Research Paper Writing

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Research Paper Writing Its Documentation

• ????????

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Personal Essays (??) Vs. Research
Papers (??)

• Personal essays /composition
• Experience-oriented
• Personal experiences
• Personal knowledge
• Personal reflections
• More subjective and emotional

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• Research papers
• Reading-oriented
• To explore an idea and probe an issue
• Based on outside sources, your own knowledge,
  critical thinking, evaluation
• Use materials beyond your personal resources

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• To confirm your ideas
• To challenge and modify others ideas
• To shape your thinking
• Add your voice to an academic conversation
  about a meaningful issue
• Plagiarism (??/??)
• Documentation (In-Text Documentation Works
  Cited) (??????)

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Types of Research and Sources (???????)

• Primary research(?????????)
• Study of a subject through firsthand observation
  and investigation
• For example analyzing original texts, conducting
  a survey, field investigation, experiment etc.
• Primary sources (??????)
• Original literary texts
• Historical documents
• Statistical data etc.

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• Secondary research (??????????????)
• Examination of studies other researchers made of
  a subject
• For example studying critical comments on
  literary or linguistic texts or phenomena
• Secondary sources (????????/????????)
• Books about certain subjects
• Papers about certain subjects
• Other materials about certain subjects

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Activities for Writing Research Papers

• Identifying, locating, assessing, assimilating
• others research findings and
  ideas(???????????????????)
• Developing and expressing your own ideas (?????)
• Arriving at your own understanding of the subject
  (????????)

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The Process of Writing Research Papers(???????)

• Selecting for a topic and for sources (?????)
• Searching for interesting subject, consulting
  materials, and forming a hypothesis
• Finding sources library, sources relevant to
  your hypothesis, ready to revise your hypothesis
  to conform to the information of your sources

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• Reading sources and reaching conclusions
  (?????????)
• Reading and taking notes hypothesis, sources,
  close reading, detailed notes
• Arriving at the thesis analysis of information,
  correctness of hypothesis, thesis, modification
  of the thesis

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• Writing the paper (????)
• Preparing to write a full introductory paragraph
  with a thesis statement, notes, outline for the
  paper
• Writing the paper at least three drafts rough
  version, flow of thought 1st version,
  reorganizing the paper, improving the style 2nd
  version, eliminating mechanical errors

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• Adding notes and preparing the final draft
• Noting the sources Works Cited, inserting
  parenthetical citations (or note numbers) for
  identification or credit
• Preparing the final draft final draft
  (manuscript), format, one copy for yourself,
  required copies for submission

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Subject (??)Topic(??)Hypothesis(??/????)Thesis(
??)

• Subjectan area of interest that can be narrowed
  down to a suitable topic. Subjects are either too
  broad or too loosely defined to serve as topics
  for research papers
• Too broad adolescent behavior Italys political
  troubles Jane Austens novels. These are for
  entire books.
• Too loosely defined rain forest cancer cures
  illegal immigration. What would you be looking
  for in your readings? What questions would you be
  answering?

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• Topica reasonably narrow, clearly defined area
  of interest that could be thoroughly investigated
  within the limits set for a given research
  assignment.
• Examples good for a paper of ten pages
• The effect of parental attitudes on teenage
  alcoholism
• The effects of terrorism on the social policies
  of the Italian government over the last ten years
  
• The relationship between young women and their
  fathers in three novels by Jane Austen

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• the role of humans in the extinction of large
  prehistoric mammals
• The effect of U.S. policies on the depletion of
  rain forests in South America
• The role of emotions in the cure of certain
  cancers
• The effect of illegal immigration on unemployment
  in the Southwest of the U.S.

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• Hypothesisyour prediction, made sometime before
  you read and take notes on the sources, as to
  what your research will reveal about the topic
  it is an attempt to predict what the papers
  thesis will be. The educated guess helps you
  find exactly the information you need, as quickly
  and efficiently as possible, by keeping your
  attention focused on a limited number of specific
  aspects of the topic.

