CCGP Research Paper

Getting Started

Gathering Materials

• Once your topic has been approved, begin to gather information from authoritative reference sources:

• pertinent books,

• encyclopedias,

• and articles in magazines, journals, and magazines.

Resources

• Your requirement for this paper is five sources that you use in the paper; you must have THREE DIFFERENT types of source!– Example: Two books, two internet, one interview.

• Depending on the resources available and the length requirements of your assignment, you may find it necessary to widen or restrict the scope of your topic.

Taking Notes

• As you examine each source, make a separate note of ach fact or quotation you might want to use in your paper.

• Be sure to identify the source of the information on the listing.

• Try to summarize the information in your own words (paraphrasing); use quotation marks if you copy the information exactly.

Note cards

Note Cards

• You may find that you need additional information, or that some of the listings may not be appropriate and should be set aside or discarded.

• By arranging and rearranging the listings and using your descriptive headings, you may well discover a certain order or different categories which will help you prepare an outline.

Outline

• A Final Outline should enhance the organization and coherence of your research paper

• Outlines can be organized according to your purposes

• Material that is not relevant to the purpose of your paper as revealed in your outline should be excised from the paper; if portions of your outline seem weak in comparison to others, more research may be required to create a sense of balance in your argument and presentation.

Outline

• What are you trying to do? This organizes your outline:– Are you attempting to show the chronology of some

historical development, – the cause-and-effect relationship between one

phenomenon and another, t– he process by which something is accomplished, or

the logic of some position? – Are you defining or analyzing something? – Comparing or contrasting one thing to another? – Presenting an argument (one side or both)?

Outline

• try to bring related material together under general headings and arrange sections so they relate logically to each other

• An effective introduction will map out the journey your reader is about to take, and a satisfactory conclusion will wrap up the sequence of ideas in a nice package.

Outline

• The MLA Handbook suggests the following "descending parts of an outline": Logic requires

that if you havean "A" in your paper, you need to have a "B"; a "1" requires a "2," and so forth.

Quotations

• Quotations that constitute fewer than five lines in your paper should be set off with quotation marks [ “ ” ] and be incorporated within the normal flow of your text.

• For material exceeding that length, omit the quotation marks and indent the quoted language one inch from your left-hand margin.

Quotations

• If quotation marks appear within the text of a quotation that already has the usual double-quote marks [ “ ” ] around it (a quote-within-a-quote), set off that inner quotation with single-quote marks [ ‘ ’ ] .

• MLA format states you must place the citation and the period AFTER the quotation!!!!!!

• For example: “According to J. Smith, ‘the best way to achieve success is through effort’” (Smith 234).

Paper Format

• Margins: 1 inch, all the way around the paper.

• Spacing: Double spaced

• Font: 12 point, Times New Roman font

• Header: Should have last name, and page number. MLA Header on first page.

Paper Format

• Works Cited page titled “Works Cited.” Title center of the page.

• Must be in alphabetical order

• Double spaced…not Double double spaced between citations

• All citations in MLA format

Citations

• When there is no author listed for a work, you still have to list that work alphabetically in your Works Cited page by using the first significant word of the title. – Ignore “a” “an” “the”

Citations

• Putting people's names in alphabetical order is done on a letter-by-letter basis. Omit titles (such as Lady, Sir, Sister), degrees (M.D., Ph.D.), etc., that precede or follow names.

• A suffix that is an essential part of the name — such as Jr., Sr., or a roman numeral — appears after the given name, preceded by a comma. (Ford, Henry J., III or Pepin, Theophilus, Jr.)

Citing Your Sources

• In the Works Cited section, where all the sources you've used should be listed alphabetically, and

• Within the text of your paper, where 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.

Citing

• For the Works Cited Page– Cassatt, Mary. Sara Handing a Toy to the

Baby. Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, CT.

• In-text Citation– The sculpture entitled Family, given to the

college in 1991 and permanently exhibited in the college's Woodland Street lobby, was carved from an enormous cherry tree that grew in the sculptor's back yard (Rosen).