RESEARCH PAPER CHECK LIST:

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RESEARCH PAPER CHECK LIST

• by Don L. F. Nilsen

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ENG 312 CARDS

• Your name (first name first)
• ENG 312
• Current Semester and Year
• Local address zip
• Permanent Address zip
• Non-ASU e-mails
• Languages youve studied
• 1st Six Years of Life State or Country
• Tentative Title of Research paper (see next slide)

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Possible Research Paper Topics
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DOCUMENTATION AND FORMAT

• BI Basic Information on first page
• 1). Your Name
• 2). Instructor's Name
• 3). Course Identification
• 4). Semester and Year
• 5). Descriptive (not cutesy) Research-Paper Title

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Evaluation of Research Papers

• Have you selected an appropriate topic (from the
  list of topics above)? Is your topic focused and
  unified?
• Do you have at least three scholarly references
  in your Works Cited?
• Did you read these references carefully and
  totally understand them?
• Did you select significant and insightful parts
  of these references to quote and/or to
  paraphrase?
• Did you cite the page numbers after all of your
  quotations and paraphrases?
• Is your argument systematic and sustained?

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• 7. Is there good paragraph development and
  overall development of your argument?
• 8. Is your paper well organized, and are the
  transitions smooth? What would a three-level
  outline of your paper look like?
• 9. Do you make significant generalizations?
• 10. Do you support these generalizations with
  significant and insightful details?
• 11. Are your sources well integrated into the
  body of your paper?
• NOTE This is a research paper, so it should not
  be about what you think. It should be about what
  the experts think.

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Attribution and Documentation

• OPENING CLOSING PARAGRAPHS Your opening
  paragraph is for foreshadowing. Your closing
  paragraph is for concluding.
• ALL OTHER PARAGRAPHS All other paragraphs need
  to have attribution (names of authors from Works
  Cited) and documentation (specific page numbers)

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General requirements

• FONT 12 point
• MARGINS one inch margins on top, bottom, left
  and right
• PAGE NUMBERS Each page should have a page
  number. In your Works Cited, each article in a
  journal, anthology, etc. should have inclusive
  page numbers.
• QUOTATION MARKS Everything quoted thats not in
  block form must be surrounded by quotation marks.
  If not this is plagiarism and a grade of E will
  be awarded. Also put quotation marks around
  minor titles (like articles or poems)
• UNDERLINING Underline major titles (like books).

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MLA Documentation

• Your paper and Works cited should be in MLA
  Documentation www.mlahandbook.org
• In-text citation should be (234).
• Works Cited should be like the next slide.
• The entries in Works Cited should be alphabetized
  by first authors last name, and should be in
  hanging indentation (Control T in Microsoft Word)
• If a quotation is more than five lines in length,
  it should be indented ten spaces from the left.
  Do not use quotation marks with long quotes.
• Make sure that every author mentioned in your
  text can be found alphabetically in your Works
  Cited.

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Works Cited

• Boyle, Anthony T. The Epistemological Evolution
  of Renaissance Utopian Literature. Diss. New
  York U, 1983.
• Clark, Herbert H., and Thomas H. Carlson.
  Etcetera. Language 58.4 (1982) 332-373.
• Clark, Kenneth. What is a Masterpiece? London,
  England Thames, 1979.
• Dostoevsky, Feodor. Crime and Punishment. Trans.
  Jessie Coulson. New York, NY Norton, 1964.
• Kakutani, Michiko. "Now and Then' A Memoirist
  Who Disregards the Details." The New York Times
  On the Web. 22 February 1998. lthttp//www.nytimes.
  com/books/98/02/22/daily/keller-book-review.htmlgt
  (24 February 1998).
• OConnor, Flannery. The Life You Save May Be
  Your Own. The Realm of Fiction. Ed. James B.
  Hall. New York McGraw-Hill, 1977, 479-488.
• (Eschholz, Rosa Clark 2009 617-622)

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Development

• If youre writing about an author, write about
  the style, giving salient and insightful
  examples. Dont give biographical information
  that doesnt relate to the writing style.
• Dont be superficial. If you use good sources,
  then you can make insightful comments.
• Dont rely on your own personal experiences, and
  dont ramble. Have good resources, read them
  carefully, and refer to them in your paper.
• If your paper needs to be well organized, but it
  also needs to make significant generalizations
  supported by insightful details. There should
  also be smooth transitions.

