Research Paper Assignment

I.RESEARCH PAPER GUIDELINES

All written assignments MUST be submitted through the class website. Written assignments MUST be YOUR work in YOUR words. If you use materials prepared by others in your paper, you MUST provide appropriate references (footnotes). Failure to do so is considered plagiarism and is subject to the penalties described later in this syllabus. Papers will be submitted to Turnit-in to check for plagiarism. IF YOU DO NOT CITE IT IS AN AUTOMATIC ZERO!!! NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

* All works submitted are required to be original works.

* Papers written for, or modified from, works for other classes will not be accepted.

* Any paper that is, in the instructor’s judgment, substantially similar to that of another student’s will result in BOTH students being subject to plagiarism penalties.

Short and Late Papers

* Required papers that fail to meet the required length will lose at least1/2 point for every word short of the requirement.

* Optional papers that fail to meet the required length will not be accepted.

* No late papers will be accepted.

II. PAPER GUIDELINES”Half of success is simply following the rules.”

All papers must conform to the following:

* an electronic copy must be submitted through Eagle Online. A printed copy is welcome, especially if you would like written feedback on your writing, but no grade will be posted until the electronic copy is received. I will post comments on your papers through Eagle Online as time permits.

* your name, date, and course number on top right of first page.

* number all pages: Last name / page number.

* footnote (not endnote) all quoted material. Footnoting of source material is a critical component of your paper. Failure to footnote–i.e., giving due credit to other people’s work–is considered plagiarism. See the section on plagiarism for penalties.

* a Bibliography is required for all major (1800 words or more) papers. Required papers not having a bibliography will face significant loss of points; optional papers that do not have a required bibliography will not be accepted.

* WORD COUNT: (3000 Words) the actual body of the paper will determine the word count. Your name, class info, titles or headings, date, page numbers are not counted. Footnotes and bibliographies are also not counted – these have their own requirements.

* 5 books and 5 journals articles MUST be in your bibliography. That is the minimum requirement. 

* significant points may be deducted if the above formatting requirements are not followed!

Footnoting and Bibliographies

Perhaps one of the most difficult things to master when writing research papers is footnoting and creating a bibliography. Both are necessary components for any major paper you will write during your academic career, whether in History or any other subject.

The good news is that it really isn’t all that difficult, once you know what you are doing. Even better, there are a number of websites available to help you.

WHEN TO FOOTNOTE

Knowing when to footnote something is actually quite simple: whenever you are using or referring to somebody else’s work in your own! Failing to give someone else credit for their work–or claiming it as your own is plagiarism, which is to say: cheating. Don’t do it. It is always found out, often with embarrassing consequences.

Yet in History, as with virtually every other subject, you will often have to refer to other people’s work in order to complete your own. This is fine. In fact, judicious use of others’ authoritative work adds to your work’s credibility. The only requirement is to give credit where credit is due.

HOW TO FOOTNOTE

So, you have to footnote. How do you do it? First, there is a specific format to follow to footnote correctly. Once you know that, it’s only a matter of adding it to your paper. Using a word processor such as MS Word makes it relatively easy.

Format

While there are several possible styles to footnoting, the CHICAGO STYLE OF WRITING will be usedally used for History papers. This is the format I expect you to use for your papers in this class. There are many websites where you can get information on the Chicago Style of Writing. I have listed three below:

(1) The Long Island University web page on Chicago Style is simple, straightforward, colorful, and easy to use. The component parts of a footnote are color coded so you can see the difference in footnoting between books, articles, etc. You can access it through this link: http://www2.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/cittur.htm(2) The University of Southern Mississippi website offers more detail on Chicago Style footnoting. This site provides more in-depth examples of footnotes, including how to footnote web pages, online media, databases, and so on. You can access it through this link: http://www.lib.usm.edu/help/style_guides.html(3) The University of Wisconsin website offers everything you ever wanted to know about footnoting. You can access it through this link: U. Wisc. Turabian HandbookInserting a Footnote in your paper

For purposes of illustration, this example covers how you would insert a footnote in a document using Microsoft Word. Wordperfect and other advanced word processing software also include this feature, and while the actual steps involved are different, the end result should be the same.

1. To insert a footnote in Word, the first step is to place your cursor at the place in the document where you want the numeric reference (that’s the little number that tells you to look for a footnote). This will usually be at the end of a sentence, following the period.

