EXPOSITORY RESEARCH PAPER
Lit & Composition I AND II
Mendocino High School
Mendocino, CA
The purpose of this project is to help students to learn how to write an expository research composition in which they will present information on a universal theme they have selected for the year. Students were given a list of themes from Great Books of the Western World from which to choose. Each student will select a different abstract theme, so have several ideas in mind.
In this expository research composition, students are not to take a stance on the issue because they are not writing a persuasive paper. However, later during this school year, students will give a persuasive presentation on the very same topic about which they wrote their expository composition; and at that time, they will present their stance on the issue.
Students must write their expository research compositions on the computer.
The papers must be double-spaced, and follow MLA HANDBOOK format (MLA HANDBOOK
FOR WRITERS OF RESEARCH PAPERS by Joseph Gibaldi, Fifth Edition, c. 1999,
ISBN 087352-975-8). This is available as an online resource guide at http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/.
Papers must be written in Times with 12-point font size. If students
do not have access to a computer at home, they will need to write their
research compositions using the computer lab, tutorials, or allotted class
time.
The MHS English Department does not accept late work; therefore, students
must meet the deadlines on this paper.
The length of the text of the final copy (not including the final Works Cited) is to be as follows:
2 1/2 to 3 pages typewritten, plus a Works Cited page and a cover page
If the paper is not the prescribed length, it will be deemed unacceptable for grading..
Students will need to number all pages consecutively (including page one) throughout the composition. Page numbers should be placed in the top-righthand corner, one half inch from the top with the student's last name before the page number (MLA format).
General Steps in the Research Paper Project
(See "Specific Explanations of Individual Parts" for more details.)
1. Students will gather information from various sources ? the novels
and short literary works assigned in class, internet sources, a least one
periodical (newspaper or magazine, and any other sources of interest to
the student.
Students must utilize at least 4 sources (1 of which must be from a
periodical)
NO MORE THAN TWO SOURCES MAY COME FROM THE INTERNET.
2. Students will write on a coversheet stapled to each source the correct
documentation using MLA HANDBOOK format.
3. Using MLA HANDBOOK format, students will produce a handwritten bibliography card on each source.
4. They will write notecards based upon the information in the sources.
5. Students will use the "Computer Formatting Instructions" section in this document for proper MLA Handbook format.
6. Students will type a thesis statement.
7. They will type an informal outline (before writing their compositions).
8. They will type a rough draft of Works Cited by alphabetizing the bibliography cards.
9. They will type the rough draft of their compositions including the internal documentation in MLA format as they write.
10. Students will develop the introductory paragraph making sure that the thesis statement is the last sentence in the introductory paragraph.
11. They will develop the concluding paragraph making sure that it either summarizes, restates, or finalizes the paper appropriately.
12. Students will print off their rough drafts of their compositions and the Works Cited.
13. On the printed copy of their rough drafts and Works Cited, students will underline in ink the topic sentence in each body paragraph. They will label each topic sentence with a Roman numeral.
14. In ink, students will label the support ideas (A, B, C, etc.) and sub-ideas (1, 2, 3, etc.).
15. Into their rough drafts in ink, students will insert stronger word choices and transitional devices. (See handout entitled "Rules for Composition Writing.")
16. Students will edit and revise their rough drafts by checking all grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and usage. They will insert their editions/revisions in ink.
17. After marking and labeling in ink the parts of their rough drafts, students will type their final outlines.
18. Students will type their final copies of their compositions, inputting all necessary revisions.
19. Students will type their final Works Cited.
20. They will prepare their source packets.
21. Students will proofread all their final documents and will input changes into their computerized copies.
22. Students will print their final copies of the documents.
23. Students will submit their research project by placing all their materials in a large, manila envelope. They will write their first and last names, period number, and due date on the top-right hand corner of the manila envelope.
