Research Paper Assignment

Research Body Paragraph Pattern (Detailed)

Assertion: State what the paragraph will discuss/prove with the main key word (academic concept/word) from the thesis and a key word (aspect of the academic concept/word) from the roadmap.

Transition word/phrase (In more detail, More specifically, In other words)

Explanation: Explain the assertion in more detail, perhaps including supporting evidence (that is correct APA cited) (“what do you mean” by this assertion?)

Transition word/phrase (According to, As______states/reports/indicates)

Evidence: More general than evidence below, make sure to introduce with sufficient context, “quote” cite (Last name/organization, Year). This is a great place to put expert theory/testimony.

Transition word/phrase (Clearly, This indicates that, It is clear that, In other words)

Discussion: Explain in your own words how the evidence proves the assertion/thesis; should be more than one sentence. It is possible to use cited supporting evidence here ** optional.

Transition word/phrase (In addition, For example, Moreover, For instance) + (According to, ______states/reports/highlights/suggests that)

Evidence: More specific than evidence above, make sure to introduce with sufficient context, paraphrase or “quote” cite (Last name/organization, Year). This is a great place to put more specific evidence, such as expert interpretation, or examples (especially detailed illustrative examples).

Transition word/phrase (Clearly, This suggests/reveals/means/highlights that, For this reason, With this in mind)

Discussion: Explain in your own words how the evidence proves the assertion/thesis/evidence above. Should be more than one sentence. This is a great place to use cited supporting evidence.

Transition word/phrase (Therefore/Thus/Hence)

Connection sentence: Using key word (academic concept/word) from the thesis and the key word (aspect of the academic concept/word) from the roadmap (same key words from the assertion), summarize in one sentence how the paragraph proved the assertion/thesis

Sample Body Paragraph #1

Sample Thesis: From an anthropological perspective, orphan care in Haiti must focus on nurturing because of complex cultural patterns continue to put children at risk through abandonment, desperation, imprisonment, and….

ASSERTION: Orphan care reveals complex cultural patterns in Haiti because children are at risk through abandonment.

OR – Orphan care reveals the need to focus on nurturing because children are at risk through abandonment

EXPLANATION: (Must explain what I mean by abandonment) = explain assertion key word (synonym of key word); More specifically/in more detail/in other words

Ex. In other words, children in Haiti without parents are often left alone to fend for themselves while given no support from outside sources, which leads to their sense of distrust (Proctor, 2018).

EVIDENCE: (General evidence related to abandonment)

According to…which/who…

Ex. According to John Smith, a reporter from the New York Times, a newspaper that covers a variety of topics OR who has written extensively on the orphanage crisis in Haiti, “Orphans are often thrust into adulthood because they are forced to live their lives on their own” (Smith, 2018).

DISCUSSION: (Discuss the idea of abandonment and its relationship to complex cultural patterns and how the evidence supports the relationship = CONNECT THE DOTS BETWEEN ASSERTION KEY WORD & OPINION OR CONCEPT); Clearly/this reveals

This reveals that without support from adults, which speaks to the cultural norm of Haiti as leaving children to fend for themselves, orphans are isolated from the rest of the society (Kim, 2018).

** Connect the dots – discuss the relationship between the topic, the assertion key word, the opinion, and the concept **

EVIDENCE: (More specific evidence that is related to abandonment AND/OR complex cultural patterns); In addition, according to…which/who…

DISCUSSION: (Can/should discuss the idea of abandonment, the relationship with cultural complex patterns, how the evidence supports the ideas, how the evidence is related to the other evidence, how the ideas are connected to the opinion of nurturing, also explaining how the ideas are related to the perspective)

Clearly/this also reveals that…

Talk about how the three ideas are related together and how this proves your assertion

CONNECTION: (SUMMARY using the same key words as the assertion)

Thus, abandonment is an aspect of the complex cultural patterns in Haiti because…

Sample Body Paragraph #2

Thesis: From a psychological perspective, the issue of fake news in the United States requires the politicians to push for tougher laws because of its tendency to spread easily through social media through the following causes: the increasing number of fake news websites, a lack of vetting individuals of authority, one’s tendency of not questioning what is published, and the prominence of “bots”.

Fake news in the United States has a tendency to spread easily through social media because of the increasing number of fake news websites. More specifically, there have been a dramatic increase in the creation of websites that mislead their readers through “clickbait” headlines in order to generating revenue through advertisements placed within them (Holan, 2018). For instance, according to Katherine Clayton, a Ph.D student in political studies at Stanford University, “The most viral false news articles were shared more on Facebook in the months prior to the [2016 presidential] election than the most widely shared mainstream news stories” (Clayton, et al., 2019, p. 1073). With this in mind, it is evident that various social media platforms, such as Facebook, play a vital role in spreading fake news among the general public. Because such articles are not fact-checked or vetted thoroughly by those who click and read them, the misinformation present in it can become known as fact. In addition, according to Thomas Smelter, a graduate student in psychological sciences at California State University, individuals who are exposed to fake news tend to trust it, as “[t]he presence of pictures and repeated exposure increased perceived accuracy” (Smelter & Calvillo, May 2020, p. 1061). Clearly, the prevalence of fake news websites that are shared widely in social media is having an impact on the ability of individuals to correctly judge the accuracy of their content. With a widespread of websites that promote sensational stories and their dramatic increase in the last ten years, the act of fake-checking becomes more crucial (Gillin, 2017). Therefore, the issue of fake news in the United States can be boiled down to the increase of fake news websites that are spread easily through social media.