2. Next, using your mouse, click on ‘Insert’in the tool bar at the top of your screen. A drop-down box will open with all of the options for ‘Insert’.

3. Click on the ‘Footnote’ option in the ‘Insert’ drop-down box. This will open the ‘Footnote and Endnote’ pop-up window. Select ‘Footnote’, not ‘Endnote’ – choosing endnote puts all of your footnotes at the end of the paper instead of at the bottom of the page.

4. Click ‘OK’. You will note that your screen divided in half. The top half contains the document you were working on. Note the small number where your cursor was.

Also note that your cursor is now in the bottom half of your screen, to the right of the corresponding footnote number. This is where you will enter the footnote. It could be a comment or a Turabian-style reference to work you are using in this paper.

5. To continue, you can close the bottom half of your screen, OR you can simply return to where you were working in the top half and continue.

…and that’s all there is to it!

CREATING A BIBLIOGRAPHY

The second thing you must have for any research paper is a Bibliography, also known as a ‘Works Cited’ page. This is a summary of all the materials by author that you referred to in your paper, and follows the end of your paper.

As you will see, the format of the entries in a Bibliography are nearly identical to the format of footnotes. In addition to links on the three websites listed above, I have listed two other websites that can specifically help you with creating a bibliography:

(1) The Encarta website gives a geneal overview of what you’ll need. It’s simple and straightforward, and covers most of the sources you’re likely to use for papers in this class. You can access it through this link: Encarta Bibliography Info(2) The Concordia website is more comprehensive and shows you an example of entries in a Bibliography. It is a .pdf file, so you will need an Adobe Acrobat reader to access it. If you don’t have one installed, you will probably get a pop-up window along with a link which will allow you to download and install the software. It is free and something you will use quite often in other research. The link to Concordia is: http://www.cui.edu/StudentLife/Writing-Center/index.aspx?id=20517…AND IF ALL ELSE FAILS

Ask me, either before or after class or through an email through our class Eagle Online site. If you’re having a problem, chances are others are as well. Don’t be shy about getting the information you need, and don’t wait until it’s too late.

* significant points may be deducted if the above formatting requirements are not followed!

Sample Topics:

World War II

World War I

Great Depression

NASA

Civil Rights Movements

Vietnam

Rock and Roll

Research Paper Assignment

The purpose of a research paper is that you explore a topic, learn something new about it (perhaps challenge your own ideas), and then present those new ideas in a paper.
In this paper, you will explore and build on a topic similar to the topic of your narrative and/or 6 paragraph essay. But this time the topic will be more broad.
This paper will answer the same question that you answered for the 6 paragraph essay, which means that you have the scaffolding and my comments to help you to improve. Now, you will expand its focus and aID research.
Here is the question:
What is the cultural significance of the food/meal that you have written about, and how does that relate to your culture? End your paper by relating this to your narrative by answering this question: How is this food and what you’ve discovered about it reflected in/by your family?
You may find your topic by asking yourself the following questions:
1. What is the food about which I have been writing?
2. Is there enough research to do a paper about that specific food? (origins, manners, etc)
3. If yes, then what would I like to know about this food? Its origins? History? Cultural meaning? How it has changed over the years?

If there is not enough information, then continue with the next two questions.
4. Expand your food idea: what kind of category does it fall into? For example, is it Southern? Italian? Northern?
5. What would the reader like to know more about this category? This could be its origins, the cuisine of that region, how it has changed over the years, the manners of that region, the traditions around that food and how these traditions developed, etc.

Here is are some examples:
• One student who is German wrote about German beers and how they developed over the years. Then she related it to her family and why they choose the beers they drink.
• Another student wrote about goulash, where it came from, how it developed from the ingredients available, and what it means to the culture.

• Another student wrote about soul food and how it developed from the food given to the slaves.

You will then make a statement about your topic (thesis) and write your essay using research to support and inform what you say.
Why are we using the same topic?
First, you are already knowledgeable about the topic because you’ve written about it.
Second, in your writing, you may have come across some ideas that you’d like to explore.
Can I choose a different kind of food/cuisine to research? As long as you check with me before the research/sources are due.
Research Idea: You may do some family research such as interviews. You might find recipe cards or notes to which you refer. However, you must also meet the research requirements.
Paper Stipulations:
o MLA format
o 3+ typed pages (that is 3 FULL pages, all the way to the bottom)
o More than 5 paragraphs
o A correctly written and formatted Works Cited page No quotes over 4 lines Only 6 short quotes per paper
o Must use a mix of paraphrases, summaries and quotes.
o You may use 1st person but not 2nd person
o You may not use “I think” or “I believe.”