24. They will place all items in the manila envelope in the following
order:
GROUP CONTENTS of the manila envelop as follows:
Under One Paperclip
(Absolutely No Late Work Accepted Under This Category)
A. Final copy with final Works Cited as the last page
B. Final formal outline with thesis statement at the top (behind
Works Cited)
Under a Second Paperclip (Absolutely No Late Work Accepted Under
This Category)
C. Source packet with coversheet stapled on top of each source -- (See instructions for "Source Packet" as given later in this document.) Put each source in the same order as listed on the Works Cited.
Under a Third Paperclip
(Absolutely No Late Work Accepted Under This Category)
D. Rough draft of paper
E. Rough draft of Works Cited
F.
Rough outline with thesis statement at the top
One Rubber Band Around
(Five Points Deducted for Each Day Late)
G. Bibliography cards
Second Rubber Band Around
(Five Points Deducted for Each Day Late)
H. Notecards
*************************************************************
SPECIFIC EXPLANATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL PARTS
Bibliography Cards
The MLA HANDBOOK no longer teaches students to make bibliography (bib.) cards or notecards, preferring that students do all their work on the computer. However, for ease in evaluating students' systematic progress, we will continue to produce bib. cards (3 x 5) and notecards (3 x 5).
Everything on the bib. cards must be written in INK.
Students should put their first and last names in the bottom-lefthand corner of each bib. card.
Students should assign each source an alphabetical letter, and they should put that code on the top-right-hand corner of the bib. card and on the top-right-hand corner of the coversheet which is stapled to each source. As soon as students decide to take notes from a source, they should MAKE A BIB. CARD RIGHT THEN.
The documentation on the bib. cards must follow MLA HANDBOOK format. Students should write on the back of each bib. card the type of source (e.g., periodical, online periodical, book, encyclopedia) and the page number from the MLA HANDBOOK from which the annotation was taken.
Students must follow the prescribed number of sources as listed for Lit Comp I and II students.
Students must make sure that they utilize sources from at least one liberal source and from at least one conservative source. The other sources may be from either liberal or conservative sources.
Students must follow the prescribed number of sources and periodicals
as listed for English I and II students:
Students must utilize at least 4 sources (1 of which must be from a
periodical).
NO MORE THAN TWO SOURCES MAY COME FROM THE INTERNET.
Notecards
Students should complete the prescribed number of notecards:
Students should complete at least 15 notecards.
Students should write on their notecards in PENCIL.
They must do all their notecards before they begin to write their rough drafts.
They need to put the source code (alphabetical letter) in the upper-right-hand corner of each notecard. Students should write their first and last names in the bottom-left-hand corner of each notecard.
They should put the source page number in the bottom-right-hand corner of each notecard.
Students should either write down word-for-word those statements which sound really interesting and put quote marks on the card to show that they have quoted directly from the source, or they should write the information in their own words -- called "paraphrasing." No matter whether a person quotes directly or puts the information in his own words, he must give credit to the source. Students will do this by inserting parenthetical documentation into their papers using MLA format (to be discussed later in this document.)
Students should write only one main idea per notecard and should put the key word on the top, left-hand corner of each card. This will make it easy for students to sort their notecards by key ideas when they get all their notecards finished.
When they have finished doing their notecards, students should divide them into stacks of similar key ideas.
When they have stacked their notecards by key ideas, they are ready to write their informal outlines.
Their notecards should look like this:
Key word
Source code
Information either paraphrased (in student's own words) or quoted (quote
marks)
Student's first and last names Page # in source
Rule of thumb: It is better to have too many notecards than not enough to cover the subject matter adequately.
Computer Formatting Instructions for Microsoft Word 2000
A. To open a new document in “Microsoft Word”
1. Click the “Start” icon in the bottom-left
hand corner of screen.
2. Move the curser to “Programs.”
3. Select “Microsoft Word.”
B. To select “Margins”
1. Select “File.”
2. Select “Page Setup.”
3. Click “Margins” and set your top, bottom, left, and right margins
to 1”.
