The Research Process Ms. Marootian

1. The Research Process Ms. Marootian

2. Where are we now? • At this point, you have chosen your social concern topic and have begun to gather research on it. • The paper is due in 10 days, which is a very real life due date for college, we will be working very hard in class to get this done efficiently.

3. The Thesis Statement for an Argumentative Piece • An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. • The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. • The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.

4. Audience • I will be an audience for your piece • You should also think about what other people or groups would be interested in reading your research paper and cater it to them

5. Thesis & Avenues Example: Teen gang activity in the United States needs to be stopped by a combined approach which consists of supervised youth programs, increased educational funding, increase in anti-drug/alcohol campaigning, more job availability, and opportunities for closer family/community relationships.

6. Research Paper: Thesis Notes • Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence. • The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper. • Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

7. OUTLINE • Step #1 will be to collect research • Step #2 will be to create an outline (on schoolwires) • Step #3 will be to transform the outline into a 5-7 page piece that makes a clear point and gets the audience to really care about your argument

8. Evaluating Sources • Evaluating sources is an important skill. It's been called an art as well as work--much of which is detective work. You have to decide where to look, what clues to search for, and what to accept. • You may be overwhelmed with too much information or too little. The temptation is to accept whatever you find. But don't be tempted. • Learning how to evaluate effectively is a skill you need both for your course papers and your life.

9. General Notes on Parenthetical Documentation • Give only the needed information such as the author’s last name and the page reference of the quotation or paraphrase. • MLA citations in the form of parenthetical references should complement and not repeat the information given in the text. If you have already mentioned the author’s name in your sentence, do not include this anymore in the parenthetical reference. • Place the parenthetical reference as close as possible to the material being documented and where pause in the sentence naturally occurs. Usually they are placed at the end of a sentence. • Parenthetical references should precede the punctuation mark that ends the sentence, phrase, or clause that contains the cited work. • Online sources are cited just like how printed sources are cited in the text. If the online source lacks fixed page numbers or section numbering, omit numbers from the parenthetical reference. Otherwise, cite the relevant numbers.

10. In-text Citations for Print Sources with Known Author • For Print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. • If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

11. Example • Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as ”wasteful animals" (3). • OR • Human beings have been described as ”wasteful animals" (Burke 3).

12. Citing a Work by Multiple Authors For a source with three or fewer authors, list the authors' last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation: • Smith, Yang, and Moore argue that tougher gun control is not needed in the United States (76). OR • The authors state "Tighter gun control in the United States erodes Second Amendment rights" (Smith, Yang, and Moore 76).

13. Citing a source within a source… Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited in another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example: • Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).

14. Citing a Site with No Known Author We When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. • We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has "more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change" (Impact of Global Warming 6).

15. Internet Sources Rule: Author in sentence, not needed in citation • Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo stars Herzog's long-time film partner, Klaus Kinski. During the shooting of Fitzcarraldo, Herzog and Kinski were often at odds, but their explosive relationship fostered a memorable and influential film nonetheless.

16. Author Rule: Cite if you do not put author name in sentences • One online film critic stated that Fitzcarraldo is "...a beautiful and terrifying critique of obsession and colonialism" (Garcia, “Herzog: a Life”).

17. When a Citation is Not Needed • Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. • You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations or common knowledge. • This is a rhetorical choice, based on audience.