Research Paper Notes

The paper will count as four major grades. Content will count twice. The other grades are grammar and
research paper form. The form grade includes citations, paraphrasing, typing format, and the works
cited page.

Content

Partner papers will be four pages in length, give or take five lines and excluding the visual. These should
include four to five body paragraphs and six sources.

Individual papers will be 3 to 3 ½ pages, excluding the visual. Ten lines count as half a page. These
papers should have four to five body paragraphs and five sources.

The paper must follow the final outline. If you need to make small changes from your preliminary
outline – add or take away examples, change the order – that’s fine. Just make sure that the outline you
attach to the back of your paper matches the paper. The paper’s final order will be as
follows: evaluation sheet, paper, works cited, outline. All other work will go in a separate envelope or
portfolio.

The research paper should have all the elements of any good paper – clear topic sentences (from
outline), concrete details, commentary, smooth transitions. You will simply be adding research into the
mix.

The body of the individual papers will be structured as an argument. Remember that you must refute an
argument made by the opposition.

Partner papers will have two choices for structuring the body of the paper:

a) Evaluate the pros and cons of your topic and argue which side is more convincing

b) Examine both sides of the controversy and then provide a solution or compromise.

Make sure that you have few (or possibly no) anecdotal concrete details. You don’t want to take up an
entire paragraph telling the story of one person when you could be talking about larger groups or
broader trends.

Form

You will be required to cite a certain number of secondary sources in your paper:

Six for partner papers

Five for individual papers

Each body paragraph should cite from more than one source.

You will be incorporating research into your paper mostly through the use of paraphrases, though you
will also be able to use quotes or a combination of a quote and paraphrase, i.e. a partial paraphrase,
too. To make sure you understand this terminology, I have provided examples. Note that all
paraphrases and quotes are cited.
Here is a quote from the research: “Tom represents the settlements that were to become the towns
and cities of the new century, and Huck represents the human spirit, freer, at least in the imagination, in
the wilderness out of which the settlements were springing.” (From Dendinger, page 319).

A complete paraphrase would entail putting the quote entirely into your words:

Tom is symbolic of urban development and modern progress while Huck stands for the liberty of the
past, found only in nature (Dendinger 319).

A partial paraphrase would entail including a few of the author’s words (quoted) but using mostly your
own words.

Tom is symbolic of urban development and modern progress while Huck “represents the human spirit”
found in the natural world that is receding into the past (Dendinger 319).

A quote would not entail using the entire sentence. This just means that you would quote part of the
sentence and put it inside your own sentence. The author’s ideas would be mixed with your own
commentary or details that do not pertain to the rest of the quotation.

Because Tom “represents the settlements,” he is a conformist, constantly expecting those around him
to follow the rules even if the rules do not make any sense (Dendinger 319).

In your paper, you will be expected to include a minimum of five complete paraphrases. You will
probably use more than this.

You may have a maximum of five secondary source quotes and/or partial paraphrases. You may have
any combination – five quotes, two quotes and three partial paraphrases, whatever. There is no
minimum for these.

Important: When paraphrasing, you must make the sentence your own. This means you must use your
own syntax and vocabulary. You can’t just fill in new words using the same sentence structure. You can’t
just change the form of a word (happy to happiness). You may use the same word if it is a proper noun.
I will take ten points off for each incorrect paraphrase.

Here are some more examples of good and bad paraphrases:

Original quote: “Hemingway has depicted the pointless, purposeless wandering of the Lost
Generation. He has captured their ennui and their dislocatedness.”

Bad paraphrase: In his novel Hemingway depicts the wasteful lives of the Lost Generation. He shows
how their boring lives have no purpose.

Problem: “Depicts” and “purpose” are taken from the original quote. Minus ten!

Good paraphrase: Hemingway reveals the empty lives of the Lost Generation through his characters’
inability to find meaning, excitement, or stability in the world.

Original quote: “If basics like food, shelter, health care, and clothing are assumed, what matters to kids
is the happiness and satisfaction of parents.” (This was found in an article supporting gay marriage.)
Bad paraphrase: Gay parents will ensure the health of their children. Proper necessities will be
provided.

Problem: This was an actual student paraphrase. She distorted the meaning of the quote. The quote is
saying that a parent’s sexual preference does not matter provided he meets the needs of his children;
the quote does not guarantee that gay parents will do that. This student makes it sound like all
homosexual parents will automatically do a great job.

Good paraphrase: The most important factors in a child’s well-being include physical care and a good
mental outlook on the part of his parents. The sexual preference of a parent has not been shown to be
a major factor in a child’s well-being.

A final comment: I have recently had a problem with people taking a good concrete detail from the
source and generalizing it in order to paraphrase more easily. However, specifics are needed to prove
any argument, so this approach often weakens the overall body paragraph. Try not to compromise
content when you are paraphrasing.

More on Citations

You must cite every paraphrase, partial paraphrase, and quote. This includes any quotes you include
from your primary source. Also cite your visual element.

You already know how to make a parenthetical citation: put it in parentheses at the end of the sentence
in front of the period.

What do you put in the parentheses?

-Put the name that is in the top left corner of the bib card. This may be an author, editor, or article
title. It does not matter. The point is to put the name from the top left corner. If an article title is the
first entry on the bib card, just put enough of the title for clarity. For example, “Climate Change Effects
on Boston” could be shortened to “Climate,” assuming that’s the only entry you have starting with that
word (“Climate” 29). If you have two authors or editors, put both last names (Smith and Jones 28).

-Put the page number the paraphrase or quote comes from. If the quote carries over to a second page,
put both page numbers (Pennywell 14-15).

-If no page number is given (common on database sources), then just put the name (Brown).

What are other rules for citations?

-If you cite two or more sentences in a row from the same page of the same source, just cite once, at
the end of the final sentence. The same applies to database sources.

Book example: Revolutionary Era arms regulations arose from the nation’s lack of a standing
army. Free adult males under age 45 were actually required to own a gun (Winkler 13).

Database example: American consumers rank at the bottom of 18 surveyed countries when it
comes to sustainable living. People in India, the number one country, seemed to be more open and
flexible in their responses to environmental education (“Greendex”).
-If the citations are from different pages, you have to cite separately. If the sentences are from the
same page but are not consecutive, you have to cite separately. However, you may omit the author’s
name the second time.

Example: After the Civil War, one of the many disputes between the North and the South
concerned gun regulations (Winkler 139). Unfortunately, President Andrew Johnson did not endorse
equal rights for gun ownership between whites and black freedmen (140).

- If you happen to mention the author’s name in the sentence, just put the page number in the
parentheses.

Example: Winkler describes the drive to ban assault weapons as an “alarmist media
campaign” (37).

- On rare occasions you may have two citations with the same person’s name in the left corner. Maybe
Harold Bloom wrote or edited both of your sources, for example. When that happens, you must find a
way to distinguish the two Bloom works in your citations. This is usually done by placing abbreviated
titles after the name. For example, if Bloom wrote a book called Bloom’s Major Novelists and edited
Twentieth Century American Literature, when citing you could write (Bloom, BMN 14) or (Bloom, TCAL
227). It would also be acceptable to write (Bloom, Bloom’s Major 14) or (Bloom, Twentieth
Century 227).

-If you have two facts from two different sources in the same sentence, cite the first fact directly after
it is given.

Example: Dickens singlehandedly shut down the abusive public schools in Yorkshire (Browning
37), and he would go on to use this power in other areas (Ackroyd 109).

-Finally, make sure you have a variety of sources. Just as I wanted your preliminary sources to be
varied, credible, and contemporary, I expect the same from the sources you choose to use in your
paper.