The Research Paper

1. The Research Paper Writing with Sources

2. Why do we research literature? • To understand the works better. • To see how others have interpreted these works over the years. • Research provides insights that can enrich your understanding and deepen your appreciation of literature.

3. Research Materials • Primary Sources: Firsthand accounts • Historical documents, diaries, journals, letters, and original literary works, including novels, stories, poems, plays, and essays. • Secondary Sources: Materials written about primary sources • Critical writing that expresses opinions, draws conclusions. Or explains an issue • Examples: Books, articles, pamphlets, and reviews

4. Requirements and Prompt See handout

5. Finding and Using Sources • You should use at least two non-internet sources. • Possible sources: • Critical studies of authors, analyses of their works, and relevant biographical, social, and historical background material. • General reference works about literature could help give you an overview of the author and the work. These can be found at most libraries. • Consult a librarian to aid you in you search.

6. Using the Internet for Research • The internet is a great research tool, yet the wealth of information available on virtually every topic can be intimidating. • In addition, the internet does not have an editor to check that information is factual. • Do not believe that everything you read on the internet is necessarily true! • It is important to be able to effectively evaluate a website’s validity.

7. Searching Tips Google (www.google.com) can be a good place to start. It may be helpful to limit the amount of hits by using Google Scholar (www.scholar.google.com) Now you need to choose the words for your keyword search.

8. Keywords • If you are searching works concerning Internet Censorship, and you type in just those two words as your keywords, the search engine will identify any pages that use both terms, not necessarily in that phrasing. • To further limit your search, trying putting your phrase in quotation marks, such as “Internet Censorship.” • This will only find sources that use the exact phrasing of your keywords.

9. Evaluating Internet Sources • One problem you may confront is a large number of hits or potential sources. • You must carefully analyze these sources to identify their value to your work. • Remember, anyone can put up a website and place any information on that site, so you cannot be certain that the site’s information is accurate, current, or unbiased.

10. Evaluating Internet Sources • Consider the source of the electronic information you discover: Consider the credentials of your source provider. • You can initially judge the creditability of a source through its URL. (Uniform Resource Locator) • The extension (the 3 letters that follow the “dot”) can give you some idea what to expect from the site.

11. Extensions • .edu: Educational institution • Often reliable for research (Exercise caution) • Remember that students are often given space for their own Web pages, and these are not appropriate for research. • .org: Nonprofit organization • Often provide useful information for the researcher • Beware of institutional bias

12. Extensions • .com: Commercial site • For research, they range from legitimate to questionable. • These must be evaluated carefully. • .gov: Government site • Provide solid information • It tends to be factual/objective, yet beware again of institutional bias

13. Extensions • .mil: Military site • Contains information about military institutions • Treat the same as .org and .gov • .net: Large computer networks • There is not much of a distinction between .net and .com sites. • Treat the same as .com

14. Steps to Evaluating Print and Internet Sources Consider: Authorship Sponsoring institution Date Presumed audience/ Purpose For Internet: Compare your electronic sources with print sources you have judged reliable.

15. Plagiarism See Handout (How to decide when a paper is your own work)

16. Developing a Thesis You should be able to state your thesis in a single, direct sentence. The thesis should effectively communicate your central idea, or the point you are trying to make concerning the topic. You essay should elaborate your thesis, providing evidence in the form of textual support.

17. Developing a Thesis Try to be as specific as possible, and then prove this claim throughout your paper. Introduce qualifying terms or subordinating conjunctions to demonstrate an approach that reflects thoughtful consideration of the issues.

18. Using Critical Sources • Try to be in dialogue with critical sources. • You can analyze a text in the context of a critical article written about said text. • Example: • In relating the story, “Everyday Use” to the Biblical Prodigal Son, Patricia Kane shows thoughtfulness and insight; however, in her eagerness to expose what she sees as differences in male/ female values, she demonstrates a superficial understanding of the Gospel parable and misses the central message: one of repentance and forgiveness. • This example uses the critical work as a starting point to diverge and begin her own analyses of the literary works.

