ASSIGNMENT: Your Research Project actually encompasses several class assignments and three major themes: Proposal, Progress Report and Research Report (First and Final Drafts). Your Research Report should be about six-to-eight typed or word-processed (preferred) body pages long. It should have a title page, an outline, an abstract, a body, and a works cited page. The body and works cited pages should be numbered consecutively. You should have a minimum of five sources, including a personal or telephone interview, listed on your works cited page (and that means they are used (cited) in your paper). You should also have a minimum of ten correctly documented notes from those sources in your works cited list. And you should have some type of visual information (graph, chart, table, etc.) included with your report, either in the body or attached in an appendix.
1. TENTATIVE OUTLINE: Write your thesis (as a sentence) and devise a tentative outline with at least 5 major headings and 2 or 3 parts under each. (Your outline will build as you do the research)
2. BIB CARDS: Prepare your bibliography cards (your sources--minimum 5/maximum 10). Have at least three different kinds of sources like a hard cover book, a newspaper article, a magazine or journal article, a pamphlet, etc. Be sure to include at least one personal or telephone interview. Put one source on a card with its necessary information such as
a. The author's name (if there is an author), last name first.
b. The title of the article or section, in quotation marks.
c. The title of book or magazine or newspaper, etc., underlined or in italics.
d. The place of publication for a book (found on the title page of book; if more than one place is given, use only the first)
e. The publisher's name (for a book)
f. The date of publication
g. Page numbers of an article (Don't use p. or pp.)
h. The library call number of a book (for your own convenience)
3. NOTE CARDS: Prepare your note cards. (Have at least 10/maximum 20)
a. Use a separate card for each note. (Your outline should name topics for which you need source material.)
b. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR? Two types of support are needed for each point of your outline.
1. facts, figures, names, events, experiments, dates, etc.
2. statements of authority, that is, opinions, theories, conclusions and so on, expressed by people who have background in this area.
USE ONLY MATERIAL THAT YOU THINK IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR PAPER!
c. Methods of taking notes are the following:
1. A quotation or word-for-word note--this must be exact and precise, except that you may omit words and place three dots or ellipsis marks (...) If you omit words at the end of a sentence, place a fourth dot. Always enclose a quotation with quotation marks. Use quotations sparingly. (and briefly)
2. A paraphrase--this is a rewriting of the entire passage. You must change it over completely to your own wording, retaining only technical terms.
3. A précis or brief summary--where the reference is to be a lengthy passage that contains only one or two notable facts, you may compress its gist into a few words. These words must be your own. An abstract is a brief summary of the essential thoughts of a book or article, in usually 100 words or so.
d. Note cards --Keep these together with a rubber band. Along with your note, you'll need these on each card:
1. The heading--at the top of each card should be a heading that is identical with a point in your revised outline (See final outline below).
2. The cross reference --at the bottom or top of each card, after each note, write the author's last name. If no author write the title of the article.
3. Put page number. Record page number where you got material next to author or title.
4. FINAL OUTLINE: Revise your outline to reflect the outcome of your research.
5. ABSTRACT: Write your abstract. Length should be 90-110 words.
6. FIRST DRAFT: Write your first draft. Type your report on a word processor, so that revisions are easier to make. Mention the source of note as a lead-in to that note (especially the first time you use a particular source). Put page numbers in parentheses after each note. (See your text for an MLA (Modern Language Association) style sample paper) Your first draft must also have a works cited page. (It is actually your completed research report but still in revisable form.)
7. FINAL REPORT: Type and assemble your final report in this order:
a. title page (title, your name, course, instructor, school, date)
b. outline page (Don't forget to put thesis at beginning of outline.)
c. abstract page (100-word summary of text of report)
d. text/body of paper (Number the pages & don't forget to include a graph)
e. works cited page (Put sources in alphabetical order)
f. appendix (optional)
TENTATIVE OUTLINE
(Research Report)
Thesis: (Write the main idea of your paper in one sentence.) ______________________
______________________________________________________________________
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I. (Introduction)
A.
B.
II. (First major point)
A. (Support for first major point)
1.
2.
B.
1.
2.
C.
1.
2.
III. (Second major point)
A. (Support for second major point)
1.
2.
B.
1.
2.
C.
1.
2.
IV. (Third major point)
A. (Support for third major point)
1.
2.
B.
1.
2.
C.
1.
2.
V. (Conclusion)
GRADING CRITERIA
Scoring Rubric for Composition 103 Research Report
6=150 points 4=90 points 2=30 points
5=120 points 3=60 points 1= 0 points
6–Superior
5–Strong
4–Competent
3–Weak
2–Inadequate
1–Incompetent