FInal Research Paper Instructions PDF

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Final Resear esearch ch Paper This assignment, the last of the major assignments, brings together what you have learned about constructing arguments and finding and evaluating secondary sources.

Assign Assignmen men mentt D Descri escri escription ption For this assignment, you should write on the same topic as your Article Comparison Essay. If you competed the Article Comparison Essay, you’ve already found and analyzed two sources you can use in your essay. Below are some guidelines to help you draft your essay.

Introduction A successful introduction will do two things: 1. Establish why your research question or topic is important, and 2. Present a specific, argumentative thesis that is grounded in evidence. When students are learning how to write essays, they are often told to begin their essays with general statements that contextualize the topic they are discussing. This advice often leads students to make overly general statements like: • •

In today’s society, children are using a lot of technology, or Since the beginning of time, education has been important.

These types of statements are actually too general to be helpful to the reader. Instead, identify a specific context or issue that highlights the importance of your topic. For example: • •

The impact of technology on brain development has become a hotly debated topic among parents and educators over the last decade. The number of colleges offering online courses has doubled in the last five years, making it vital that educators develop better ways to facilitate collaborative learning in their online classes.

Each of these sentences introduces the topic of the paper and indicates why that topic is important. In the first example, the writer connects the topics of technology and brain development to recent debates among parents and educators. In the second example, the writer connects the topic of online education to recent increases in the online course offerings at universities. After you’ve established why your research question or topic is important, you can present your argument. Your thesis should present an argumentative claim that can be supported by evidence. This means it should make a claim that a reasonable person could disagree with. Non-argumentative thesis:

Many teenagers who play soccer develop concussions.

Argumentative thesis:

While many schools have changed policies to reduce the effects of concussions on football players, they should also change

policies to reduce concussions among other teenage athletes, such as soccer player. In the first example, the writer again make a statement that a reasonable person probably couldn’t disagree with. In the revised thesis, the writer makes a claim that a reasonable person could disagree with. Someone could come along and say that it’s more important to focus on changing how football is played and practiced, since football players have a higher chance of becoming concussed. Review the lecture notes on developing a thesis (in the Week 10 folder) for more help with composing your thesis.

Body The body of your essay should support your thesis though the synthesis of outside sources and your own informed opinions. Remember that an informed opinion is an opinion that reflects a careful evaluation and consideration of available evidence. An informed opinion is NOT: • • •

An opinion based on religious or moral beliefs (i.e. The United States should outlaw the sale of meat because I believe it’s wrong to eat animals). An opinion based on anecdotal or cherry-picked evidence (i.e. The government should stop subsidizing solar panels because my friend installed a solar panel, and it didn’t work). An opinion based on any other logical fallacies.

The body of your essay should be logical, coherent, and purposeful. If you are having trouble organizing your essay, consider starting with the organizational strategy discussed on pages 240-242 of Current Issues and Enduring Questions. As in the other essays for this class, all of the body paragraphs in the Final Research Paper should be organized around clear topic sentences. As you may remember from earlier in the class, a topic sentence states the main point of a paragraph. Think of it as a “mini-thesis” for your paragraph. The rest of the sentences in the paragraph should support or explain the topic sentence. They can support the topic sentence by providing evidence (such as examples, quotations, data, etc.) that backs it up, or they can explain the topic sentence by saying how the evidence supports the main claim of the paragraph.

Conclusion A successful conclusion will restate your thesis (in new words) and remind your reader of your main claims. For more tips on how to write an effective conclusion, consult pages 243-245 of Current Issues and Enduring Questions.

If you have any questions about MLA style, consult the Little Shocker Handbook or email your instructor....