4. Under “From edge” subheading, make sure that the header is set at
0.5”.
5. Click “OK” to exit back to the document.
C. To set spacing for “Double”
1. Select “Format.”
2. Select “Paragraph.”
3. Under the “Spacing” subheading, go to “Line spacing” and select
“Double.”
4. Click “OK” to exit back to the document.
D. To set “Headers”
1. Select “View.”
2. Select “Header and Footer.”
3. Dotted lines will show the location
of headers with a menu below.
4. On the menu bar above the document,
select “Times New Roman” for the font and “12”
for the font size.
5. Select the “Align Right” button on
the same menu bar. This square should be to the right of the font
and size pull-down menus.
6. The cursor should be within the dotted
lines. Type last name followed by a space.
7. In the menu bar BELOW the dotted rectangle,
select the button with a picture of a page with the pound symbol (#) on
it. A pop-up will read “Insert Page Number.” Click this square,
and a “1” should be inserted.
8. Select “Close” to return to the document.
E. To format the double-spaced MLA Heading
1. Student's first and last names
2. Teacher’s name
3. English (I, II, III, or IV) ? (Period number)
4. Date (date, month, year ? with no commas)
F. To format long quotes -- (A long quote is considered any quote over
four typed lines. It is blocked on the left side with a one-inch
hanging indent.)
1. Click “Format.”
2. Select “Paragraph.”
3. Under the “Indentation” subheading,
select 1” beside “Left.”
4. Under the “Spacing” subheading, make
sure it is still set to “Double.” The document will be double spaced
before the quote, within the long quote, and after the long quote.
G. To format “Works Cited” -- (Works Cited is the last page of the
research paper. It is numbered as the next page after the last page
of the body of the paper.)
1. Center the title of the page by clicking
on the “Center” button on the menu bar above the document. The title
should read “Works Cited” without the quotation marks.
2. Hit "Return" only once because the
document is set on double spacing.
3. Sources are typed with a “Hanging
Indent” in which the first line of each source begins at the left margin,
and the second line begins 1/2 inch from the left margin. (See “H”
for instructions on hanging indents.)
H. To format the hanging indents for “Works
Cited”
1. Select “Format.”
2. Select “Paragraph.”
3. Select “Indents and Spacing.”
4. Under “Alignment” select “Left.”
5. Under “Indentation” and “Left,” select
0.5”.
6. Under “Special” select “Hanging.”
7. Under the “Spacing” subheading, make
sure the “Line Spacing” is set on “Double.”
8. Select “OK” to exit back to the document.
I. To save in Rich Text Format
1. Select “File.”
2. Select “Save As…”.
3. Find “File name” in the window.
4. Give your file a name.
5. Find the “Save as type” subheading.
Click on the down arrow.
6. Scroll down until you see “Rich Text
Format *.rtf." Click on it. Make sure it appears in the window.
7. Select “OK” to save and exit back
to the document.
Rough Outline and Thesis Statement
Students should type the words "Rough Draft Outline" at the top of a page.
After looking at the key ideas on their notecards, they should come up with one over-arching idea for their paper. This is called a thesis statement (a single sentence -- a concise idea the writer will try to expand on in his composition -- pp. 35-36 MLA HANDBOOK). Students should write the thesis statement at the top of the rough draft outline.
Students will use a COMPLETE SENTENCE type of outline.
They will need to double-space their outlines.
Students should study the sample outline format as given in the MLA HANDBOOK (pp. 36 - 40). Each body paragraph in the student's paper must have a topic sentence; therefore, he should make each Roman numeral a topic sentence which indicates each body paragraph. The support ideas that explain the topic sentence will be listed in descending order. Here is an example to follow:
THESIS STATEMENT
I. Topic sentence of first body paragraph
A. First support idea
1. First sub-idea
2. Second sub-idea
B. Second support idea
1. First sub-idea
2. Second sub-idea
Students should feel free to make changes in ink on their rough draft outlines as they compose their rough draft compositions.
