1. COM 204
Major Research Paper
Fall 2003
Requirements and Due Dates:
Synthesis Paper: In-class writing, Tuesday October 14th
Final typed draft of Synthesis Paper due Wednesday October 22nd
Organizational Plan and Annotated Bibliography: Monday October 6th
Presentations: November 2-11
Research Paper: Draft 1: Wednesday October 29th
Final Draft: Wednesday December 10th
RESEARCH PORTFOLIOS DUE
(Save all your work related to your research paper).
NO LATE DRAFTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Focus Skills:
• Demonstrating an ability to work independently
• Distinguishing between research to formulate a thesis and research to support
a thesis
• Focusing a topic so that it can be analyzed within time and space limitations
• Conducting research to answer a highly focused question
• Formulating an argument and developing a workable thesis based on careful
evaluation of the source material
• Understanding the nature of analytical versus report writing
• Developing and presenting a sustained, focused argument
• Synthesizing balance in using sources (i.e. do not rely too much on general
sources or on one or two sources in particular)
• Responding to teacher comments
• Revising drafts based on peer and self review
Synthesis Paper Assignment
Write either an explanatory synthesis or an argument synthesis based on at least three
sources related to your research paper topic. Your final synthesis should be 2-4 pages
long, typed, double-spaced, on A4 paper. You will need to use APA citations and
references appropriately.
I expect this assignment to be directly related to your final research paper. Your
synthesis could be one of the following: (1) Simply a shorter version of your research
paper. For example, you could use the same thesis statement you plan to use for your
paper. Later, you could add more details and material from other sources. (2) One
section of your research paper. For example, if you are planning to describe a debate
about a controversial topic in your research paper and then take a stand on one side of
the issue, you could write an explanatory synthesis discussing the debate for this
assignment. Later, you could use your synthesis assignment as one major section of
your paper.
Some important things to consider:
1. Include an informative title for your synthesis. It should describe what the

2. essay is about. It doesn’t need to include the word “synthesis.” The title
should be centered at the top of the first page.
2. Be sure you have a clearly stated thesis statement. It should explain the
purpose of your entire essay, that is, what it is you expect to accomplish in
the essay. The thesis statement most often comes at the end of the first
paragraph.
3. Follow your organizational plan. (This can be revised, of course.) Think of
how you will get from your thesis to your conclusion in a logical, well-
organized way. Be sure to consider your audience. Can they understand
what you’re saying? What do you need to tell them? How can you explain
the topic to them, or how can you convince the that your argument is
logical?
4. Citations (in text):
o You must have at least 3 different citations; each of these must match a
reference.
o You don’t need to mention the title of an article or book unless the title
itself is important for some reason. Usually it’s enough to mention the
author’s name and date: “Capron (2000) believes there should be more
debate about cloning.”
o Use citations to (1) show where you got the information and (2) to give
information to your readers about where they can read more about the
topic.
o If you summarize or paraphrase information from two or more sources
in one sentence or section, you can give a citation to both (or all) of the
sources like quote from a student’s paper on the nuclear energy debate:
“By setting up new reactors, the radiation risks of a country are
increased (Darby, 2001; Levanthal, 2001).” The citations are placed in
alphabetical order and divided by a semi-colon.
5. References (at the end of the essay):
o You must have at least 3 different references; each of these must be
cited at least one time in your essay. At least two references must be
“print” sources.
o Your references should be double-spaced and placed on a separate
page at the end of your essay, and the word “References” should be
centered at the top above your list of references.
o Follow the examples on the handout. Be sure to include all of the
necessary information, arranged as in the examples. Pay attention to
the details, including punctuation, italics (underlining), spacing,
indenting, etc. Be sure they’re in alphabetical order.
o Don’t number the references; don’t use bullets, dashes, or any other
symbol before references.
6. A Reminder about Plagiarism:
o If you plagiarize on any draft of this assignment, you will receive 0%
for the entire assignment and your name will be reported to the deans
of all colleges. Remember if you copy even one sentence from another
source without quotation marks and a citation, it’s plagiarism. If you

3. hand in a paper written by someone else, it’s plagiarism. If you’re not
sure, ask me.
Organizational Plan and Annotated Bibliography
Draw up an organizational plan that demonstrates how you intend to develop
and support your thesis or, in other words, how you expect to arrive at an
answer to your research question, even if part of that answer is to note what
cannot be resolved. The purpose of this is to guide your writing so that you do
not digress into irrelevancies or end up with a paper that does not progress in a
logical way.

4. COM 204 Research Paper Assignment
• Your final paper must be at least eight pages long, typed, double-spaced, on
A4 paper, and in 12-point Times New Roman font. (These eight pages do not
include the title page, references page, illustrations, etc.)
• Your paper must include references to at least four written sources, including
no more than one Web site or page. (You may use more than four sources, of
course.) You will be asked to hand in photocopies of all of your sources.
References and citations must follow the APA system.
• Although it is not required, you may decide to use data collected from
interviews or very short surveys. The major sources for your research should
come from “library” research, however. If you do use interviews or surveys,
your questions must be approved before you use them.
• You will be required to hand in two complete drafts of the research paper (i.e.
first draft and final draft). You will receive a final grade only after you have
handed in the final draft, but I’ll consider both drafts along with other shorter
assignments that led up to it when I grade it. Missing or late assignments will
lower the grade. The tentative due date for the first draft is Wednesday
October 29, and for the final paper Wednesday December 10.
• During the last few weeks of the semester, you will be required to make a
short class presentation (about 10 minutes) based on your research.
Some Suggestions:
• You should already have found books, articles, and other materials related to
the topic you are interested in. When you find a possible resource, please print
it, copy it, or at least write down all of the information you will need to find it
again later. It’s also a good idea to make a “working bibliography” (see pp.
304-307 in our text) that lists references for all of your possible sources in
APA style. We’ll talk more about this later in class, and I’ll ask you to hand in
an “Annotated Bibliography” for a grade before your research paper is due.
You should be using both the “print” resources and the databases in our
library. If you still have questions about how to use them, ask the librarians for
help. There are also some links to magazine and newspaper web sites here:
(http://ausharjah.tripod.com/research.html). You should be able to find very
recent articles on many topics on those sites.
Presentations:
You will give a 10-minute oral presentation on the topic of your essay to the class. Do
not read your presentation to the class. Use note cards to guide your speech.
Note on Correction Symbols and Comments on Papers
I generally try to make formative comments – the kind that support your development
as a writer— on your papers. My comments, I hope, will help create an environment
for writing, in which you can take risks as a writer and grow. I will, however, try and
set goals for you when I respond to your writing. I try to as correction symbols as
sparingly as I can, but sometimes they are necessary. Correction symbols and
comments call attention to trouble spots in your writing. I will use them to give you a
way of overcoming these trouble spots.

5. Here are some symbols (and their meanings) that you may see on your papers:
✓ = examine this line and see if you can find a problem and remove it
✓ verb = examine this line and see if you can find the verb form or verb tense
problems and correct them
✓ punc = examine this line and see if you can find the punctuation problem and
remove it
? = Do you mean…or? / What does this mean?
^ = add a missing word or text here
¶ = you might need to start a new paragraph

6. Here are some symbols (and their meanings) that you may see on your papers:
✓ = examine this line and see if you can find a problem and remove it
✓ verb = examine this line and see if you can find the verb form or verb tense
problems and correct them
✓ punc = examine this line and see if you can find the punctuation problem and
remove it
? = Do you mean…or? / What does this mean?
^ = add a missing word or text here
¶ = you might need to start a new paragraph