19. Drafting and Revising • Make sure to draft and revise multiple times. • Following these drafting guidelines will help you avoid problems with plagiarism. • Draft 1: Attempt to articulate your argument without your secondary sources. • You first need to have your own voice (argument) before you can evaluate others’ voices. • Support your arguments with support from the primary texts.

20. Drafting and Revising • Draft 2: Incorporate your secondary sources either to support your analysis (idea/ argument) or as representing antithetical views that you attempt to refute. • Draft 3: Further refine your thinking, taking into consideration additional evidence you find in your primary or secondary sources. • In this draft you should be adding in precise documentation of sources- accurate parenthetical citations and precise page references.

21. Proofread & Edit • Check to make sure all spelling and grammatical errors have been fixed. • Make sure the paper is properly formatted according to MLA guidelines. • Make sure your citations and works cited page are correct and complete. • If you fail to cite properly, it can be deemed as plagiarism.

22. Using Quotations • For quoted prose passages that are four lines or less, use quotation marks and normal MLA citation. • For quoted prose passages that are more than four lines, use block quotation. • Begin a new line and indent 10 spaces from the left margin for each line of the quotation. • Do not use quotation marks. • Punctuation occurs in block quotation. • Normal MLA citation appears after the punctuation.

23. Verb Tense When writing about literature, you will often need to describe a story, novel, poem, or play. In doing so, you will most likely use both present and past tenses. It is vital that you know when to use each.

24. Verb Tense • In most cases, it is conventional to use the present tense when describing what happens in a literary work. • This is called the literary present tense. • Example: In Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays,” the speaker reflects on his father and realizes how much his father loved the family. • Why is “loved” past tense? • The present tense is used to describe the speaker’s actions of reflecting and realizing, yet the past tense is used to describe the father’s action, which occurred in the past, well before the speaker’s present acts.

25. Verb Tense • Example 2: • Ibsen’s A Doll Houseportrays a conventional middle-class environment and a conventional middle-class family. In displaying a strong concern for money and for authority, Ibsen’s characters reveal their middle-class values. Ibsen often portrayed characters with everyday problems of the middle class. • The verbs describing what the play does are in the present tense. • Those describing what the dramatist did are in past tense.

26. Form • Type your essay double spaced using 12 pt. font • 1” margins at the top and bottom, an on both sides, for each page • Beginning in the upper-left hand corner, type the following on separate lines: • Your name • Your instructor’s name • Course Title • Due Date

27. Form • Double-space below the date and center your title. It is NOT necessary to put quotation marks, underline, or italicize your title. • It IS necessary to underline (or italicize) titles of books and plays or put quotation marks around the titles of short stories, poems, or essays used in your title. • Number each page consecutively beginning with the second page, one-half inch from the upper-right corner. Last name page number. • Marchbank 2

28. Documenting Sources: Paraphrasing a Critic • When you refer to a specific section (paraphrase) of a work in the body of your paper, provide your reader with the author and page numbers of your source. • Place the page numbers in parenthesis, and add the author’s name if it isn’t already contained within the sentence. • Lawrence Binford argues a poet’s life involves much more than his or her literal biography (30-39). • A recent critic argues that a poet’s life involves much more than his or her literal biography (Binford 30-39).

29. Documenting Sources: A work in an Anthology • The author and the title of the anthologized selection, along with the page number(s) on which it appears, should also be listed in the Works Cited entry. • Bacon’s “ Of Revenge” affords one a glimpse at his view of human nature: “There is no man doth a wrong for the wrong’s sake, but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or horror, or the like” (753).

30. Documenting Sources: A Classic Verse Play or Poem • Act, scene, and line numbers are used instead of page numbers. • “She loved me for the dangers I had passed,” recounts Othello, “And I loved her that she did pity them” (I.iii.166-67). • Tennyson’s Ulysses compares a dull existence to a dull sword when he says: “How dull it is to pause, to make an end,/ To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!” (22-23). • Note the use of a slash to indicate the end of a line in the original poem.

31. Works Cited • Should be numbered consecutively with the paper in the same manner. (Marchbank 5) • Center the title WORKS CITED one inch from the top of the page. • Use work cited form for all entries. • Items should be alphabetically arranged. • Double space entries, as well as between entries. • Begin all entries at the left margin, but subsequent lines are indented 5 spaces.