S2014 English IV Senior Project Overview
and List of Research Paper Topics
Part I-The Thesis-driven Research Report
You will conduct a historical investigation on an event, figure, or topic that relates to a work(s) in our literature book and record your findings in a research report.
*Your research report must follow the Modern Language Association’s guidelines for writing research reports, as this is stylistic guide used in most undergraduate humanities courses.
*The paper will have a strong thesis statement in the introduction that introduces your topic and the point you will develop. The following body paragraphs should support or prove your thesis and your paper should conclude with a statement discussing the broader implications of those findings. Refer to the Index of Skills section of your literature book, if additional information is needed.
*All language should be formal – NO “I,” “you,” “me,” “our,: etc.; in other words, avoid using pronouns-name the person of whom you are speaking. Do not use contractions, slang or abbreviations. Use the literary present verb tense. Follow the proper conventions of the English language.
*The final copy of the research paper should be typed and submitted electronically to the respective assignment’s folder on the schoolrack page for this class. You will have announced research plan check points for the following requirements to validate your paper:
• Topic Proposal
• Research Guide Questions to address your topic
• Sources
• Notes
• Outline
• Rough Draft
• Peer-revision form
• Self-revision form
• Final copy
Any report not meeting all of the checkpoints and requirements may be considered as a plagiarized paper. Validate your work.
4 Research Report Requirements:
1) Modern Language Association’s Formatting Guidelines:
• A minimum of FOUR (4) pages of content with a maximum of SIX (6) pages of content, graphics do not count toward the page requirements. The Title Page and Works Cited page do not count towards the 4-6 content pages. Your report must be four full pages….3 and 1/2 of the next page is not 4 pages. It is 3.5….
• These guidelines are regarding what your typed paper should look like when you finish.
• Typewritten in the Modern Language Association’s 12 point Times New Roman(TNR) font with 1” margins.
• The entire paper is to be double-spaced – heading, title, quotes, works cited page, and any justification pages. For an example paper, go to dianahacker.com/writersref, click on “Model Papers,” and then select “MLA Papers.” Go to the Purdue OWL site. There is also an example paper in Trimmer’s Guide to MLA Documentation.
• Do not double-double-space between paragraphs.
• Be sure to indent your paragraphs 5 spaces.
• Each page, other than the title page, must be labeled with your last name and page number. This is done by going to Insert, Header/Footer, Header enter last name and click on icon for page number. Tab over to the right margin and type your last name.
2) A minimum of FIVE different sources must be cited in the paper.
1. Interview: One of your sources must be an interview with a person who is an expert on your topic. Be sure to list the interviewed person’s qualifications in your works cited page. This interview may be a personal or published interview (either print or published online).
2-3. At least two sources must be from scholarly magazines, journals, or periodicals (either print or published online).
4. At least one source is a book (either print or published online).
5. Source of your choice; however, no more than three sources should be from the Internet, preferably authored websites with the endings: .org, .gov, .edu.
*General encyclopedias like World Book or sites like Wikipedia, schmoop, or ask.com may not be used as a source within your paper. Such general encyclopedias or sites are an excellent place to begin your pre-search, but should not be the basis for your findings. Cross-reference their references.
3) The style of parenthetical documentation or in-text citation we are using to write the paper is from the Modern Language Association (MLA). Refer to the “Citing Sources and Preparing Manuscript” R21-R23 in your literature book and p. 1096-1107.
General MLA In-text Citation Formulas:
Method 1:This style either uses the author or the first item from the source bibliography to introduce the borrowed information in a sentence. If the source does not have a page number, no parentheses are needed.
Formula 1: Introductory tag containing the author + borrowed information+ (page number, if available) =1 sentence.
Example: One critic, Leonard Mustazza, argues that Mrs. Hale recruits Mrs. Peters “as a fellow ‘juror’ in the case, moving the sheriff’s wife away from her sympathy for her husband’s position and towards identification with the accused woman” (494).
Source Citation: Mustazza, Leonard. “Generic Translation and Thematic Shift in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and ‘A Jury of Her Peers.’” Studies in Short Fiction. 26.4 (1989): 489-96. Print.
OR
Method 2: The author or the first item from the source bibliography for the borrowed information is noted in parentheses immediately after using the borrowed information in a sentence. The parentheses must also have the page number (if available) or paragraph number(if available) from an Internet article. All of these parts comprise 1 sentence.
Formula 2: Introductory tag + borrowed information+ (author page number, if available)=1 sentence.
Example: In fact, one critic argues that Mrs. Hale recruits Mrs. Peters “as a fellow ‘juror’ in the case, moving the sheriff’s wife away from her sympathy for her husband’s position and towards identification with the accused woman” (Mustazz 494).
Source Citation: Mustazza, Leonard. “Generic Translation and Thematic Shift in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and ‘A Jury of Her Peers.’” Studies in Short Fiction. 26.4 (1989): 489-96. Print.
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