Assignment

Write a research report of 500-750 words on an approved topic. Your report should use MLA documentation style and cite at least three separate sources. Your report does not have to argue an analytic thesis. Your purpose is simply to present information clearly.

Topics

Review the list of topics to see what is available. Send me an Email cbrucker@atu.edu in which you list your top three choices. I am going to let three people write about the same topic. I'll assign you to the highest choice that is still available.

Researching Your Topic

Once your topic is assigned, begin to gather information. You are required to use information from at least three sources. If you use Internet sources, be sure to copy down all of the information you will need when citing the source in your paper: the author or authoring organization, the title of the page, the title of site of which the page is a part, the date on which you accessed the page, the page complete URL (its Internet address). If you are taking notes from a printed source, remember to record author, title, publisher, place and date of publication, as well as the page number(s) from which you get specific information.

Click here for instructions for Guidelines for Conducting Research.

Models

Click here to read two research papers that were written in the fall of 2001 for this course:

1. "The Political Principles of Thoreau"
2. "Kate Chopin: Unconventional Writer"

Plagiarism

Plagiarism, passing off someone else's work as your own, is a serious error that must be avoided. Before grading your report, I will submit it to my account at Turnitin.com where it will be checked against a database of sources. Any plagiarized report will receive a zero for the assignment.

Many people do not realize that copying even a few words or a distinctive phrase from a source is considered plagiarism. Look over a plagiarism example submitted to me by a student who didn't realize that he was doing anything wrong. Developing good research methods and carefully documenting your information can prevent you from unintentionally plagiarizing your sources.

Writing the Report

Your report should be double-spaced. Use MLA documentation style. You will have parenthetical in-text citations to at least three separate sources and those sources will be listed alphabetically on the Works Cited list at the end of your paper. Refer to your freshman composition handbook for the specifics of formatting Works Cited entries. If you didn't keep your handbook, borrow one from a friend. Duke University maintains a citation guide that might be helpful.

Be careful to proofread your report thoroughly. Grammatical and mechanical errors should be avoided. If you need some help, contact me or stop by the Writing Center in WPN 365 during its hours of operation (Monday-Friday 2:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m.)

Submitting the Report

Your report should be saved as a Microsoft Word 2003 file with your name and RP (for research report) as the title. Thus, my report would be named CarlBruckerRP.doc. If you cannot use Microsoft Word 2003, use the Save As command in your word processor to save your file as an rtf (rich text format) file or as a Word 2003 file. Send me this file as an attachment to an email.

List of Topics