Writing a Research Paper: How to Begin, Construct, and Edit

1. Writing a Research Paper:How to Begin, Construct, and Edit By Jeffrey Berenson

2. Pick Your Topic • Choose three names from your list of influential African-Americans • Read a short bio on each of them • Decided which individual you would like to research and write about.

3. Resources • You need three different types of resources • Book • Internet Site • Encyclopedia (not on Internet) • Newspaper • Magazine

4. Thesis Statement • Why was or is your individual important? • Find out what he or she did that made them so influential to other people. • Develop a good sentence that explains why he or she is important. • Ex. Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball.

5. Bibliographies/Source Card • Before you can start writing you need to write a bibliography card, or source card, for each source. • For each resource used a source card is made. • A different letter goes in the top right hand corner for each source card (note card) and the call number of the book goes in the top right hand corner. • Skip a line on the note card and start your bibliography.

6. Example of a Book 323.5 A AOL Welsh, Chris. The Invention of Welshinisms. South Euclid, Ohio: JMalloys Publishing. 2002.

7. Example of an Internet Source B Durkin, Kris. “Against All Odds.” Cricket Feb. 1988: 21-23. SIRS Discover. 15 Jan. 2003 <http://www.infohio.org/er/secure/SIRS.asp>

8. Example of a Newspaper D Casey, S. (2006, January 5). Steelers fan runs on Browns territory. The Plain Dealer, front page.

9. Example of an Encyclopedia REF A 031 COL V13 Zurcher, Arnold. “Interstate Commerce Commission.” Britannica Encyclopedia. 1996 ed.

10. Example of a Magazine Source E Bates, Josh. “Our National Parks.” Newsweek. March 11, 2006. pgs. 44-52.

11. 6 Topics on Note cards • For each source you are to break your note cards into 5 topics • Introduction • Early Life • Education • Adult Life • Later Life • Conclusion

12. Setting up the Notecard Introduction A1 Topic First Card of First Source Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. P. 4 Information You Found Page Number you Found it on

13. Note cards • If you want to change topics using the same resource then you will go onto to a new note card. • Ex. Early Years A2 • If you have information from a different source then you start a new card. • Ex. Introduction B1

14. More Examples of Note Cards

15. Title Page • Your Name • Title of Paper • Date • Class • Teacher

16. Your Paper • Your opening paragraph is you Introduction. • It should introduce the individual • The last sentence of your 1st paragraph should be your thesis statement!!!!!! • The rest of your paper should be broken up into their respective topics

17. Paraphrasing VS Plagiarism • Plagiarism- to write something from a resource word for word • Paraphrasing – to put written words in your own words

18. In-Text Citations • If you are quoting writing from a book then you have to put quotation marks “” around the writing. • After the second ” put parentheses with the author and page number of where you found it on. • “Two writers- one new, one venerable stood out like chiseled bookends last weekend among the 25,000 participants” (Long, Karen, p.5.)

19. Things to Remember • Capitalization • Periods • Commas • Quotation marks • Use snap words • 4 – 5 sentences in every paragraph • Do not use the same word in consecutive sentences

20. Works Cited • Alphabetical order by authors name • Remember to indent all the lines in each work cited except for the first sentence Casey, S. (2006, January 5). Steelers fan runs on Browns territory. The Plain Dealer, front page. Welsh, Chris. The Invention of Welshinisms. South Euclid, Ohio: JMalloys Publishing. 2002.

21. Editing • Proofread your entire paper and make corrections • Have somebody else read it and make corrections • Remember to check all thebasics

22. The End