3 page essay

Let's Get It Started! 1. Review your thesis, your classmates' feedback, my feedback from the Thesis Discussion Forum. Revise your thesis as needed. Create a new document in whatever software you use (I strongly urge you to use Word to maintain formatting integrity when saving files). Create your MLA heading and type your thesis into the document. The thesis will be the last sentence of the introduction (sometimes two sentences), but you can add more at the beginning of the introduction later. Right just get a good thesis into your new document. **Note my peers did not give me comments. As i submitted late my previous work. 2. Open your Annotated Bibliography document. You may want to work on the two documents side by side. Or, you can just switch between documents. 3. Look back at the thesis reasons, the "whys." Then look at your quotes. Which quotes support which reason? You will want argument and evidence sources to support your reasons. Those should make up the majority of your quotes. Strive for 1-2 quotes for each reason. Hence you may have have several paragraphs per reason. You may also have have quotes that provide background information. You'll want to include those right at the beginning of your paper after the introduction. There will be more on this later. Right now, we're just getting started. Think of that song! 4. Find eight quotes that best prove your thesis/support your reasons. Before you copy and paste, FIRST Keep in mind that your research essay will probably follow a format very similar to the following: Introduction Paragraph--Last Sentence Thesis. First Body Paragraph ONLY IF NEEDED---Background information Quote. Body Paragraph--First Reason. Provide Quote. Body Paragraph--First Reason. Provide Quote. Body Paragraph--Second Reason. Provide Quote. And so forth. Conclusion. HENCE: Consider the order of the quotes. Of course not all topics will fit this format exactly, but this should give you an idea of where to copy and paste your quotes. FIND YOUR EIGHT QUOTES AND COPY/PASTE THEM INTO YOUR DOCUMENT WITH THE THESIS--This is now becoming your RESEARCH ESSAY. 5. Create Signal Phrases to go at the beginning of each quote. Before each quote write Author Name in "Name of Article" discusses/writes/explains/states/etc. "Insert Quote" (30). Yours would look like this John Smith in "The African Blood Diamond" states "the industry is bigger than most people imagine." Since no page number was given in the article, I did not need to include a parenthetical since I already gave the author name and the name of the article in the sentence. If a page number is given in your sources, do include, but if not, you can skip as long as you do the signal phrase. 6. Write a couple of sentences to go in front of the thesis. If you've got something good, write it now. If not, just plainly and clearly introduce your topic. Do not write questions like "Have you ever though about gun control?" You might have learned that a shocking statistic is good way to begin. That's true. Another good way to begin is with a mini-story. But keep it short and simple. Your first paragraph should not take up more than half the page. If you find the introduction stumps you, skip it and come back to it later. But plainly and clearly introduce your topic.