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Sentence Grammar

• Check on the grammar of your sentences making
  sure that subjects agree with verbs and pronouns
  agree with specific (not vague) antecedents.
• Get rid of long and awkward sentences.
• Get rid of fragments and comma splices.
• If you use a semicolon, make sure that there is a
  sentence on both sides of the semicolon.
• Make sure that all of your sentences have a
  subject and a finite verb (not an infinitive, a
  gerund, a present participle, or a past
  participle)

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Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Modification

• The relative clause in the following sentence is
  a restrictive modifier
• John gave As to the students who took the test.
• (NOTE Only the students who took the test got
  As. The others did not)
• The relative clause in the following sentences is
  a non-restrictive modifier
• John gave As to the students, who took the test.
• John gave As to the studentswho took the test.
• John gave As to the students (who took the test).
• NOTE All of the students got As, and all of the
  students also took the test. A non-restrictive
  modifier is the same as a parenthetical
  expression)
• The material following a colon (like that
  following a dash) is parenthetical
• We brought the following items comb, mirror,
  toothbrush, and fingernail clippers.

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Punctuation

• If the person you are quoting made a grammatical
  or logical error, you should quote the original
  and then write sic (Latin for thus).
• If you want leave out some of the material being
  quoted use three deletion periods
• If you want to put something of your own into a
  quote, surround your own words with square
  brackerts like this.
• Distinguish between a dash (--) and a hyphen (-)
• There are two ways to punctuate a series
  (depending on the style manual)
• A, B, and C
• A, B and C

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Word Grammar

• Make sure that your pronouns have antecedants.
• Check your spelling and grammar.
• Make sure that your words go together. If they
  dont, then this is a predication error.

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Proofreading and Tone

• USE VS. MENTION Your tone should be academic and
  formal however it is appropriate to quote
  material that is colloquial. This material
  should be surrounded by quotation marks, because
  you are not using these words, you are referring
  to them.
• Avoid colloquialisms like I, you, and the
  generic they. Avoid rhetorical questions and
  imperatives. Dont insert your own voice.
• STET This means that I made a comment, but then
  changed my mind after receiving more evidence
  from your paper.

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!The best papers will contain

• A good opening paragraph with good foreshadowing
  and a good closing paragraph
• Good argumentation
• Good overall organization and transitions
• Good paragraph development and good overall
  development
• Good comparisons and contrasts

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!The best papers will also

• Make significant generalizations and support them
  with appropriate details
• Make insightful points
• Have a good review of the literature
• Develop interesting ironies and paradoxes

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!And most important of all, the best papers will

• support significant generalizations with
  insightful and effective details.
• Eschholz, Rosa Clark 2009 607-617)

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Figs.
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!!REFERENCE AND PARODY REFERENCE
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!!!Some Important Web Links

• MLA STYLE SHEET
• www.mlahandbook.org
• The The Impotence of Proofreading (Taylor Mali)
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vOonDPGwAyfQfeature
  search
• Victor Borge Phonetic Punctuation
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vlF4qii8S3gwfeature
  search

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• References
• Eschholz, Paul, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark.
  Language Awareness. Bedford/St. Martins, 2009.
• Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of
  Research Papers, Sixth Edition. New York, NY The
  Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
  http//www.mla.org/store/CID24/PID159
• Parody, A. Eats, Shites Leaves Crap English
  and How to Use It. New York, NY Metro Books,
  2004.
• Truss, Lynne. Easts, Shoots Leaves The Zero
  Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York, NY
  Gotham Books, 2003 (paperback 2006).