The Research Paper

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The Research Paper

• All You Never Wanted to Know

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Where are we going with this?

• See next slides for examples of research papers

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A World of Good and Evil Throughout history,
good and evil have exemplified themselves as the
two extremes of categorization. Historical
figures as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King
Jr Good show the good. On the contrary,
adversaries such as Adolf Hitler and Saddam
Hussein represent evil. Good and evil have
clashed through history in wars and battles,
leaving wasteland in their path. The composers of
Contemporary Authors Online define good and evil
as separate forces, equal and opposite, and
the world is their battleground (Gale). John
Ronald Reuel Tolkien used that definition of good
and evil as the basis of one of his most
world-renowned novels, The Hobbit, the tale of a
hobbit named Bilbo Baggins quest through middle
earth. In The Hobbit Tolkien describes the
characters and events of the novel through the
recurring motifs of good and evil. Good is
thoroughly exemplified by a multiplicity of
characters in The Hobbit, including Bilbo
Baggins, Gandalf, Beorn, and the Elves. The good
characters in the novel seek to live their
peaceful lives and to rid the world of evil.
Bilbo Baggins is first described as a good
character with his introductory description as
... a very well-to-do hobbit (Tolkien 1).
Even through many trials including attacks by
spiders, evil Wargs, and goblins, Bilbo stays
true to his naturally good values. Bilbo shows
his good nature by refusing to give up the battle
against evil to save his friends from the wicked
spiders. At the end of the quest, Thorin tells
Bilbo There is more in you of good than you
know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and
some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us
valued food and cheer and song above hoarded
gold, it would be a merrier world (290).
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• Body paragraph
• Along with Bilbo, Gandalf the wizard represents
  good in the novel. Gandalf is described to
  believe in a good cause He is a wise and just
  being who wanders the realm improving the quality
  of life (Gale 100). Gandalf represents good by
  leading Bilbo and his group of dwarves along
  their quest, and protecting them from the forces
  of evil. Gandalf tells Bilbo that There are no
  safe paths in this part of the world (Tolkien
  138). Gandalf shows his dedication to good and
  proves his words by battling goblins to save
  Bilbo and his acquaintances from the forces of
  evil. Good also unveils itself through the Elves
  who symbolize the keepers of good in middle
  earth. Tolkien writes, Still elves they were and
  remain, and that is Good People (168). Elves
  serve as the wisest of all creatures that habitat
  middle earth and show their naturally good
  instincts on many accounts. One of those many
  accounts is their participation in The Battle of
  Five Armies in which all of good and evil battle
  for their right to survive. The Battle of Five
  Armies is described as a battle that none had
  expected and it was called the Battle of Five
  Armies, and it was very terrible. Upon one side
  were the Goblins and the Wild Wolves, and upon
  the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves (281).
• The Battle of Five Armies serves as the main
  clash between good and evil in The Hobbit and
  shows how good is thoroughly tested by the strong
  forces of evil.

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A Satirical Society The Russian
Revolution, an important historical event, shaped
the way the world is now in Russia, much like the
rebellion of the animals shape Animal Farm. The
actions and motifs of these different animal
characters parallel the characteristics of some
of the more predominate figures during the
Russian Revolution. The animals take control of
the farm though the revolution, but soon after,
the pigs start to abuse their power and oppress
the other animals. This rebellion started by the
animals has an uncanny resemblance to the Russian
Revolution. Orwells writing portrays the
suffering of the animals and the power of the
pigs to better understand just how and why the
Russian Revolution was carried out. In George
Orwells Animal Farm, a wide range of symbolic
animals with differing values and beliefs set up
a corrupt society which is a perfect satire of
the Russian Revolution and the establishment of
Communism.
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Orwell displays a rich symbolic tie in every one
of his animal characters. Whether the animal
stands for a one person or an entire group of
people, a strong sense of connection exists
between the animal and its historical
counterpart. His symbolic parallel starts with
Old Major, grand fatherly philosopher of
change an obvious metaphor for Karl Marx
(Netcharles n.pg.). Old Major tells of a dream
and a brighter future just as Karl Marx preached
a better way of life to his fellow Russians. Two
more of Orwells symbolic animals take these
teachings and carry on Old Majors dream of a
rebellion. Napoleon also parallels a figure
involved in the Russian Revolution Obviously a
metaphor for Stalin, Comrade Napoleon represents
the human frailties of any revolution (n.pg.).
Ergo Snowball being the rival to Napoleon would
parallel Trotsky, the arch-rival of Stalin in
Russia (n.pg.). The other minor characters also
have important symbolic meaning in their
attributes. One Such character not considered a
major character but still had a major part of the
plot is Squealer critics correlate Squealer
with the Pravda, the Russian newspaper of the
1930's.  Propaganda was a key to many
publications, and the newspaper was the
primary source of media information. So the
monopoly of the Pravda was seized by Stalin and
his new Bolshevik regime. In Animal Farm,
Squealer, like the newspaper, is the link between
Napoleon and other animals (n.pg.). The rich
description Orwell uses in paralleling his
characters makes Animal Farm a great satirical
literary masterpiece. (Next body paragraph now
begins.)
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Now, get ready to write!
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First, what NOT to do

• Graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no
  replacement for a well-written paper. The use of
  huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad
  the page length are immediately obvious.

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Why do we have to do this?

• Based on your own thoughts and the facts and
  ideas you have gathered from a variety of
  sources, a research paper is a creation that is
  uniquely yours.
• The experience is one of gathering, interpreting,
  and documenting information, developing and
  organizing ideas and conclusions, and
  communicating them clearly.

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Avoid long quotes

• If your final paper offers six or eight long
  chunks taken from other sources, stitched
  together with sentences like, "This quote shows
  the idea that...", then you are not demonstrating
  the ability to write, only that you can edit
  quotes together. (I hate the this shows that
  format, by the way.)
• Borrow shorter passages, even just a few words
  integrate those passages into your own original
  argument.

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First draft

• After you have prepared your ideas and written a
  plan/outline, you are ready to start writing your
  first draft. Note the word first.
• A mistake we often make is thinking that once we
  have written a draft, the essay is done.
• Not so the first draft is only one part of the
  whole writing process that leads to a finished,
  presentable, and hopefully excellent essay.

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• The idea of the first draft is to get the ideas
  out, to flesh out your answer, and to give you
  some content to shape and change into a finished
  essay.
• YOU are the first editor. Do NOT turn in a draft
  that you have not corrected yourself.

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Are these your ideas?

• Using someone else's ideas or phrasing and
  representing those ideas or phrasing as our own,
  either on purpose or through carelessness, is a
  serious offense known as plagiarism.

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Ideas or phrasing

• Includes written or spoken material, from whole
  papers and paragraphs to even single sentences
  and phrases
• It also includes statistics, lab results, art
  work, etc.

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Someone else

• Can mean a professional source, such as a
  published writer or critic in a book, magazine,
  encyclopedia, or journal an electronic resource
  such as material we discover on the Web another
  student at school or anywhere else and/or a
  paper-writing "service" (online or otherwise)
  which offers to sell written papers for a fee.

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When to cite a source

• You need to cite your source, even if
• 1. you put all direct quotes in quotation marks
• 2. you changed the words used by the author into
  synonyms
• 3. you completely paraphrased the ideas to which
  you referred
• 4. your sentence is mostly made up of your own
  thoughts, but contains a reference to the
  author's ideas
• 5. you mention the author's name in the sentence

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From the Uni. of Kentucky

• Unless the instructor has told you explicitly
  that you can collaborate on a homework assignment
  or report, all the work you turn in must be your
  own. If the work is collaborative, the names of
  ALL the participants should be on it.
• Remember Paraphrasing is plagiarism!!!
• Bottom line If it isn't your work and/or you
  aren't sure what to do, footnote it. Ask your
  instructor BEFORE you turn in the work.

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Uni. of Kentucky Penalties

• The MINIMUM University penalty for plagiarism is
  an E in the course.
• The instructor and department chair may impose
  one or more of the following penalties in the
  event they determine an academic offense has
  occurred.1.Assign a grade of E for the course in
  which the offense occurred (the minimum
  penalty).2.3.Recommend to the Dean of their
  college or to the Dean of the Graduate School, if
  appropriate, that the student be suspended,
  dismissed or expelled.

