  Show students step by step how to prepare a research paper-from selecting a workable subject, to actually writing the paper. The program shows students how to use the library to obtain a variety of information and explains why certain note-card systems are more efficient than others. Forms and examples for various steps of the process are included, and revision techniques are explained. (55 min) |
|
| Teacher's Guide Program Objectives Writing a research paper requires students to use at one time skills that they have learned at different times: reading, organizing, writing, note taking, planning, thinking clearly. Since the research paper is the longest writing assignment students will have in school, the program divides the task into nine steps and provides participatory exercises to reinforce the step-by-step process. • Warm-Up Activities 1. Following are the major steps in preparing a research paper. Duplicate them and hand them to the students with following instructions: These are the major steps in the preparation of a research paper. Rearrange them into a logical order. 1. Take Notes 2. Make a Preliminary Bibliography 3. Select a Subject 4. Write a Draft 5. Narrow the Subject Into a Topic 6. Prepare a Working Outline 7. Outline the Paper 8. State the Objective 9. Write the Paper At the end of the exercise, compare the students’ organization with that of the program, and explore the reasons for differences. (The correct order is C, E, H, B, F, A, G, D, I). 2. Collect a variety of nonfiction magazine and newspaper articles that reveal a research background. Photocopy them, hand them to the class and discuss: (a) What were the probable sources for the information? (b) In what way is the article organized? (c) What are the elements included in the introduction? The conclusion? (d) In what ways has the author supported his/her generalizations in the article? (e) Is it concise—i.e., are unnecessary side issues eliminated? (f) What characterizes a truly successful and readable article? 3. Following are a number of subject headings, each of them far too general to serve as the topic for a research paper. Ask the students to formulate alternatives to each topic to narrow it down and express a particular point of view: Discotheques, Hang-Gliding, Hemingway, Russia, Drugs, High Schools, Space Travel, The SST, Cooking, The NFl, Television. 4. Organize a series of classroom debates on controversial topics chosen by students. Allow four students per side, and give them two days to research their topic. Conduct the debate. After the debate, vote for the winning team. Then, in a discussion, compare the research activities of winning and losing teams, asking questions that focus upon (a) amplitude of research, (b) organization research, (c) wasted motion vs. necessary motion. Ask the students to list in their notebooks the possibilities of pitfalls and the positive values of organized speech. 5. List the following topics on the board (add your own): Some Solutions to the World Food Problem Reasons for Discontinuing Olympic Competition Arguments Against the Jury System Nostalgia as an Escape from Reality The Major Historical Landmarks of My Home Town Why My Congressman Should (or Should Not) Be Reelected Evidence that UFO’s Transport Extraterrestrial Beings Evidence that Movie and TV Violence Fosters Actual Violence Then pinpoint the following research resources: the library, a local newspaper morgue, letters to authorities (such as government agencies, authors, publishers, etc.), museums, cultural agencies, newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV stations. Decide, as a class, which research sources would be valuable for which type of topic. Examine this as an example of directing and limiting research. 6. Invite an editor and a reporter from your local newspaper to discuss with the class the kind of research that goes into the writing of a feature newspaper story and the sort of editing that goes into the final publication of it. On the day following the discussion, apply the points made by the guest speakers to the standards that students must impose upon themselves when preparing a research paper. 7. Send the class to the library on a treasure hunt (a few at a time!). Upon returning to the classroom, each student must have located and defined fully the following objects or services in the library: The Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature Encyclopedias (by name, with an annotation for strengths) The library’s major reference works Microfilm facilities (if any) Special research services (such as Interlibrary Loans) The organization of the library by Dewey Decimal System (You may wish to provide an outline map for this) Each of these findings should be made a permanent part of the student’s classroom notebook. 8. Collect a series of pictures that deal with contemporary problems such as poverty, atomic capability, teenage crime, comparative fashions, political trends, and big business in big sports, etc. Ask the students to formulate research-paper topics that would apply to each of the visual stimuli. Analyze each topic for its limiting qualities, its particular viewpoint and its potential for in-depth research. 