papers?

8. How do we start?
What are the steps in the
research paper process?

9. The steps
 One: Choose a topic and start with a Research
Question
 Two: Get ideas and collect background information
 Three: Establish your Thesis Statement
 Four: Determine your structure
 Five: Finding, Skimming, Selecting, Reading &
Annotating, Summarizing, Paraphrasing, Quoting,
Interpreting, Critiquing and Citing your Sources

10. The steps
 Six: Layered Outlining
 Seven: Drafting
 Eight: Revising
 Nine: Editing
 Ten: Citing per APA (abstract)

11. Step One
 CHOOSE A SUBJECT AREA, AND
FOCUS ON A TOPIC.
 Make sure the scope of your topic is
appropriate for the length of your paper.
 Move from broad to narrower to just right
for your essay.

12. For example…
 Farming--livestock--cows-dairy cow
disease--parasite control in dairy cows
 Advertising – T.V. advertising – T.V.
advertising of food – T.V. advertising of
cereals – T.V. advertising of high fiber
cereals
 Where does your topic fall along this
spectrum?

13. Step Two
 ESTABLISH A RESEARCH QUESTION AND
COLLECT INFORMATION
 A. Ask questions about your topic. Once questioning
starts, it leads to more questions, and the answers to
these questions ultimately form the basis of your
writing. This is especially true for those of you who are
worried about writing long enough or selecting enough
Subsections.
 What questions do you have about your topic?

15. Step Two
 GET IDEAS AND COLLECT INFORMATION
 B. Brainstorm – jot down ideas – free associate. Good
ideas come from this. What do you already know
about your topic that might end up as one of your
subsections?
 C. Cluster –a form of brainstorming in which put topic
in a circle in the middle of a piece of paper. Draw lines
from that circle to others in which you write key words
or phrases.

16. Cluster

17. Step Two
 GET IDEAS AND GATHER
INFORMATION
 D. Research
 Databases (we review these tomorrow)
 Interviews
 Careful Notes!!!!!!!

18. Step Two
 GET IDEAS AND GATHER
INFORMATION
 E. Think Creatively. This connects back
to questioning. Ask a question about
your topic that no one else would. Try to
view it in a new light. This is how we
fulfill the academic mission of creating
new knowledge.

19. Einstein

20. Step Three
 ESTABLISH YOUR THESIS
 In one or two sentences you will declare
your thesis statement. This is the
controlling idea, the main point you are
trying to make and prove. It must be an
assertion (claim, argument) and it must
be debatable. This means a reasonable
person has to be able to disagree with
you.

21. Sample Thesis
 The so-called serious news programs
are becoming too much like tabloid news
shows in both their content and their
presentation.

22. What a thesis is not
 Your thesis should not be confused with the purpose
of your writing. Your thesis is a claim. Your purpose is
to both inform and persuade.
 Purpose of the essay for the previous thesis
statement:
 By comparing the transcripts of news shows like the
CBS Evening News and tabloid shows like
Entertainment Tonight, I will show troubling parallels in
what the two genres of programs find “newsworthy.”

23. Your Turn
 Take a moment to write a “purpose statement” for
your research paper. Be sure to indicate how you
plan to achieve your purpose. Remember, your
purpose statement does not appear in your essay;
it just helps you shape your thoughts. Here’s that
sample purpose statement again:
 By comparing the transcripts of news shows like
the CBS Evening News and tabloid shows like
Entertainment Tonight, I will show troubling
parallels in what the two genres of programs find
“newsworthy.”

24. Thesis
 Now go back and look at your working
thesis statement. Would you alter anything
now that you’ve written a purpose
statement? Here’s that sample thesis
statement again:
 The so-called serious news programs are
becoming too much like tabloid news
shows in both their content and their
presentation.

25. Thesis vs. Research Q
 There is a helpful working relationship between your
thesis statement and research question(s).
 Remember those questions you were asking about
your topic a few slides back?
 A Research Question can help you get to your thesis
by guiding and forming your pre-research reading.
 Once you have your working thesis, a Research
Question will help you find sources.

26. Search Terms
 You need to break your research
question (and maybe even your thesis
statement) into search terms that you
will then plug into research databases
like Academic Search Premier to find
sources. Not all sources use the same
terminology, so it’s important to find
different ways to say the same thing.

27. Search Terms Examples
 Not all sources use the same terminology, so
it’s important to find different ways to say the
same thing.
 Q: Why was the draft so unpopular during the
Vietnam war?
 Search terms: draft, conscription, draft dodger,
unpopular, controversial, Vietnam War,
Vietnam conflict, ‘Nam.

28. Step Four
 DETERMINE YOUR STRUCTURE.
 Introduction (thesis statement towards the end)
 Body Section One
 Body Section Two
 Body Section Three
 Refutation
 Conclusion

29. Step Five
 FINDING, SKIMMING, SELECTING, READING &
ANNOTATING SUMMARIZING, PARAPHRASING,
QUOTING, INTERPRETING, INTEGRATING,
CRITIQUING AND CITING YOUR SOURCES.
 It is essential that you take excellent notes (even if
that is annotations in the margins of your sources)
throughout this process.
 I will have “worksheets” for you in which you explain
how your source contributes to your essay.

30. What is the logic behind this
order?
 FINDING
 SKIMMING
 SELECTING
 READING & ANNOTATING

31. What is the logic behind this
order?
 SUMMARIZING
 PARAPHRASING
 QUOTING
 INTERPRETING
 INTEGRATING
 CRITIQUING
 CITING YOUR SOURCES.

32. STEP SIX
 LAYERED OUTLINING
 We will be completing and turning in several “layers”
of outlining. Each outline layers on more information
and becomes progressively more detailed.

33. Step Seven
 DRAFTING
 Draft One – Shitty First Draft – use your detailed
outline to simply get your ideas down.
 Draft Two – Weave in more Source Material through
Introduction Summary, Detail Paraphrasing, and the
occasional Short Sparkling Quote.
 Draft Three – Take a Walk. Play with your kids. Read
a chapter from a trashy novel. Your brain is
percolating.

34. Step Seven
 DRAFTING
 Draft Four - Synthesis through Interpretation, Analysis
and Commentary. This means that… This is important
because…While the author paints a realistic picture of
life on the streets, he fails to…
 Draft Five – Refutation
 Draft Six – Introduction/Conclusion

35. Step Eight
 REVISIONS
 Structure and Sequencing – does it still make sense to
have your body sections in the order that you
originally put them? Or, upon further reflection, has a
better, more convincing sequence presented itself?
 Rhetorical Strategies – have you used appropriate
amounts of ethos, pathos and logos?
 Tone – have you maintained consistent, academic
tone while remaining true to your own voice?

36. Step Nine
 EDITING
 Have you hunted down and killed all fragments and
run-ons? Read the last sentence. Then the second to
last sentence. Then the third to last…
 Times New Roman, 12 pt font? Double spaced?
Margins correct? Heading?

37. Step Ten
 CITATIONS
 Are all your in-text citations correct for APA format?
 Is your Works Cited page correct for APA format?
 Do you have your abstract, as per APA?