Rough Works Cited
Students should type their rough Works Cited by alphabetizing their bib. cards and following the MLA HANDBOOK format. (Students should go to p. 118 in order to see an example. Students should study Section 4 starting on p. 111 in order to learn how to use the appropriate Works Cited format.)
Rough Draft
Using his rough outline as a guide, the student should begin to write his rough draft of the composition. He needs to double-space his paper. Each time that the student uses a direct quote or an idea from a source, he must give credit by inserting parenthetical documentation (Section 5 in MLA). All students MUST READ Section 1.8 in order to help them prevent plagiarism in their compositions. Rule of thumb: When in doubt, cite the source!
As the student writes his paper, he will need to insert parenthetical documentation at the end of each new source or at the end of each paragraph if the same source is used continuously for a number of paragraphs.
When the student finishes writing his body paragraph, he should go back and write the introductory paragraph and the concluding paragraph. He should be sure to put his thesis statement as the last sentence in his introductory paragraph. Both the introductory and concluding paragraphs should be of similar length.
At this point, the student may print out his rough draft. He must then go back and insert IN INK all his spelling/grammar/capitalization/usage corrections, revisions, and strong adjectives and verbs. This step must not be skipped!
Students should also go back and check the end of each paragraph to see if the beginning of the next paragraph has some key words which connect it to the previous paragraph. Students should insert transitional words between sentences inside the paragraphs in order to make the ideas connect to each other.
Students should label the support ideas (A, B, C, etc.) and sub-ideas (1, 2, 3, etc.).
Final Copy of Composition
Students must study pp. 292-293 in the MLA HANDBOOK. They will need to follow the exact format as listed on these sample pages. Students should be sure the length of their papers follows the guidelines as listed for English I and II students. They should be sure their printer produces a dark, legible copy. Students should save their documents in rich text format (rtf.) so that formatting codes are not lost.
Students should keep a Xeroxed or a disk copy of their finished papers until the final grades are recorded in the grade book.
If students plan to use the computer lab, they must first meet with the computer teacher to set up a folder or to make arrangements to save to a floppy. Any documents left on the hard drive may be deleted without notice; therefore, students using the computer lab must save their work on their own floppy disk.
Students must work well ahead of all deadlines because computer problems may arise.
Students should create a cover page. Title of the paper is one third of the way down the page; student’s name is centered on the page; the class and date are at the bottom one third of the page.
Students should be sure to follow all the previously stated instructions that tell them the order in which their papers are to be submitted.
Final Works Cited
Students should follow MLA HANDBOOK format.
The final Works Cited should be affixed to the back of the final copy. A student should be sure he lists only the sources he utilized in his final paper. The entries are to be alphabetized by the first word in the annotation, and each entry must be written with a hanging indent.
The final Works Cited is to be double-spaced.
Final Outline
Students should follow the sample outline as given in the MLA HANDBOOK, pp. 38-39. The title of the composition should go on the first line as shown in the sample outline.
The final outline may well look very different from the rough draft outline since changes frequently occur as the paper is being generated.
Source Packet
Each source must be stapled to a separate coversheet with the bibliographic information written at the top of the coversheet in MLA format. Students must Xerox all pages from which they took information that they utilized in their final papers. (Suggestion: Students may wish to make two copies of their source information ? one to mark up while they are preparing their compositions and the other to highlight for the final source packet.)
Students must be sure to put the alphabetical letter code in the top-right-hand corner of both the coversheet and the Xeroxed source material.
They should not highlight until after they have finished writing their final papers.
Students should highlight in PINK on the Xeroxed source material all the words which they copied word-for-word (directly quoted) in their final copy.
They should highlight in YELLOW on the Xeroxed source material all the information which they paraphrased (put in student's own words) in their final copy.
Here are two rules to follow in order for a person to avoid plagiarism:
(1) When a person writes four or more words in a summary/paraphrase which appear the same as they are written in the source, he needs to give credit to the source (parenthetical documentation). (2) When in doubt, a student should cite the source.