Source Guidelines
o You must use 3 sources.
o You may use one Personal Interview as a source. Follow the guidelines in the textbook:
o Type up a formal copy of the interview,
o Submit it at the end of the paper after the Works Cited page
o Cite it in MLA format in the Works Cited page.
o The person you interview must be credible. In this case, a family member such as a grandparent is an example of a good source.
o You may use one book as a source if you would like.
o At least one source, but possibly all, must be found through GPC library resources: GIL, Galileo, EBSCO, etc.
o After you’ve me the above requirement, sources may come from Google Scholar of the URL must end in .edu or .gov

o Your sources must each be a minimum of 3 pages in length; your sources must be actual book chapters, full essays, or full magazine articles. Book reviews, small blurbs, or short how-to lists are not acceptable sources. You should expect to do a fair amount of reading in order to find interesting sources.

6 paragraph essay

The rice thief

There are many kinds of traditional foods which has made each country more interesting from foreigners around the world. They are usually derived from ancestors through many generations from parents to their children, and it has loved by people of their country for a long period of time. I believe traditional foods give people their unique identity and sets apart from other people around the world.   As I have talked about on my narrative essay, my grandfather’s steamed crabs are sentimental to me and it is a special food that’s only made in my country. It is not only a special food to me, but it has been special to all Koreans for many special reasons because it has very special nicked and has long historical story. It also has a very unique taste, and it is consider as a healthy food. When it is prepared on a special occasion, it brightens the dinner table for any Korean family.
Rice is usually a food that is not eaten by itself. It is usually eaten with other dishes or it is stir fried with other meats and vegetables. It is because of its plain taste and it always goes well with other dishes. Korean people usually eat plain rice for every meal. For each meal, they eat it with many several side dishes and a main dish. When the main dish is really good, there isn’t enough rice to go around. The phrase “rice thief” is nicknamed for steam crabs because with its salty taste people gravitate towards rice which upsets the salty taste with its plain taste. Most importantly, it is very delicious. For example, people eat two or three bowls when eating steamed crabs. I’m not sure how that’s exactly possible but it can’t be explained even by a nutritionist. Also, everyone uses their hands to eat them.
Here is a funny history, Long times ago, Korea had class society between nobility and slavery. At that time, nobility used to consider person’s character when judging people. The character was judged by how they act, present themselves, how they walk and how they eat. For example, nobility had never ran to anywhere even there’s a fire. But, when they are eating steamed crabs, they didn’t care about a single thing. Even nobilities go wild on steamed crabs getting food all over their clothing and eating really fast like there was something chasing them. That is why government had made a rule which has to follow some funny role when they eat crabs. That is “do not eat the rice off of a crab’s body shell”. People used to eat off of a shell without setting the dining table and getting the rice bowl out because they couldn’t wait until they get their hands on them.
Korea is a peninsula. It is surrounded by ocean. So, there is plenty of seafood to go around. Therefore, seafood has developed for hundreds of years with many varieties of to prepare them. Crab belongs to salted food. Salting food is used to ferment fresh crabs. Then, it is marinated in soy sauce. Crabs have derived before 1600s. It is belonged to a very high quality food even till now. They were given to the gods and ancestors because it was a very precious food. That is why it is often prepared for the king’s dinner. Nowadays, whenever people have gatherings on a special occasion, people make steamed crabs.
It is not easy to explain the taste of steamed crabs. There isn’t that much vocabulary in the dictionary to explain them. People get aIDicted by the unique and its special taste. It belongs to the hardest food to prepare because most of important for its taste is to make the best soy sauce. The soy sauce gets all of the sea taste out from the crabs. My grandfathers come from north. So, his food making style is more north. Even though, Korea is a small country, north and south part of Korea has a different style of making the same food. That is why my grandfather crabs are more unique than other people. That makes for getting is special taste.
Moreover, there is no need of taking vitamins and medications for a healthy life and longevity because steamed crabs contain many good nutrients and proved to be one of the healthy foods. That is why people and even patients like them. Also, it does not contain any fat that is why it prevents the adult disease and makes the blood vessels more strengthening. That is why it is perfect food for both nutrients and health.