Research papers

 Research papers will be a large part of your grade during your college experience. During your freshmen year, you will be placed or scheduled into Comp 101 and Comp 102; these two classes are your first introductory English composition classes.

How much do your research grades count towards your final grade?

This a typical syllabus outline.
Homework: 10%
Class Participation and Attendance: 5%
Midterm: 20%
Final: 35%
Term Paper: 30%

Now if you receive a 100% on everything, but at the end of the semester receive a 65 on your midterm your looking at a:

Homework: 10/10
Class Participation and Attendance: 5/5
Midterm: 20/20
Final: 35/35
Term Paper: 19.5/30
Final grade: 89.5%<---- Overall B. You are now unqualified for Harvard graduate school.

A bad term paper grade can cost you two letter grades. So how to avoid this outcome?

Don't use Google as a source!
Google will give you every news site, every source with any key words you have provided. This of course makes searching for material easy and quick. Or does it? Most of what you get off of Google search is inaccurate. Remember it's important to use critical thinking skills when writing a research paper. Avoiding assumptions is a must, unless those assumption are tested through research.

Another thing Google does very well when it comes to papers is waste your time. By using Google, you'll be spending more time reading articles for your topic to make sure that said article has to do with your topic.

Confusing? It shouldn't be.

Google search usually goes something like this.

Search
Read article
Write down two sentences from article
Repeat

Use Jstor.org as a research search engine!


Every scholarly article known to man is on Jstor.org. Let's say your topic is The Harmful Health Effects of Environmental Degradation. If you search jstor.org for: The Harmful Health Effects of Environmental Degradation. Only scholarly articles with your topic will show up in the search.

The best part?

Jstor.org gives you an abstract of the article. The three paragraph summary is more than enough to write one to two paragraphs in your term paper. Remember to word the sentences your own way, turnitin has enabled professors to find plagiarism. If your going to copy and paste, or use a quote, make sure you cite the source

Finally, use http://citationmachine.net/index2.php MLA format to cite your paper. Jstor.org gives you all the information you need to cite your paper.

Lastly, remember to have a cover page and works cited page in your research paper. The works cited page should be listed in alphabetical order (authors last name).

The cover page should look like this:

Your name
Class
Professors name
Semester
Date
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, and don't forget! Place your last name and page number (Brian 2) at the top of each new page you start. This will make your paper look longer and more professional.