9. As a pre/post test, conduct the following vocabulary quiz both before and after using the program: Identify the following phrases by writing a short sentence that defines their use in the preparation of a research paper: 1. Primary Source 2. Secondary Source 3. The Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature 4. Subject 5. Topic 6. Thesis 7. Objective 8. Working Outline 9. Note Cards 10. Bibliography Cards 11. Draft 12. Plagiarism 13. Footnotes 14. Subsidiary Resources 15. Controlling Purpose 16. Summary Cards 17. Quotation Cards 18. Proofreading • Summary of Content: Part One Research is defined as the process of gathering facts and evidence about a topic. It calls upon a wide range of student skills—reading, writing, organizing, planning, note taking and thinking clearly. Step 1: Select a Subject. Above all, the subject should be one that interests the student, and one that he/she can live with for a long time. Once this selection has been made, the subject should be pared down to logical limits, i.e., limits that are not too confined nor too large to be finished within the assignment’s time span. The subject should also be one that can be researched with the facilities that are available to the student, and it should be one that is not too complex for the student’s intellectual abilities at that place and time. Step 2: Narrow the Subject into a Topic. To avoid writing book-length research papers, it is absolutely necessary to develop skills in reducing large subjects into manageable topics. Charles Dickens as a subject is examined as one example of this: The subject “Dickens” is too broad; topics such as “Some Dickens Characters,” “The law profession examined in Dickens’ novels,” or “Theatrical and film adaptations of Dickens’ works” are suggest as more workable topics. Another technique for narrowing the subject into a topic involves reading background articles on the subject of the encyclopedia. (The large subject of “The Far East” is used as and example.) From this, a natural selection process follows that involves rejecting topics that are too familiar or too complicated for the assignment, and accepting a topic (in this case, “The Rituals of Sumo Wrestling”) that interests the student and is unique, circumscribed and appropriate enough to satisfy the requirements of the assignment. Once the topic has been selected, the journalistic W’s (and H) can be applied as the final test of the topic’s usability: Who, what, where, why, when, and how, questions asked and answered to help the student to narrow the topic even more. At the end of this sections an exercise is provided in transforming subjects into topics. • Discussion Questions 1. What is the definition of research? What particular skills are involved in it? 2. A topic that interests you personally should be selected. What other considerations should go into your selection of a topic for a research paper? 3. What is the difference between a subject and a topic? How can you turn a subject into a topic? 4. What is one way to determine how much information is available on your topic? • Related Activities 1. Jot down on a piece of paper five subjects that interest you and that you would like to explore further. Then, using the choice of subject matter and topic hints covered in this part of the program, formulate research paper topics from your choices. Be certain that you have met each criterion mentioned in the program. 2. Go to the card catalogue in your library and copy the titles of ten nonfiction books. Then rate each book title according to its success as a research-paper topic. In your evaluation, use the criteria for formulating research paper-topics. Change each topic that does not rate highly as a research-paper topic into one that would. 3. Pick a particular topic that interests you and that demands specific information that can be obtained from an expert in the field. (Example: you might contact a sports figure about sports; an author about whose works you are writing; a consumer advocate about consumer rights, etc.) Write a letter to this expert. In your letter organize questions in a way that will facilitate response. If your questions are organized logically, the replies you receive should fit into your paper with a minimum of revision. 4. Compile a questionnaire about a hypothetical research-paper topic that involves public opinion. Then, administer this questionnaire to a sampling of your classmates. Finally, compile the results of your questionnaire. Consider its relative success or failure in providing you with usable information. In what ways could you improve the construction of your questionnaire? 5. Construct a series of personal-interview questions that might be used in a research paper involving public opinion. Using your classmates or members of the community as subjects, tape your interviews. Play the tape back, and on paper divided in half (one side for strengths, the other for weaknesses), evaluate your interview. Consider what characterized strong questions and what characterized weak ones. Consider ways to improve your interview technique. • Summary of Content: Part Two Step 3: State the Objective. Once the subject has been tailored into a topic, it is necessary to develop a point of view, or a statement of objective. This is called thesis, and it is the main idea of the entire research paper, in the same way that a topic sentence is the main idea of a paragraph. A good thesis has certain characteristics. It is not just an indisputable fact (examples are given to show why); nor is a good thesis merely a personal prejudice, for the nature of prejudices makes them impossible to support with research evidence. A good thesis presents a point to be proven, which can be defended by facts gathered in research. Various examples, including the social milieu of Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the treatment of Sioux Indians in the 1880s and the reflection of Incan culture in the lives of present-day Peruvian Indians are utilized to dramatize the elements of an effective thesis. Again, a way to test the validity of a thesis is to ask who, what, where, why, when and how. If asking this provides the student with an arguable point of view, supportable by research, then the thesis will work. Finally, formulating a thesis makes the job of research easier by pinpointing the precise information that will be needed to prove the point of the paper. • Discussion Questions 1. What is a thesis? 