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The Paper You did this last year as juniors; let's perfect the process this year as seniors. Q: Why are we expected to write in the third person?* A: Here's some supporting evidence and explanation. As you know, your job is to share an opinion and back it up with research from others. The focus of your paper is expected to be that: your opinion supported by what others have said. It is not difficult to write everything in the third person (click here for extra help) if you devote the energy and time expected and given to you for this task. Additionally, it is not your job to worry if your paper appears boring because it's in the third person. Your job is not to entertain (This is not creative writing. This is formal writing.). Your job is to inform, to engage the reader, to keep him reading and to leave him engaged so he remembers what he's read - nothing more, nothing less. After you have finished this research paper there will come a time when you are challenged and meet that challenge where many others fail. You will be grateful you were challenged with rigor now. Supporting evidence:
Q: Why should 80% of my paper be my voice, not just a collection of quotes, summaries and paraphrased thoughts of others? A: Read below. Remember this? Read, think, reflect. I told all of you that in August. I've repeated it since. That's the basic expectation of any English teacher. The bulk of anything you write should be YOUR reflection based on what you learned in research. As you've been reminded, you are expected to research to know your subject well and as a result be able to intelligently discuss it on your own. You're not paraphrasing by doing that. You're not summarizing. You're discussing the main points as any researcher could. Let's revisit this yet again: Read: Read everything you find in your research. As you know, that doesn't mean from beginning to end, but certainly the parts vital to your research. But it's also assumed you already knew (remember - YOU chose this topic because YOU already had interest) or discover the basics - that's one reason you're always to start research with sites like Wikipedia or an encyclopedia, to get an OVERVIEW that you'll use as the BASIS for your outline/argument/main points... you get the picture. Remember the Thesis and Outline assignments? If so, this is a no-brainer. If not, you're simply not doing as expected while making it harder on yourself later (which happens to be now). Think: What do YOU think about what you just read? Remember the Annotated Bibliography? Did you do an honest job of that assignment? If so, this is a no-brainer. If not, you're simply not doing as expected while making it harder on yourself later (which happens to be now). Reflect: Assuming you did all as previously expected, this should be the easiest part. If so, this is a no-brainer. If not, you're simply not doing as expected while making it harder on yourself later (which happens to be now). If any of the previous concerns you, you have more research (reading, thinking, reflecting) to do. Supporting evidence:
*** Remember, the grade you receive is what you decide to earn.*** Review the Rubric while developing the paper and before submitting your final draft. For this Research Paper, you may write on a pre-approved topic of your choice. The basics:
Here is how your paper will be graded: Format Title/Header (2) (15 points) Pagination (2) Works Cited/MLA style (11)
Grammar Spelling (10) (47 points) Punctuation (10) Sentence Structure (10) Capitalization (5) Tenses (5) Formal Tone (7) * (any incident of 1st or 2nd person - subtract 7 percent)
Organization Beginning (thesis statement ) (7) (38 points) Middle (well-developed paper) (25) End (conclusions in keeping with the topic) (6) 80% of paper must be writer's original work. 20% maximum source content: Quote, Summary, Paraphrase. Subtract percentage under 80% from final grade.
Total - 100 Timeline* for assignments:
*Due dates may change due to district scheduling and other conflicts. Listen to Mr. Janes' announcements/updates and watch this page for changes. Some external resources used with permission: Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) |
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