English 1301 - Iyengar, Kalpana: Social issue

Research Paper

The paper is written in sections. We will write, confer with peers and the professor in class throughout the research paper writing process. It is the individual students' responsibility to revise, edit, and polish the drafts after conferencing sessions.  Students cannot submit the paper without generating multiple drafts of the various sections of the paper in class. Those who submit the final paper without conferring with peers and the professor will earn a zero grade.

Make sure to include the following sections in your 1000-word research paper. Read pages 445 to 528 of Bedford textbook. Refer to the MLA manual or go to the writing center. I will describe the process of research writing and guide you with the various section of the process. Please take notes in class each day starting October 31^st. Missing classes and coming to class without reading the HW assignments will be detrimental to your learning process and success.

The research paper is structured as follows:

• Background/Context (Introduction)
• Literature Review or Synthesis of findings (must incorporate 3 sources)
• Analysis of topics/themes (subheadings) (draw from the literature review)
• Findings
• Conclusion
• Works Cited in MLA format (Writing Center) and pages 500 to 528 of the Bedford textbook

Background/Context (Introduction)

Start with providing a brief background of the topic under exploration. Do not shock the reader(s) with the thesis statement in the first line of the introduction. Try and establish your passion for researching on the topic and create a context for readers to situate the topic. The thesis statement must be the last sentence of this introductory paragraph. Your thesis can be a hypothesis if you are ready to defend your claim.

 Literature Review

This paragraph includes a synthesis of your findings in 3 scholarly sources (refer to class notes and the handout from the writing center). Try to look for concepts or ideas expressed in the sources and consolidate the concepts or ideas after you establish a connection or relationship between them in multiple sources. Refer to Excelsior OWL for guidance [https://owl.excelsior.edu/]Links to an external site.

Literature Review

This section includes the critical analysis of your references to prove the thesis statement .

This is not a laundry list of summary sentences, i.e. "Author A said _____.  Author B said _____.  Author C said _______." [Incorrect]

Look for the similarities and differences across the articles. How do they fit into each other and shape your understanding of the topic?

Iyengar (2024) and Smith (2024) demonstrate that culturally proximal instructional practices are beneficial for students from diverse backgrounds. [Synthesis from two different sources]

Or

Research documents the benefits of culturally relational topics for student engagement and advancement (Iyengar, 2024; Munoz, 2023 & Smith, 2024). [Synthesis from three different sources]

 Links to an external site.

The research essay (body) includes the following components

• Evidence to prove the thesis presented
• Information supporting or proving the thesis statement (citations)
• Supporting information can be analysis, argument, evaluation, persuasion and comparison/contrast (citations)
• Body of the paper is well organized with each paragraph consisting of a topic sentence, supporting and concluding sentences and a transition to the next paragraph. Make sure to use headings to help the readers with smooth transition
• Support for your thesis, whether quoted, summarized, or paraphrased, must be cited using the MLA format. You must incorporate all of the 10 sources in your body paragraphs throughout the research essay as well.

Findings

Write a paragraph describing what you found through your analysis of the 3 sources you read and incorporated in the paper. This can be done only if you read the sources, work on an annotated bibliography, and then and then synthesize the concepts. This is time consuming, but can be done.

Conclusion

This is the last paragraph of the paper and summarizes how your paper proved/disapproved the thesis. A good conclusion:

• Restates thesis statement
• Leaves the reader with a last thought
• Does not include any new information

The research paper draft with all of the different sections intact is due on August 1st in class for MLA workshop (soft copy). We will also work on the peer review in class (bring an MLA formatted printed hard copy to class). You must submit the polished research essays on Canvas on August 6th by 11.59 p.m. No extension is permitted.

Failure to bring the paper will result in a deduction of 25 points of the overall grade and you will not get help with the MLA citations. You must consult with the writing center and make sure to reserve your appointment asap (October 31st onwards).

Sample MLA formatted Research Paper

https://depts.washington.edu/owrc/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Hacker-Sample-MLA-Formatted-Paper.pdfLinks to an external site.

https://owl.excelsior.edu/orc/what-to-do-while-reading/annotating/annotating-a-journal-article/Links to an external site.

https://owl.excelsior.edu/orc/what-to-do-after-reading/synthesizing/Links to an external site.

https://owl.excelsior.edu/research/literature-reviews/