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• Thesisa general statement that announces the
  major conclusions you reach through a thoughtful
  analysis of all your sources. This statement
  appears at the beginning of your paper the main
  body will then explain, illustrate, argue for, or
  in some sense prove the thesis.
• SubjectComment

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Process of Finding Topics, Forming Hypothesis and
Thesis

• Cotton Mathers Necessary Witches (title)
• What the Salem witches meant to Cotton Mather (
  topic)
• Cotton Mather accepted the existence of witches
  because such a belief was deeply imbedded in the
  culture of his time ( hypothesis)
• Mathers belief in witchcraft was based on
  private religious beliefs (thesis in the outline)

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• His belief in witches, along with his need to
  identify and punish them, seems to have supported
  both his belief that he enjoyed a special,
  personal relationship with God, and his view that
  the New England Puritan colony was destined to
  play the central role in Gods plan for the
  future of humanity. (thesis statement in the
  text of the paper)

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• Emily Dickinsons Reluctance to Publish
  (title)
• Emily Dickinsons reluctance to publish her
  poems (topic)
• Emily Dickinson chose not to publish her poems
  because she was a shy, reclusive person, not
  interested in public praise. (hypothesis)

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• This view, based on close studies of
  Dickinsons life, letters, and poetry, reveals an
  artist well aware of her worth, who deliberately
  chose to withhold her poems from the world until
  they could be valued as unique artistic
  creations, even if this meant postponing fame
  until after her death (thesis statement)

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• The New Immigrants Asset or Burden? (title)
• The new immigrants asset or burden? (topic)
• Although experts tend to agree on the issues
  that will determine the impact the new immigrants
  will have on the United States, their writings do
  not point to a consensus about the probable
  success of failure the newcomers will experience
  in their new land. (hypothesis)

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• From the findings of experts on immigration, we
  can conclude that if the new immigrants have
  economic effects on the United States similar to
  those that earlier immigrants have had, then they
  will prove to be, for the most part, an asset
  rather than a burden. (thesis statement)

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• Increasing Maximum Life Expectancy Myth or
  Reality? (title)
• Extending human life a dream or a real
  possibility? (topic)
• The varied experiments performed in the last
  decade have yielded such promising results that a
  number of scientists believe people may soon be
  living considerable longer and healthier lives.
  (hypothesis)

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• Although not all scientists think that increasing
  the life span is possible in the near future,
  many gerontologists and knowledgeable
  commentators are optimistic about our chances
  because of the promising results researchers have
  obtained from experiments with animals and cell
  cultures. These experiments might well lead us to
  a fountain of extended, healthy life, if not to
  eternal youth. (thesis statement)

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• Using the Library
• Searching for Sources and compiling the working
  bibliography
• Reading the sources and taking notes
• Paraphrasing
• Summarizing
• Quoting

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Documentation and Format for Research Paper
Writing
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Plagiarism

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  (????????????????????)?
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MLA Documentation

• Works Cited and In-Text Documentation
• List of works cited
• Publication information
• Books
• Name of the author ( last name first)
• Title of the book ( underlined)
• Place of publication
• Publishers name
• Date of publication

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• Wilson, Frank R. The Hand How Its
• Use Shapes the Brain, Language,
• and Human Culture. New York
• Pantheon, 1998.

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• Medieval Europe was a place both of raids,
  pillages, slavery, and extortion and of
  traveling merchants, monetary exchange, towns if
  not cities, and active markets in grain
  (Townsend 10).
• Townsend, Robert M. The Medieval
• Village Economy. Princeton
• Princeton UP, 1993.

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• Periodicals
• Name of the author
• Title of the article (in quotation marks)
• Title of the periodicals (underlined)
• Volume number and date of publication
• Numbers of the pages on which the article appears

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• Craner, Paul M. New Tool for an
• Ancient Art The Computer and
• Music. Computer and the
• Humanities 25 (1991) 303-13.

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• Between 1968 and 1988, television
• coverage of presidential elections
• changed dramatically (Hallin 5).
• Hallin, Daniel C. Sound Bite News
• Television Coverage of Elections,
• 1968-1988. Journal of Communi-
• -cation 42.2 (1992) 5-24.

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• MLA Format
• Margins
• Spacing double-space 5-space 10-space.
• Pagination
• Heading and Title

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• BA Thesis Format Requirements

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• Documentation for Chinese Sources in an English
  Research Paper
• ????????????????GB7714-87??????????,????????????
  ????,??????????
• ??MLA???????????,??????????
  ??????????????????????(?????????)
• Xu, Shirong ??????????
• ???? ?????,1999?

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References

• Behrens, Lawrence and Leonard J. Rosen.
  Writing and Reading across the
  Curriculum. 6th ed. New York Longman,
  1997.
• Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers
  of Research Papers. 5th ed. Shanghai
  Shanghai Foreign
• Languages Education Press, 1995.

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• Slade, Carole. Form and Style
  Research Papers, Reports and Theses.
  Beijing Foreign Language Teaching and
• Research Press, 2000.
• Weidenborner, Steven and Domenick
  Caruso. Writing Research Papers A
  Guide to the Process. 5th ed. New
  York St. Martins Press,
• 1997.