research paper guide
high school in the community
Table of Contents
The Research Process: Big6
Step by step guide
Plagiarism
Notetaking
How to take good notes
Using
ICONN
Using
the Automation System
Finding
Internet sources
Citing
Sources
In-Text Citations
Works Cited /Consulted Sample List
Using an interactive citation maker
Standard Format for a Research Paper
Formatting Requirements
for Most Longer Papers
THE Big6 WRITING
PROCESS
As an HSC student, you will be asked to grapple with a
variety of writing tasks. You may be assigned to compose any (or all) of the following:
persuasive
letters, research papers, essays about personal experiences, literary analyses, etc. Though the
types of writing vary and the subject matter shifts, there is a standard writing
process that will help guide you from the moment a piece is assigned to
the moment it is returned to you with a grade, leaving you either very
relieved or wondering why you didn't put in more time.
Step 1: Getting Started – what is my question?
Determine a purpose and need for information In order for your paper to be more than a rewrite of
the facts you find about your topic in print and online sources, or a summary
of someone else's ideas, you need to develop an essential question for inquiry.
If written correctly and thoughtfully, the essential question will ensure that
you critically and creatively process the information you find.
A
topic is a very broad subject that
covers vast amounts of information. It is just about impossible to research it
enough to cover all of it. And most of the work you would be doing is simply
collecting facts.
A
question is something you answer
after you have collected data or facts on a subject. It requires you to make a
judgment based on what you have read on your topic. You develop a question
within the area of your topic. You should read some articles or portions of
books on your topic to come up with a good question you plan to answer from
your research.
At HSC, we research topics to answer questions.
Once you have some background information on your topic and form your question,
you focus your research to find supporting details so that you can answer your
question.
Topic: Drug
Addiction
Question:
Should the
step 2 what resources can i use?
Examine alternative approaches to acquiring
information. List the best sources to find this information. Don't forget
traditional print and human sources as appropriate.
If
using web sites, evaluate them for relevancy, accuracy, and authority before
you use them. You will lose points if the sites you use for your research do
not meet the criteria.
Step 3 where can i find
these resources? Locate sources
and access the information within them—Where will I
locate these sources?
Step 4 Use of Information Use a source to gain information—How
will I record the information that I find?
Take notes and highlight. How
will I give credit to my sources?
Step 5 putting it all together
Integrate
information from a variety of sources—How will I show
my results? How will I give credit to my
sources in my final paper?
Step 6 Evaluation
q Before turning in my
assignment, I need to check off all of these items (on the printed Organizer,
which needs to be turned in with my paper):
q My final paper is a thoughtful presentation of my
essential question and represents my ideas and conclusions
q I have not represented others' ideas as my own
q Credit is given to my sources, written in MLA Style
q My work is word processed and formatted according to
the HSC required format
q My work is complete and includes a title page and
works cited list
q
I would be
proud for anyone to read this paper
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
is any misrepresentation of the work or ideas of another person as your own.
This includes, but is not limited to, writing word for word or paraphrasing
someone else’s work without giving them credit.
Doing
this in any class at HSC will carry the following penalties agreed upon by the
entire staff of High School in the Community:
First
offense: The paper in question will be given a zero (0%). A meeting with students
and parents must be setup with teacher and administrator. Student will be given
an opportunity to redo this assignment and have the grade averaged with the
zero and put into the grade book.
Second
offense: The paper in question will receive a zero (0%). No make-up will be
offered. Another parent, student, teacher, administrator meeting will be set up
to inform all that the student will lose credit for the course.
Third
offense: Same as second with a hearing for possible suspension.
***Each
infraction will be documented on the student’s school record.
***All infractions carry over from year to year for the duration of the student’s academic life at HSC. Each year is NOT a clean slate.
Note taking
The huge advantage of good notes is speed. You can record
your notes quicker, cover more sources and subtopics, and get
more information than the person sitting there copying.
What is Note Taking? Taking information
from a source and making it your own.
What makes good notes?
•
Record only important facts or keywords.
•
Discard small words like a, an, and the.
Use commas and dashes instead.
•
No sentences!
•
Never repeat in notes what you already know.
•
Use quotation
marks when copying. Give credit with source and page number if in print and
date you accessed it if electronic
•
Paraphrase and
summarize. These need citations, too, so record the
sources as you take the notes.
USING ICONN –
The Connecticut
Start with ICONN for
computer-based research. ICONN is a database provided by the state that has
some of the best research databases that money can buy. It is accessible
through the web at http://www.iconn.org
from school, or from home with a library card barcode number.