2. Can a good thesis be developed from a personal prejudice? Why or why not? 3. Give three examples of theses that could form the basis of research papers you might right. • Related Activities 1. Divide a paper into two columns. Title one column “Indisputable Facts” and the other “Provable Theses.” List as many topics in each column as you can. Once you have done this, analyze the characteristics of the titles in each column. 2. Transfer the Provable Theses that you conclude are usable in exercise 1 to another sheet of paper. For each of these theses, ask the questions who, what, where, why, when and how. When you have concluded this exercise, ask yourself the following questions: What thesis stood up best under this examination? Which did not stand up well? What does this prove to me about characteristics that form a strong thesis? 3. As a team project, compile a list of the special sources in your community that would provide technical information concerning various topics (include government agencies, museums, historical and cultural agencies). Then, compile a list of possible research-paper topics. Match topic with the source, and discuss the feasibility of using these research sources for the topics chosen. Consider: What particular type of topic lends itself to outside research? What type does not? What type of topic can you practically consider, given the limitations of your particular community and its available facilities? 4. List five research-paper topics gained from any of the preceding exercises. Then, go to the library, and using only the encyclopedia, try to complete enough research to begin a research paper. When you have finished, prepare a class discussion on the topic: The limitations of using only information from encyclopedias. 10. As an adjunct to the above exercise, take the same five topics and use only the (a) card catalogue, or only (b) The Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, or only (c) the microfilm catalogue. Again, prepare a classroom discussion that confronts the limitations of using only one research source. • Summary of Content: Part Three Once the student knows what research is, he/she is ready to do it. The first step is a familiarity with a bibliography (defined as a list of books, articles and other material that will be used as sources for research). Step 4: Prepare a Preliminary Biography. The first step in responsible research is the preparation of a preliminary or working bibliography—so called because it will undergo changes of revision, rejection and augmentation as work progresses on the paper. A series of steps in finding materials on the topic to form the bibliography is detailed: The first place to look for sources is the library’s database which contains the library’s written resources. The second source of information in the library is The Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, which indexes magazine articles. Thirdly, there are special indexes, encyclopedias, etc., in the library, and the reference librarian can be consulted about the availability and/or location of these. Once the sources of information have been located, the student is ready to begin preparing a bibliography. It is important to us 3 x 5 cards, instead of larger sheets of paper, for organizational purposes later. The cards are flexible, can be reshuffled into useful order and can be discarded or added to easily as work progresses on the paper. The form of the entry on the bibliography card is explored next. For a book: author, place of publication, publisher, date of publication. For a magazine: name of the article, name of the publication, volume number, date, page number. Finally, it may be worthwhile to add comments or opinions regarding the usability of the source at the bottom of the bibliography card. There are sources of information other than the library as well: interviews, questionnaires, letters, TV and radio stations, and local newspaper files. If they are used, they should be included in the bibliography. • Discussion Questions 1. What is a bibliography? What is a working or preliminary bibliography? How does it differ from a final bibliography? 2. What is a bibliography card? What is the format of it? 3. List four sources of research information besides the library. • Related Activities 1. Select any 15 book titles. Using the library database as a model, make a miniature database of the 15 titles. Using 3 x 5 cards, make subject, author and title cards for each book and arrange them alphabetically. 2. Consult The Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature in your library. Pick a topic that would be suitable for a research paper and find as many articles as you can that might form part of a preliminary bibliography. Take these findings to your library and attempt to locate the magazines. 3. Pick a topic that interests you, and practice writing bibliography cards in the following way: Using information from five books you pick from the database and shelves of your library, write either a brief comment concerning the content of the book or an opinion. Make sure the rest of the card follows the appropriate format. 