IMPORTANT RESEARCH PAPER NOTE:

Note that your Final Research Paper Draft will need to include screen caps/pictures or file attachments/highlighted with the quotations you use in your Research Paper. We are not using TurnItIn.com’s plagiarism Checking software, so you’ll need to proved the Screencaps of highlighted sources in the context of the research sources and citations for each source so that I can find the source myself. It is VERY helpful to me if you download the article so that you can simply upload the articles you’ve found WITH your research paper so that I can look them over.

You might consider/complete the following: 

Read and annotate and study the text selections so that you fully understand Pipher’s concept

Select useful quotes that you feel help support and clarify Pipher’s concept

Formulate your own ideas about her concept and its usefulness and decide if other writers and their work fulfill her criteria for “change writing.”

Formulate a thesis that sets out your argument in a clear manner. You’re writing a Research Paper that

Summarizes some key concepts of Mary Pipher

Clarifies and defines her concept “change writing” and “change writer”

Explores several other sources that help to contribute to an understanding of Pipher’s concept

Offers text-based examples of writers/texts that fulfill some or all of her criteria from her chapter “The Psychology of Change

Conclude with an opinion about the usefulness of and importance of “change writers” and “change Writing”

Organize your essay with an introduction that lays a foundation for the concept, a series of body paragraphs that discuss and clarify and explain the concept using Pipher’s text as support as well as other texts, and a conclusion that summarizes your ideas and that makes a solid argument about the importance of and significance of change writers in the world.

You are writing a Research Paper — this is an ARGUMENT paper that requires research sources. To compose this paper, you’re blending several genre strategies:

Defining a Concept 

A definition essay is writing that explains what a term or concept means. In some definition essays, your instructor may ask you to take a term and explore the various definitions and then argue for or against a particular definition, or to enlarge the scope of meaning of a specific term. For our definition essay, you’ll be presenting your understanding of a term defined by Mary Pipher from her text Writing to Change the World, and as you’re presenting Pipher’s definition, you’ll analyze her definition and its usefulness for writers. (You’ll find out what the term is when you open the exam, but for now, read on to learn how to put together your definition essay).

Note: Some terms have definite, concrete meanings, such as glass, book, or tree. Terms such as honesty, honor, or love are abstract and depend more on a person’s point of view. It is these terms that make the best subjects for a definition essay – a term that is new and different, or that can mean many things to many people.

To write a definition essay, you’ll need to define a word that:

has a complex meaning

is disputable (could mean different things to different people)

To get started, remember that in your Definition essay you want to tell readers what term is being defined, and then present clear and basic information to your readers to help them understand the scope of the term. You can use facts, examples, or anecdotes that readers will understand, as well as source material by others who may have defined this term.

To create a thesis statement for your Definition essay, be sure that the thesis statement identifies the term being defined and provides a brief, basic definition before you dive into exploring the many facets and aspects of the term. In your introduction, you might start with one of the various techniques that we’ve explored this semester, such as a short anecdote, an extended definition, or some open-ended questions that might grab your reader’s attention. Your introduction should conclude with a distinct, precise thesis statement that tells your readers just what your essay will be discussing. All body paragraphs should directly and clearly support the thesis statement. The thesis statement usually identifies the term being defined and provides a brief, basic definition. Your body paragraphs will offer examples, anecdotes, and reflection on the definition, and in your conclusion, you should come to some larger idea or understanding of the term for your readers.