Research Small

Due by the end of Week Nine

RESEARCH PAPER

Professor Linda M. Elfers-Mabli Petrocelli College of Continuing Studies Fairleigh Dicksinson University

Student Manual By Professor Linda M. Elfers-Mabli

Playwrights

Poets

Artists

William Shakespeare Henrik Ibsen

William Blake Gwendolyn Brooks Lawrence Ferlinghetti Gerard Manley Hopkins Langston Hughes John Keats D. H. Lawrence Frank O’Hara Theodore Roethke Anne Sexton Percy Bysshe Shelley Walt Whitman William Wordsworth

William Blake Gustav Klimt Vincent Van Gogh Jan Vermeer

Linda M. Elfers-Mabli [2007]













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RESEARCH PAPER MANUAL | PHASE ONE

Phase One Step One: Select a General Topic

Take your time in selecting the general topic for your research paper. You’ll be spending most of the semester working on this project, so you want to make sure you won’t become bored with your general subject.

One of your major assignments this semester is to write a 8 - 10 page (doublespaced) research paper on one of the authors we will study this semester. Refer to the cover page of this brochure to see which authors (both poets and playwrights) we will study.

Prof. Elfers-Mabli

If you choose to research one of these authors, select a particular time in his/ her life to research as opposed to rewriting someone else’s biography of the author. In other words, don’t wind up with an encyclopedic biography of the writer. Rather, focus in on his/her childhood, prime writing period, or some special relationship(s) he/she might have had. Another approach to this assignment is to write about one of the artists listed on the cover page of this brochure. A final approach is to research the historical period or literary period in which

Phase One Step Two: Complete Background Reading

one of the authors and artists lived. For instance, the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti represents the literary (and cultural) movement known as the “Beat Generation,” a 1950s cultural, artistic, and literary phenomenon. I discuss this ap-

proach on page 3 of this brochure in the “Narrowing Down Your Topic” section.

Go to the library (or the Internet) and find one or two general sources on your subject. You could also refer to an encyclopedia to get an overview of your topic.

Make sure you write down the publishing information for the books (and websites) you selected as background reading. Follow MLA documentation style. (See Phase Four of this brochure.)

Browse through the general material you found either in the library or online and do some background reading on your subject. In other words, become familiar with your subject. This background reading could also lead you to a specific focus on your subject; such as, in the case of focusing in on a particular period in an author’s life.

Linda M. Elfers-Mabli [2007]









I hope you’re getting the idea.

You’ll need to submit the publishing information for these sources when you submit your preliminary thesis statement to me via email later this semester. You’ll also need this information for the bibliography (Works Cited) at the end of your completed paper.





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RESEARCH PAPER MANUAL | PHASE ONE

Phase One Step Three: Narrow Down Your Topic

The broadest part of the graphic on the left is of the decade itself, which offers many possibilities for research.

After you have finished your background reading, narrow down your topic so that you can thoroughly handle your subject in 8 to 10 pages.

I narrowed down the decade to consider one cultural movement The Beat Generation.

This is a crucial part of Phase One of the research paper process. For instance, I mentioned the period of the 1950s before in relation to Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Now -- it is impossible to write a thorough research paper on the whole decade of the 1950s. It would take volumes, and it has!! Don’t get caught with too broad a topic because it will wear you out, and you will wind up with a sketchy, unsatisfying paper.

I further narrowed down the topic to a specific Beat Generation poet - Lawrence Ferlinghetti - but there have been several biographies written about this Beat poet. Ferlinghetti established a bookstore/publishing house in San Francisco called “City Lights.” I further narrowed down that topic to the early years of “City Lights.”

Phase One Step Four: Write a Preliminary Thesis Statement The preliminary thesis statement keeps you focused throughout the process so that you don’t wander off into irrelevant territory. At some point in the process, you might want to change the approach you initially thought you wanted to take with your subject.

