Stuff to know about writing your research paper

1. Stuff to know about writing your research paper

2. Success: You already have an annotated bibliography! • -Much of your information gathering is complete • -When you need direct quotations, you can use your A-Bib as a handy guide to direct you back to your sources • -If you stumble across good, reliable, additional sources, you can definitely add them… but for the most part we’re on to WRITING!

3. First things first:

4. Why care about plagiarism? • -Research units are prime time for plagiarism, since many students feel that “information is information, so why rephrase it”? • -The internet makes it easier than ever to create a “Frankenstein” paper comprised of bits and pieces of other people’s writing via copy/paste. It doesn’t take a genius to do it. • -It’s also STEALING the work of someone else, being lazy, and showing academic dishonesty. • -In high school, any instance of plagiarism is a zero. In college, it can get you kicked out of the class (no refund), or even the entire institution (no refund, and good luck getting accepted elsewhere). In the business world, it can get you sued (definitely no refund). • -Plus, it’s just a JERK MOVE to people who actually spend time writing their own stuff… or reading and assessing your paper.

5. Ok, I don’t wanna plagiarize… so how do I avoid it? DON’T Do -Use direct quotes from your sources—as long as you cite them, this is a GREAT thing to do! -Paraphrase a section from a source (major wording changes), and still cite. -Write the majority of your paper in your own voice. • -Copy and paste exact wording from a source and pretend you wrote it. • -Slightly change wording and pretend you wrote it. • -Use a unique idea from a source without attributing it. • P.S. Using an entire paper that’s not your own just makes you an idiot.

6. SAY IT WITH ME • I MUST CITE ANYTHING THAT DID NOT COME FROM MY OWN BRAIN, EVEN IF I REWORDED IT, OR IT’S PLAGIARISM. • I MUST PUT EXACT WORDING FROM SOMEONE ELSE THAT I USE IN QUOTATIONS AND CITE IT, OR IT’S PLAGIARISM. • A QUOTE MUST BE ATTACHED TO A SENTENCE. QUOTES CAN’T STAND ALONE! YOU CAN’T JUST RANDOMLY SHOVE A QUOTE IN THERE BY ITSELF!

7. Wait, so how do I cite something in my paper? See formulas below. • 1. Write a sentence paraphrasing the idea from the source (Author last name OR first words of title if no author available + page number if available). • Ex. It wasn’t just people that died on the Titanic; the faith that people had started to have in big, supposedly unstoppable machines died, too (Kaloterakis 88).

8. or • 2. According to insert source here, “Insert quote here”(page number if available). • Ex. According to author Nick Kaloterakis, “Something else, beyond human lives, went down with the Titanic—an illusion of orderliness, a faith in technological progress”(88). • 3. First write your own intro sentence: “Insert quote here” (Author last name OR first words of title if no author available + page number if available). • Ex. The sinking of the Titanic destroyed the trust that humans had started to develop for technology: “Something else, beyond human lives, went down with the Titanic—an illusion of orderliness, a faith in technological progress” (Kaloterakis 88).

9. Do I need a works cited page, too? • Yes. • You know that annotated bibliography? Just copy, paste, delete the annotations, and you’ve got the Works Cited page at the end of your research paper. Hooray!

10. Ok, enough about sources. How do I write this thing? • Create a good thesis statement • Write an intro that contains this thesis • Write a bunch of body paragraphs, supported by your research (direct quotes!) that explain why your thesis is true. You can also give us some extra interesting tidbits along the way. • Write a conclusion that drives your main point home and tells us why we should care about your topic. You know, why does all this matter? • Make sure you’ve got your Works Cited page at the end. • DONE.

11. A good thesis • Let’s start here. A quality thesis is always the answer to a question. In our case, the overarching question for this unit is WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE THE WORLD? Each of you is offering a new answer to that question, based on your topic and research. • If we refine that question to fit you, it looks more like this: HOW or WHY DID MY TOPIC CREATE A LASTING CHANGE ON THE WORLD? If you can write a clear answer to that question that goes beyond the obvious, you’ve got yourself a thesis. P.s. Make sure it’s a full sentence.  • TRY IT!