This i s not just for current events. ICONN contains history and science sources, literary
criticism, health and wellness research, full-text Spanish language
encyclopedia sources, thousands of biographies and hundreds of newspapers and
journals. It even provides citation information. It is the perfect on-line source
for students. In addition, ICONN offers
information at elementary through post-high school reading levels.
USING OUR
AUTOMATION SYSTEM – Finding a book on the computer
HSC has a new on-line
catalogue that is accessible from school and home. In addition to searching our
catalogue, students can search the district as a whole, or another school
separately. This way, if they don't find their book here, they can get it from
another school by asking the library media specialist. Plus there is a link from
our search page to the New Haven Free Public Library.
You can access the district
search page simply by typing http://library from any school computer. From
home, you type http://library.new-haven.k12.ct.us.
finding internet
sources
Ideally, students
should only be performing a general web search after they have exhausted the
limits of ICONN (and it runs very deep.) Should they feel they need to use a
general website, they should evaluate the website for credibility. PLEASE CHECK
THE VALIDITY OF THE WEBSITE ON THEIR WORKS CITED LISTS. In the past, many
students have been using websites posted by other students to conduct their
research. This is not acceptable on any level.
DOCUMENTING
SOURCES
Before writing a research paper, you
will be gaining information from many different resources, including books, newspaper articles,
and Internet sites. At
a minimum, you should have a book source, one or two web pages, and a database source.The information you gather from these
resources will help you learn about your subject, narrow your topic, form
opinions, and gain new ideas. In writing
your paper, you will build on the information you gathered during the research process. You must cite the
sources of that information.
There are several different formats for citing
resources. High School in the Community uses
the Modern Language Association (MLA)
format as its standard. For more detailed information about documentation, consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (5th
edition).
Copies are available in the
Example
with author's name included in your sentence:
At the conclusion
of Lord of the Flies, William Golding writes that Ralph is overcome by
"...shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole
body" (186). [parentheses before punctuation; citation
contains page # of quote]
Example without author's name included in
your sentence:
At the conclusion
of Lord of the Flies, Ralph cries
uncontrollably as his emotions absolutely overtake him (Golding
186). [cites author's last name &
page # of paraphrased material]
PREPARING A
WORKS CITED/WORKS CONSULTED LIST
The
Works Cited list is an alphabetical listing of all the sources you cited within
your paper. Your in-text citations should correspond directly to this list. The
following pages outline the format for this list and give examples of
the most common citations you will use at HSC. Because of the complexities
of MLA format and style (especially when it comes to citing online sources),
we have made our best effort with these examples based on current
standards. We ask students to do the same.
If your teacher requires it, important sources you read
and used while researching your topic but did not cite within your paper should appear on a separate page (titled:
Works Consulted) after your Works
Cited. Other than the page title, the
following format is the same for a Works Consulted.
Works Cited
Beasley, Maurine H. "Roosevelt, Eleanor," World BookOnline,
http://www.worldbookonline.com,
Drake, Benjamin. Mass Violence in
The
New York Times, 1969.
“Masters, Edgar Lee.” World Authors
1900-1950.
Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Available: http://www.iconn.org
Weicker,
Works Consulted
Eckert, Allan W. A Sorrow in our
Heart, The Life of Tecumseh.
1992.
Students are encouraged
to use online citation
makers such as www.easybib.com
and http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/citeintro/nof_citesession.php?Grd=Sec
STANDARD FORMAT
FOR A FORMAL PAPER
(Use
for a 2+ page paper if the teacher gives no other specific instructions.)
- Times
New Roman font at 12-point size
- Title page with bold title at
center; name, date, and class info in corner, following pages
with last name and page number in upper right (if word processing, use a
header)
- Paragraphs indented (no extra
space between); 1.5 or double spaced Works
Cited/Works Consulted as final pages (see previous)
Tecumseh: An American Hero
David Vendley
U. S. History
Mrs. Leahey
Big6™ copyright 1990, Michael Eisenberg and Robert
Berkowitz.
Big6™ Assignment Organizer copyright 1999, Barbara A. Jansen.
Thanks for Paula Daitzman, Library Media Specialist, East Rock Global
Magnet, mentor and friend, for some of the wording in this brochure.
k
High School in the Community
Library Media Center
Stephanie Shteirman, LMS
Phone (203) 946-6178
Fax (203) 946-7132
Stephanie.shteirman@new-haven.k12.ct.us