4. Pick one topic that interests you and that meets the qualifications for a research paper as discussed in Part Three of the program. Then, compile a questionnaire that might be utilized to gather research material for that particular book. In compiling your questionnaire, confine yourself to questions that you can specifically use for supporting information in your paper. • Summary of Content: Part Four Step 5: Prepare a Working Outline. The first step in preparing a working outline is to place the thesis at the top of the paper. All that follows should focus on this. Next, the thesis should be divided into subheadings, and then the subheadings should be divided into categories. Two ways to discover these categories are (1) leafing through the bibliography cards and skimming through the books collected for researching ideas, and (2) asking questions about the thesis: who, what, why, where, when and how? (This technique is put to work on the hypothetical thesis: “The Art of Glassblowing Has a Long and Interesting History.” Once the working outline is complete, the student should know what ideas to look for while investigating materials. Step 6: Take Notes. Doing the actual research involves taking notes. The notes contain statistics, quotations and other details that explain the ideas developed in the paper. Notes should be kept on 3 x 5 cards, not on a sheet of paper. This allows the student to rearrange and sort out notes later. Each card should contain a heading summarizing the idea on the card and an abbreviation of the book title and the number of the page from which it came. There are two kinds of note cards: First, there is the summary card, which details ideas and concepts; it is the most common kind of note card. The second kind of card is the card of direct quotation. Direct quotations form the scholarly substance of a research paper by giving evidence from authoritative sources. In fact, these quotations may, because of their impact, modify the original thesis or outline, and the student should be ready and willing to change and modify as he/she works. The only criterion for changes is that the modification must by supported by authoritative evidence. • Discussion Questions 1. What is a working outline? How does it differ from a final research paper outline? 2. In what order do the following appear in an outline? Subheadings, categories to investigate, thesis? 3. What is the function of the working outline in preparing a research paper? 4. Why should notes be placed on 3 x 5 cards instead of sheets of paper? 5. What is the format of a note card? 6. What is the function of a summary card? What is the function of a quotation card? What is the format of each? • Related Activities 1. Formulate a thesis, using the information already given to you in the program. Then, by asking the questions who, what, why, where, when and how, formulated some categories that could form a working outline for a possible research paper on the thesis. Next, arrange these categories into a logical sequence in the proper outline form. 2. Obtain a copy of Consumer Reports magazine. Choose an article that interests you. Take notes, using the note-card format discussed in this section of the program. When you have finished, evaluate your note cards. Could they be used to write a similar article on the same subject that would have the substance and authority of the original? 3. From your local newspaper, choose a news story that involves statements made by various people. Take notes, using the note-card format discussed in this program. Use quotations from the story. When you have finished, evaluate your note cards. Have you extracted valuable quotations—only ones that could be used in a reconstruction of the original story? 4. As a group project, pick an evening of TV viewing. Assign a particular program to each student. Let each student summarize the episode and present the summary to the group the next day. Each summary should be analyzed for the following points: completeness, economy, detail. A final evaluation should ask the question: Is the episode recognizable from the summary? 5. As a class project: A speaker—either the teacher, a class member, or an outside person—will deliver a deliberately disorganized speech to the class. The class will take notes on 3 x 5 cards. Then, each class member must try to organize his or her notes into a logical sequence that also includes statistics, pertinent information and quotations. In groups, these summaries will then be evaluated for organization, economy and completeness. • Summary of Content: Part Five Faced with separate stacks of note cards for each of the subheadings of the working outline, the student must now transfer the research into the written expression of formulated research Step 7: Outline the Paper. An outline is the plan of organization for the student’s ideas and the most logical way to organize note cards. The thesis should be written at the top of the first page, since it is the controlling idea for the entire paper. Using the hypothetical thesis “Baboon family life and human family life are remarkably similar in many ways,” students learn how to group similar ideas and rearrange note cards into logical order. As each idea is linked to the next one, the outline should take shape and be transferred to paper. When all note cards have been regrouped and the major subheadings written on paper, the outline is complete. Three types of organization are covered in this program, and the subject matter of the paper will dictate the type used. One organization is by comparison: the baboon thesis lends itself to this method. A second type of organization is chronological, and a thesis involving the development of Mondrian as an artist is used as an example of this kind of organization. The third type of organization is by examples. The thesis “A unifying theme in English Romantic Poetry is the attention paid to details of nature” is used as an example. (In organization of this type, the first step is to define the terms included in the thesis.) • Discussion Questions 1. What is a formal outline? How does it differ from a working outline? 