And then Write a Rough Draft in 3 days

Finally, to write final draft in 5 days.

Your Task: We have two options, just choose one to do.

Option #1: Argumentative Research Paper (Sample on the bottom)

For this assignment, you will write a research paper of at least 1500 words on a topic of your choice that is connected to the class theme of “Monsters.”

Approaches:

• Fictional: Look at a fictional movie, TV episode, music video, or piece of media and do a close analysis of the “monster/villain”
• Historical: Look at a real-life dictator, serial killer, scientist, social network, etc. and do an analysis of the coverage of the person.
• Scientific: Look at modern science e.g. cloning, Crispr, genetic modification etc. and decide whether that type of science is creating modern heroes or monsters.
• Current events: Do a deep dive on a current event like border control, politics, make-up, sports, and analyize whether your topic is helping society or harming it?

The Steps:

1. Pick an issue related to the broad theme of “monsters” that interest you e.g something from the class or Frankenstein’s Cat.
2. Narrow down the topic to something you can cover in1500+ words e.g. “Is it ethical to conduct cloning research for profit?” or “What modern fear does the monster in Bird box represent?”
3. Read articles and books, and watch some media clips that interest you on that topic. Make sure to get sources you agree and disagree with
4. Put your sources on your Source Log. You must use 8 of the Source Log sources in the Research Paper
5. After doing a little research, develop your topic on your issue develop a hypothesis. Basically, take a stand on how your topic impacts the local community. Hint: This will turn into your thesis.
6. This project will culminate in your research paper.

Essay Requirements:

1. An introduction that provides context on the topic, eases the reader into your essay and has a “hook” that grabs people’s attention.
2. A thesis statement or controlling idea that takes a strong stand and is narrow enough to cover within the page limit e.g. if your umbrella topic is “The nudism movement promotes a healthy body image” you would have to narrow that down into a more focused topic that fits into that larger topic.
3. Research is a secondary concern and personal voice is first.
4. Transitional topic sentences that are clear, provocative, develop your thesis, and provide unity in your essay.
5. Body paragraphs that have a transition, a topic sentence, multiple examples, and a concluding sentence.
6. You must use 8 Sources from the Source Log in the Research Paper
7. The Quote Sandwich model (lead-in, quote, and analysis of quote) must be used with each quote.
8. Some analysis of all your supporting examples.
9. A conclusion that offers some ideas about what can be done about the situation.
10. Strong sentences that are both grammatically correct and sophisticated.
11. 8th MLA in-text citations and a Works Cited page are required for this paper

Option #2: Visual Research Presentation PPT (Sample on the bottom)

Organization:

The Presentation should contain the following sections:

1. Title with Student’s name and Research Project title
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
4. Background
5. Results
6. Conclusions
7. Works Cited

Visual Presentation Tips:

• The first visual should be equivalent to the title page of the paper.
• Your second slide should state your research topic & thesis
• Visuals should be brief, simple, and uncluttered. Focus on important information. Each visual should make one simple statement and supplement your thesis statement.
• Use good judgment in determining the number of visuals and balance their contents. Although you do not want to quickly flash multiple visuals, you should not spend too much time on a single visual either. Typically, a visual should represent an example e.g. like in a paragraph
• If you can read the slides without a magnifier, people in an audience could probably read them on the screen.

Grading Criteria:

Reseach Visual Design:

• Clarity in stating the topic & thesis stance
• Identification of important sources to support your thesis
• Appropriateness of research to the topic
• Recognition of limitations in the data
• Acknowledgement of counter-arguments
• Synthesis of research
• Degree to which the data supported the conclusions
• Originality of the research topic

Presentation:

• Effective use of tables and/or figures in presenting data
• Accuracy of spelling and grammar
• Neatness and organization of presentation
• Logical flow of slides
• Balance between text and visuals
• Readability of slides

MLA citation:

• All 8 sources from the annotated bibliography are included in a thoughtful and useful way
• All sources used are cited in-text with 8th MLA
• All sources are cited in a Works Cited that follows 8th MLA citation rules
• All visuals are cited with 8th MLA for visual images and on the Works Cited page