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World Lit 1 Research Papers
RESEARCH PAPERS
Students will be asked to select a topic up to the year 1692, gather information from a minimum of four (4) sources including video tapes and other a/v materials, interviews, the text book, reference books, journals, etc. The paper should include a minimum of four double-spaced typed pages (or a minimum of 1,000 words) and a works cited page with at least three sources, not including the textbook or encyclopedias. Papers that meet these minimum requirements will receive a C. Higher grades will be given to papers that exceed the minimum requirements.
You should use the MLA format for your documentation as outlined in the Harbrace College Handbook or other sources.
Subjects for the paper or project may be varied. The only requirements are that the topic must fall within the time period of the course and it must be of interest to the class and to the reader. Topics may reflect the student's major, such as education in early Greece, medicine in the Middle Ages, the influence of the Crusades on trade and business, music of the Renaissance, or the architecture of the Romans. They may also reflect the student's interests, such as early inventions, comparing creation myths of the Egyptians and the Hebrews, Renaissance fashion, slavery among the Hebrews, the brutality of the Spanish Inquisition, or women's issues.
Your success with this paper will be determined by the topic you choose--so choose something you are interested in learning more about because of your major, career choice, or personal interest.
You might want to look at art or sports in a particular time period, marriage or education in the Middle Ages, how a cathedral was built, the genealogy of a family name, how religion impacted music, or any other subject that would combine your own interests with the time period.
Avoid the following:
- Topics that are too broad—almost anything about Shakespeare, any mere biography or history paper. These papers are too boring.
- Topics that are too technical—if you are interested in mechanical engineering, you may write a paper about the topic only if you can make the topic interesting to the rest of the class and teacher. Avoid using jargon or vocabulary that normal adults would not be familiar with.
For help with topics, examine the time lines in your text before each major section, glance through the table of contents, or consult with the instructor, your major professor or librarian. A brief oral presentation will accompany the final draft of the paper.
The paper, rough drafts, and photocopied sources should be put in a large envelope to hand in. Do not put your paper in a report holder; just staple it in the top left hand corner.
Due dates:
Due dates: Wed Sept 13--tentative topic due
Wed Sept 20--working bibliography due
Wed Oct 11--highlighted sources due
Wed Oct 25--peer draft copy due
Wed Nov 1--rough draft due
Wed Nov 8--oral presentation, final copy, rough drafts, and all notes due
You may opt to do a project of some kind in lieu of the paper, but you must meet all the paper requirements possible. Students may submit original artwork or creative writing, perform a musical or dramatic work, construct models, or develop any other project that reflects the time period as long as it is discussed with the instructor in advance. In the past students have done the following:
Prepared a Medieval feast and shared information and food with the class
Created and modeled a Medieval costume
Built a castle
Drawn women's fashions of the Renaissance
Format of Research Paper
Double space with 1 inch margins. Use 12 point Times New Roman font. Do not have a separate title page—put a heading on the first page with your name, the class, the teacher name, and the date in the top left-hand corner. Center the title on the next line and begin the paper. Do not put extra double spaces anywhere in the paper. Pages should be numbered in the top right-hand corner. Your Works Cited Page should be a separate page at the end of the paper and should also be double spaced. Do not double space twice after end punctuation; use a singe space after commas and periods.
Do not put your final draft in a report cover. Merely staple it in the top left-hand corner and put it in your manilla envelope with the rest of your work. When you turn in your completed paper, all drafts, copies of sources, and topic selection sheet should be included in the envelope.
Other Considerations
MLA (Modern Language Association) format for citations should be used. Most writing handbooks have examples of the correct style for MLA. I have free booklets available if you need one. If your handbook does not have examples of how to document Internet sources, you may pick up an excellent handout from the Jackson State library.
Always put a citation (author’s last name and page number in parenthesis) after each quote or after material you have paraphrased which is not your own idea. Always introduce each quote in some way—never just begin a sentence with a quote. For example:
John Forsythe suggests, " Johnson’s poem is often misunderstood by the elite" (22).
Note that since the author’s name was used in the introduction, only the page number is in parenthesis. Also notice that there is no period until after the citation itself.
When quoting a source that is longer than three lines in your paper, indent the quote two tabs and omit quotation marks. However try to avoid over-quoting. Paraphrase or summarize most of your sources and use long quotes sparingly.
Paraphrased information from the same source in the same paragraph should just have a single citation unless the page number changes. If it does, put the new page number in parenthesis and omit the author’s name. For each new paragraph, include both the author name and page number in the citation.
The exception to this rule is that you do not have to cite general information, which includes anything that might be found in an encyclopedia such as facts or dates.
When referring to literature, use the present tense. "Shakespeare’s sonnet is remarkable for its use of alliteration." Even though Shakespeare wrote the sonnet in the past, we use present tense because the poem exists in the present.
PLAGIARISM
According to Lester in Writing Research Papers, "Fundamentally, plagiarism is the offering of the words or ideas of another person as one's own. The worst violation is the use of another student's work. Also flagrantly dishonest are writers who knowingly use sources without documentation" (129).
If a student is guilty of plagiarism, the instructor has the authority to assign an F or a zero for the exercise or examination, or to assign an F in the course.
Lester suggests the following rules of conduct:
1. Acknowledge borrowed material by introducing the quotation or paraphrase with the name of the authority.
2. Enclose within quotation marks all quoted material.
3. Make certain that paraphrased material is rewritten into your own style and language. Simply rearrangement of sentence patterns is unacceptable.
4. Provide specific in-text documentation for each borrowed item. MLA style requires name and page for all in-text references.
5. Provide a bibliography entry in the "Works Cited" for every source cited in the paper.
6. Omit sources consulted but not used.