That sometimes happens for a variety of reasons:

Now that you have completed Phase One in the research paper process, take a bit of a break before moving onto Phase Two, which includes:

• Lack of information concerning your specific topic. • Too much information, which means you didn’t adequately narrow down your topic.

• Gathering Sources

• Boredom creeping in as you further research your topic.

• Maintaining a Working Bibliography

More about the possibility of changing your preliminary thesis statement is located in Phase Two of this brochure.

• Taking Notes

For now, develop what you think will be a worthwhile, informative, interesting preliminary thesis statement.

Linda M. Elfers-Mabli [2007]













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RESEARCH PAPER MANUAL | PHASE TWO

Gathering Sources

Maintaining a Working Bibliography

The key to any successful research project is locating sufficient authoritative information. The following websites (also included on this course’s website) offer valuable information for selecting appropriate material from books, periodicals (newspapers, magazines, professional journals), and other sources. Carefully go through the following sites: http://tutorial.lib.umn.edu/default.asp This University of Minnesota Libraries website contains detailed information on successfully finding materials for a research project. Please take a look. http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/hom e.htm Duke University Library offers another extensive site for finding materials for a research project. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handout s/research/r_ressteps.html A straightforward presentation on the research process, including a printable check sheet. http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/r esearch/skill26.htm “Critically Analyzing Information Sources” offers advice on determining the validity of information found in the various types of sources you will use for your paper.

Regardless of one’s strategy for note taking, our notes appear in one of the following forms:

It is important to maintain this working bibliography as you work on your paper so that if you decide to use a particular source later on down the road, you’ll remember the name of the author and title of the source. There is nothing worse than trying to remember the name of a particular article or book you looked at a month earlier and have now decided to use, but you no longer have the material. Spending the time early on in the process to accurately record the publishing information for each source will save you time at the end of this process, when you are putting together the entire paper. Several times now, I have mentioned the venerable MLA documentation format, and it is time to explain why we document material within a paper and include a bibliography at the end of a paper. Here is an online source, which clearly explains the reasons we use the MLA format: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/worksh ops/pp/index.html

2. 3. 4. 5.

While there are some very useful strategies for taking notes, each of us has his/ her own tried and true method - some more haphazard than others!!

A working bibliography is an accurate record of all the sources you have gathered in connection with your research paper. The list expands each time you find another source. Whether you eventually use the source or not doesn’t matter at this point in the research paper process.

1.

Linda M. Elfers-Mabli [2007]

Taking Notes

Please go to the Purdue University PowerPoint presentation site. Read the directions for downloading a PowerPoint presentation. Look for “Cross-Referencing: Using MLA Format.” Download the presentation onto your computer’s desktop. Read slides 1, 2, and 3 that explain why we use the MLA format for documentation.







• Summary • Paraphrase • Quotation The following website is a useful tool in directing you to effective note taking: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/worksh ops/hypertext/ResearchW/notes.html Visit each of the following interactive websites to learn more about writing effective paraphrases: http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/in dex_tj.asp?objID=WCN4802 http://www.wisc-online.com/objects /index_tj.asp?objID=WCN4902

A well thought-out and well written research paper demonstrates your ability to think critically about a subject. A research paper is NOT a book report. You are NOT reporting on how authors decided to write about your subject. You are, instead, analyzing diverse sources in light of your perspective on your subject (based on your preliminary thesis statement). In other words, you are using a variety of sources (books, periodicals, Internet) to present your understanding of the subject, in light of your thesis statement.





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RESEARCH PAPER MANUAL | PHASE THREE

Pulling It All Together Organization/Outlining In Phase One of this brochure, I emphasized the importance of writing a preliminary thesis statement for the purposes of finding sources and taking notes.

Writing the Paper Ask ten people how they begin writing a research paper, and you will get ten different answers. Some start with the first sentence and plow through from the first section to the last. Others select a particular section, write that out, then move onto another section, although not in any order. You should write your paper in a way most comfortable to you, keeping in mind that the final product should be well organized! Remember - What you are writing is an 8 - 10 page essay using outside sources.