2. Give three examples of topics that lend themselves to an organization by comparison. 3. Give three topics that lend themselves to a chronological organization. 4. Give three examples of topics that lend themselves to organization by example. • Related Activities 1. Pick four topics that interest you. Using the subject matter as the deciding factor, determine whether the organization should be comparative, chronological, or by example. In each case, write the beginning of an outline that uses the sort of organization that you have chosen. When you have finished, analyze each of your outlines. Ask yourself the question: Is this the best sort of organization for the topic, or would another type have been more logical and effective? 2. A writer of a good research paper is like a defense lawyer gathering evidence for a trial. If the work is done well, the client stands a very good chance of being acquitted. Choose a particular topic and plot a defense of the topic before the class. Present your arguments orally to the class or to a small group within the class. Then, let the class or group evaluate your defense. Was it effective? Well organized? Did it have depth? Did you win the case or not. 3. Choose a topic and prepare two sets of notes. One day write your notes on a sheet of paper. The next day, put your notes on 3 x 5 cards. On the third day, compare the two sets of notes. Which would be easiest to organize into a research paper? Why? • Summary of Content: Part Six Step 8: Write the Draft. A research paper is like a composition; it contains an introduction, a body and a conclusion. The introduction should present the ideas to be discussed in the paper, capture reader interest and—most importantly—state the thesis. The body is an expansion of the outline. Development of ideas is best accomplished through support of statements by specific information contained on the note cards. Whenever specific quotations are used, the source should be identified for future footnoting. Once each section of the outline has been developed, it is time to write the conclusion. An ideal conclusion should summarize research findings and restate the thesis. For a further check on the effectiveness of a paper, the student should read the paper aloud, checking its organization and content to see that ideas have been developed fully and logically. Another check must be made on transitions between ideas and between original writing and quotations. A research paper dealing with the palace of Versailles is used to illustrate transitions. A final review is provided. Step 9: Prepare the Final Paper. Through the subject “The Dream of Success in Black Poetry,” the final step in preparing and writing the research paper is now explored. The selection of the title is important; it must be based on the thesis and it should be as interesting as possible. It should be included on the title page, along with the student’s name, teacher’s name, name of the course and the date the paper is due. Plagiarism can be avoided by placing quotation marks around another person’s words or by putting those words in a separate paragraph indented more than the main text. Furthermore, footnoting and bibliography credit must be given. The form for both of these is given in detail. When final copy and footnotes are intact, the bibliography must be compiled. The first step in doing this is to arrange bibliography cards in alphabetical order according to the author’s or editor’s last name (if it is a book), or the last name of the person interviewed (if it is an interview). Magazine articles are arranged by author’s last name (if an author is listed), or by title (if it isn’t). Finally, the paper should be proofread to verify quotations and footnotes and to check spelling and punctuation. It should be read aloud one more time and then handed in! • Discussion Questions 1. What must be included in any good introduction? 2. What must be developed in the body of the paper? 3. What should an ideal conclusion do? 4. In what two ways can a writer of a research paper avoid plagiarism? 5. What is an accepted from used in footnoting? What part of the footnote is omitted when it is translated into a bibliography entry? 6. In what way is the bibliography organized 7. Proofreading is important for what three reasons? • Related Activities 1. Pick ten book titles at random from a library. Analyze these titles. Decide specifically what quality or qualities each contains that would make it interesting to the reader. 2. Obtain a scholarly journal from your teacher or your library. Go through one article that is footnoted and ask yourself the following questions: Why was a footnote used? What function does the footnote serve in the overall paper? Would plagiarism have occurred if the footnote were not used? 3. In a group, write a composition on single given topic. Exchange compositions. Check your fellow student’s paper for organization. Look for an introduction that catches interest and states the thesis, a body that develops this thesis and a conclusion that sums up the paper and restates the thesis. Rate the paper with comments regarding the relative success or failure in realizing each of these organizational elements. |
|