DUE DATES
All work is due at the beginning of English class on the dates listed.
No excuses, including computer problems, will be accepted. Students should plan ahead and have their work ready well ahead of the due dates.
If the student is absent at the time an assignment is due, he must send his work to the teacher by the beginning of English class on that day. Since this is a long-term research project, the make-up policy does not apply.
Bibliography cards and/or notecards are the only two parts which may be turned in late. Five points will be deducted from the total process rubric grade for each day the cards are turned in late.
No final copies of compositions will be accepted without the accompanying bibliography cards, notecards, rough draft outline/thesis statement, rough draft of composition with revisions marked, rough draft of Works Cited, final outline, final composition, final Works Cited, and source packet.
All parts of the research project must be done according to the prescribed directions, or a student will receive a zero on his project.
BIBLIOGRAPHY CARDS -- __________________________ (min. of 4 for all students) ? MINUS 5 POINTS FOR EACH DAY LATE
NOTECARDS ? ___________________________________ (min. of 15) -- MINUS 5 POINTS FOR EACH DAY LATE
THESIS STATEMENT/INFORMAL OUTLINE ? _________________________
ROUGH DRAFT OF COMPOSITION (ALL REVISIONS/CORRECTIONS
MARKED AS PER DIRECTIONS) ? ________________________________
ROUGH DRAFT OF WORKS CITED ? _________________________________
FINAL OUTLINE ? _______________________________
FINAL COMPOSITION -? ___________________________________________
FINAL WORKS CITED ? _________________________________________
SOURCE PACKET (ORGANIZED ACCORDING TO DIRECTIONS) ?
______________________________________________________________
GRADING OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT
Both the process grade and the composition grade will be recorded in the grade book at the end of the six weeks in which the paper is due.
The research paper project will count 20% of the student's total six weeks' average. Within the 20% category, the process grade will be entered as one grade; and the composition grade will be entered as two grades.
Students will receive a process grade based upon the following rubric:
PROCESS GRADE
*Bibliography cards (proper MLA format and number) ? 10 pts. _________ Pts.
*Notecards (proper MLA format and content) ? 20 pts. _________ Pts.
Thesis Statement/Rough Draft Outline ? 10 pts. _________ Pts.
Rough Draft of Composition ? 15 pts. _________ Pts.
Rough Draft of Works Cited ? 10 pts. _________ Pts.
Final Outline/Thesis Statement ? 10 pts. _________ Pts.
Final Composition ?10 pts. _________ Pts.
Source Packet (organized according to directions) ? 15 pts. _________ Pts.
TOTAL POINTS FOR PROCESS GRADE _________ Pts.
*Minus 5 points for each day late
Provided the guidelines have been met regarding bibliography cards,
notecards, rough draft outline/thesis statement, rough draft of composition
with revisions marked, rough draft of Works Cited, final outline, final
composition, final Works Cited, and source packet, the composition will
be graded by the following rubric:
COMPOSITION GRADE
Content ? 25 pts. ______ Pts.
Thesis statement ? 5 pts. ______ Pts.
Organization of composition ? 10 pts. ______ Pts.
Grammar ? 5 pts. ______ Pts.
Spelling ? 5 pts. ______ Pts.
Punctuation ? 5 pts. ______ Pts.
Usage ? 5 pts. ______ Pts.
Parenthetical documentation (MLA) ? 10 pts. ______ Pts.
Use of all sources ? 5 pts. ______ Pts.
Direct quotations ? 5 pts. ______ Pts.
Length ? 5 pts. ______ Pts.
Appearance ? 5 pts. ______ Pts.
Form
first page format ? 2 pts. ______ Pts.
pagination ? 2 pts. ______ Pts.
margins ? 2 pts. ______ Pts.
Works Cited ? 4 pts. ______ Pts.
TOTAL POINTS ON COMPOSITION GRADE
_______ Pts.