At this stage in the process, you may have discovered the need to fine-tune that preliminary thesis statement. Usually, a student thinks he/she has a clear idea about what to say about his/her topic, but somewhere during the note-taking stage, the student discovers that his/her perspective shifts. If this happens to you, please let me know because at this point, you should have a definite, clearly stated thesis statement, which you need in order to organize and write your paper. Having a clearly worded thesis statement will help you develop an outline for your research paper. There are several valuable websites that can help you at this stage: • http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general /gl_outlin.html Purdue University’s Writing Lab offers a concise, yet thorough explanation of outlining your paper. • http://www.southwestern.edu/~denman/wherbe r/ Make sure to click on “Make an Outline,” “Skip an Outline” (not a smart idea), “Produce a First Draft.”

A basic essay structure has:

An 8 - 10 page research paper has expanded essay components:

an introduction (beginning)

Introduction: 1/2 to 1 page

a body (middle)

Body: 7 to 8 pages

a conclusion (end)

Conclusion: 1/2 to 1 page

One very important point about structure: Your research paper should read as a long essay, not a collection of parts with sub-headings. Make sure you have transitions, not only within paragraphs and between paragraphs, but also between the major sections of the body of your paper. In some cases, you might find that an entire short paragraph will be necessary to bridge one part of your body to the next.

Linda M. Elfers-Mabli [2007]













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RESEARCH PAPER MANUAL | PHASE FOUR

MLA Documentation Parenthetical Citations

Don’t forget: I’m available either via email ([email protected]) or by phone (201.692.2449) if you need to ask a question about your research paper project. Please don’t hesitate to contact me.

At this point in the research paper process, you’re heading into the home stretch, but you must carefully consider how you give credit - in the body of your paper - to all your sources. It is expected that the material you present in your research paper will be properly cited. That is, you have given credit to the ideas of others, even if you have summarized or paraphrased material using your own vocabulary and writing style.

Professor Elfers-Mabli [The photo of me was taken in the summer of 2007 at the Coliseum in Rome.]

To try to pass off others’ ideas as your own is plagiarism and would lead to severe consequences, including failing this course. To make sure you are accurately crediting all your sources within your paper, please carefully read the two groups of PowerPoint slides prepared by Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab, a site you visited in Phase Two of this research paper brochure.

1. 2. 3.

Please go to the Purdue University PowerPoint site. Read the directions for downloading a PowerPoint presentation. Look for “Cross-Referencing: Using MLA Format.” Download the presentation. Read the following two groups of slides:

• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/worksh ops/pp/index.html

4. 5.

MLA Documentation Annotated Works Cited

Through the phases of this project, you should have maintained a working bibliography, which includes all of the publishing information about each source, in MLA format.

Sample Annotated Works Cited http://www.topsy.org/Misc/FinalProject.html

Linda M. Elfers-Mabli [2007]

It should now be easy for you to prepare a document entitled, Annotated Works Cited, which appears at the end of your paper. This document should include the following for each source: 1. The publishing information in MLA format. 2. A brief description of the source. 3. Your evaluation of the source’s usefulness in your paper. The annotation (description & evaluation) should be approximately 30 words for each source.







Slides 1, 2, and 3: an explanation of why we use the MLA format of documentation. Slides 13, 14, and 15: Using parenthetical citations at the ends of: A quotation, A summary, A paraphrase.

One Last Item Prepare an Abstract In addition to submitting your final research paper, along with your Annotated Works Cited, you will also submit a document entitled, Abstract. Very simply, an abstract is a summary of the major points in your paper. The abstract should be no more than 10% of the total length of your paper. For this paper, you are expected to write 8 - 10 pages (approx. 3,000 words; double-spaced); therefore, your abstract will be approximately 2/3 to one page (approx. 300 words).





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