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Penalties for Plagiarism

• In many schools (including HHS), it means failure
  for the paper and it could mean failure for the
  entire course in college, it could involve
  expulsion from school. Ignorance of the rules
  about plagiarism and/or carelessness in gathering
  the material is no excuse.

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The moral of the story

• When in doubt, give a citation
• LEARN from the process of TurnItIn.com

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Two types of documentation

• The Works Cited section will list alphabetically
  all the sources you've used.
• Within the text of your paper, parentheses should
  show your readers where you found each piece of
  information that you have used. These textual
  citations allow the reader to refer to your Works
  Cited page(s) for further information.

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Working with quotations

• Quotations that constitute up to four TYPED lines
  in your paper should be set off with quotation
  marks x and be incorporated within the
  normal flow of your text.
• For quotes that are longer than four typed lines
  (in your paper), omit the quotation marks and
  indent the quoted language one inch from your
  left-hand margin. These inset quotes are NOT
  doublespaced.

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Example One such character not considered a
major character but still had a major part of
the plot is Squealer Critics correlate Squealer
with the Pravda, the Russian newspaper of the
1930's. The monopoly of the Pravda was seized
by Stalin and his new Bolshevik regime. In
Animal Farm, Squealer, like the newspaper, is
the link between Napoleon and other animals
(n.pg.).
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• Use your first bib card and the info from the
  secondary source assignment to complete the
  Works Cited section of your paper.
• Check a entries as noted with your Cobb Virtual
  articles (MLA style)
• VERIFY the format by using the goldenrod MLA
  handout.

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What is a quote?

• ANYTHING that comes word-for-word from your
  source, not just words from a characters mouth.
• If quotation marks appear within the text
  x you must set it as a quote-within-a-quote
  with single-quote marks x . (Spaces
  added here for emphasis.)

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Example from Sir Gawain

• But he held in one hand a sprig of holly that
  bursts out greenest when branches are bare and
  his other hand hefted a huge and awful ax
  Where, he said, is the master of these men?
  I've a mind to see his face and would fancy a
  chat with the fellow who wears the crown. To
  each lord he turned and glancing up and down he
  fixed each face to learn which knight held most
  renown (Citation here!).

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Its easy!

• Just remember to always start and end quoted
  material with quotation marks. Any use of
  quotation marks within the text will be shown
  through your use of single marks.

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In the text

• parenthetical references should be kept as
  brief and as clear as possible
• Give only the information needed to identify a
  source. Usually the author's last name and a page
  reference are all that is needed.
• Place the parenthetical reference as near as
  possible to the material being documented, and
  where a pause would naturally occur, preferably
  at the end of a sentence.

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Examples

• Author's name in text
• Shelley expresses this concern (118).
• Author's name in reference
• Once expressing the concern (Shelley 118),

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In parentheses

• If you include an author's name in a sentence,
  you do not need to repeat it in your
  parenthetical statement.
• Put the ending punctuation mark of the sentence,
  clause, or phrase that contains the cited
  material AFTER the parentheses.

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Example

• Jones agrees that Frosts work affects modern
  poets, saying, Robert Frost is regarded as a
  poet of New England (213).
• Non-example
• Jones says, Robert Frost is regarded as a poet
  of New England (213). -- Lead in needs to be
  more than simply attribution

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• Electronic and online sources are cited just like
  print resources. If an online source lacks
  numbering, use this abbreviation n. pg.
• See sample that follows

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Example in text

• Although Alice experiences Wonderland as a child,
  these events force her to address the world as an
  adult (Walker n. pg.).
• Further entries from this source would be cited
  as only (Walker).

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Example from Works Cited

• Walker, Stan. An Overview of Alices Adventures
  in Wonderland. Exploring Novels, Gale 1998. 4
  Feb. 2007. .
• You have an example of an Internet source Works
  Cited entry on your secondary source assignment
  sheet.

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Keep EVERYTHING!

• You will have to turn in EVERYTHING with your
  final copy
• All notecards
• Every element in this process

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Weekend homework

• Write
• Write
• Write
• Know that crises will erupt. Your paper, a
  complete and finished product, is due printed and
  in your hands when you walk in the door on
  Friday, 10/24. No lates no extensions. 100
  points. Review the rubric as a guide.

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No 1st draft No final draft

• First draft 100 points
• Final draft 300 points