Essay 4

Research Paper

Social Issue

Getting Started

Set up the boundaries of your paper.

How long is the paper supposed to be?

How much background information is necessary for the reader to understand the social issue?

How many points are needed to adequately address the topic?

What is the group that you plan to conclude your paper with?

What areas of your paper are going to require research?

What is a social issue?

Social issues are matters which directly or indirectly affect a person or many members of a society and are considered to be problems, controversies related to moral values, or both.

Building your argument

Identify the social issue that interests you the most

Include background information in order to clarify issue for readers

Introduction

Attention-getter

Possibly use a shocking fact or statistic

Thesis

Should include your social issue and main points

Building argument

Provide relevant information about this social issue

Who are the supporters?

What is the main cause?

What are their accomplishments?

What is the problem with this social issue?

Supporting your argument

Need to have adequate and informative evidence to offer support for your topic.

Data

Quotes

Examples

Facts

Statistics

Expert Opinion

Conclusion

Must offer a solution/proposal/call to action

Use the group that you have found as a way to compel your audience to act about this topic (support the group, learn about the group, etc)

Identifying Reseach

Primary

Personal Interviews

Need to have questions written out to be answered

Make sure you give credit to the person you interviewed within your paper of whatever information you gathered

Surveys

Secondary

Library research

Databases, articles, etc

Internet research

From credible websites

Working Bibliography

List all sources that you have looked at or taken information from

Prepare this on a computer file so you can add and delete as needed

This can help as you go through the writing process and need to refer back to sources

This makes it easier for you to complete your works cited page

Quotations

Direct quotation

Reproduce word for word within quotation marks

“The plot, with one exciting event after another, was representative of the usual historical novel. But Gone with the Wind placed its emphasis as much on the private individual as on the panorama.”

Quotations

Can use ellipsis to show where material has been omitted

Inside quote

“The plot…was representative of the usual historical novel. But Gone with the Wind placed its emphasis as much on the private individual as on the panorama.”

Quotations

Additions to a quote

May need to add a little piece of info to make concept clearer

“Not only did it [Gone with the Wind] for a short time become America’s speediest-selling novel, but over the long haul, it became the nation’s largest-selling novel.”

Quotes within a quote

Place single quotes around the quotation within your original quote

“Despite its massive scope, Gone with the Wind sustained, according to one reviewer, ‘remarkable continuity in its plot and character development.’”

Summarizing

Condensing someone else’s idea and restating it in your own words

This may be helpful in the background information you are going to present in your paper

Do not summarize any information you are using as defined evidence to support your point

Give credit to source

Paraphrasing

Recasts material by using roughly the same number of words, retaining the same level of detail, and adopting the same style as the original.

Give credit to source