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Writing Essays - an Overview

I know that you have all completed English 101, so most of the following information will be review. But if you need a refresher, you might find this overview helpful.

There are many sections here. Click on the link to the section you want, so you don't have to scroll all the way down the page looking for it.

Formatting Your Paper in MLA Style
Selecting and Narrowing a Topic
Develop an Effective Thesis
How to Develop the Paper? (Abstract vs. Concrete / General vs. Specific)
Openings: How to Begin an Essay (and How Not To)
And What About Conclusions?
Who Am I Writing This For?
Outline for the Persuasive Essay
Oh My Gosh, I Hate Research!
When (and Why) Do We Need to Do Research?
Credible? Authoritative? Expert?
Quick Review: What Do We Do With This Evidence?
The Other Kind of (Required) Documentation: In-Text Citations
Now About That "Use Direct Quotations" Thing...
The Works Cited List
To Recap
Okay, let's get to it: The Research Project
Where can you find the books you need?
Where can you find the magazine and newspaper articles you need?
Using the Internet
How Do I Know if a Website is Credible and Reliable?"
Keep Track of your Research As You Go
Using Index Cards
Interviewing an Expert
Other Libraries
From Notes (or Index Cards) to Outline
From Outline to Draft
Balance your Sources
And here are a few FAQS with answers that you may find useful

Formatting Your Paper in MLA Style

Your paper needs to be formatted correctly, in MLA format. This means more than just adding a Works Cited list. The paper needs to look a certain way.

• You need to use 1 inch margins on the top, bottom, left and right.
• You need to double-space. Everything is double-spaced, including the Works Cited list.
• Use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial.
• Font size should be 12.
• Create a header that give a page number in the top right on each page. It should say y our last name and the page number, with no commas, like this: Smith 1
• On the first page only, add, at the top left, a header with your name, the name of the professor, the name of the class, and the date in European format. It should look like this (be sure it is double-spaced):
  John Smith
  
  Professor Joan Havens
  
  English 103
  
  15 June 2016
• Here is a link to a page on the Purdue OWL site which details the formatting requirements for the first page: Formatting the First Page of Your Paper. Scroll down to see a sample first page.
• Here is a link to a sample MLA format research paper, with margin notes drawing your attention to specific details about formatting: Sample MLA Paper.

There's more about the Works Cited list in a later section of this page. See the links above to find that section.

Selecting and narrowing a topic

Reading over the assignment instructions carefully is your first step. You need to make sure that you are writing about the assigned subject. That is the first way of focusing your topic, but it's just a start. You want to make sure you are writing about something very specific, something that makes a point, something that is narrow enough to write about in incredible detail for the assignment length.

I received an e-mail from one of the online English 103 students, and the question is such an important one, I thought I'd share it and my response; it should help you as you shape your own topics and thesis statements for this first essay. The chief problem is that the student has not narrowed the focus, and the paper will be dull and general, not built up of very precise, concrete, detailed examples. Yes, Student X is not the student's real name. And, yes, the e-mail has some errors, but let's just look at the question about topic / thesis.

The topic the student wanted to address was #6, from Writing Assignment 1: "Argue for or against eliminating grades in elementary schools. (Alternately, argue for or against eliminating grade levels in elementary schools.) Give at least 3 reasons to support your argument, and be sure each reason is supported by at least one piece of evidence. You are only required to give your side of the argument."

Hi Professor, I am going to write about how I have always hated school and haven't gotten good grades in it. I'm also going to write about how I think grades should be eliminated because they make people (kids) feel so bad. And everyone judges you for your grades. But I still think we need grades so kids know how they're doing in school. Does this seem like a good topic?
Student X

Ah, where to begin? This was my response:

Hi!
It's clear that you have strong feelings about this topic.
Remember that you must focus on just one side of the argument. So you'll have to choose a side: grades SHOULD be eliminated, or grades SHOULD NOT be eliminated. It sounds as if you feel grades should be eliminated, and you seem to have more to say about that, so maybe, for this paper, you should take that side. But that's your choice.
Also, be sure to keep your focus on the topic, rather than on your own experiences. This is a paper about the issue of whether or not grades should be eliminated, not about how you felt about grades.
You can, however, use yourself as ONE example, among others. If you are arguing that grades should be eliminated, you can use, as one of your reasons, the damage grades do to children's belief in their ability to succeed. Then you can show us how grades made you feel. But not just you: find some other examples of kids who were damaged by grades; there is plenty of information about this in articles on this topic.
Why do you need to find other examples besides your own? Because if you use only your own experiences as an example, anyone can knock your argument down by saying, "Well, I had the opposite experience, so I think you're wrong." But if you have lots of examples, maybe even some statistics from studies on the topic, then it's more convincing.
Now, back to something I said earlier: "show us how grades made you feel." Make sure you SHOW us, rather than just telling us. Give as much exact detail as you possibly can.
Here's an example of how you might do this:
When I was in third grade, I had a very hard time memorizing the multiplication tables. I tried, but I just couldn't remember all the numbers. Then came the big test. When I got it back, it had a big red "F" on the top. I was so embarrassed and ashamed. The girl sitting next to me looked over at my paper and giggled. I turned it over really fast, but it was too late. My face got hot and I slumped down in my chair and tried not to cry. I felt sick to my stomach. I knew then that I'd never be any good at math, and I never was. Every test after that only made it worse. No matter how hard I studied, that big red F showed me I could never do it. My experience is shared by many other students, and not just in math.
That last sentence is a transition which leads you from your own experience into the bigger picture-to show how you are only one example among many. Then you give the rest of the evidence: other stories, statistics, results of studies, quotes from authorities, and so forth.
Does this make sense?
Ann

I know that's a long response, but here are the main points:

• you need a strong thesis that takes a side;
• you can use yourself as an example, but only as ONE example of many;
• show, don't tell. Give LOTS of vivid details to create a picture in the reader's mind and engage his emotions.

Develop an effective thesis

To summarize, here are a few points to remember about thesis statements:

• A thesis is a single statement (not a series of sentences, not a question).
• A thesis statement contains the topic plus the point you intend to prove about that topic.
• A thesis requires proof (it's not just a fact).
• A thesis requires expansion.
• Without a thesis, writing has no clear point to make.
• Your essays should all contain thesis statements.

People write for all sorts of reasons; sometimes a journal entry might just be a free outpouring of emotions; a list of words can remind us of what we need to buy at the store. Academic writing is different. For the most part you are expected to make a point when you write. You might be analyzing the symbolism of a complex poem or supporting a stand on a complex issue. In any case, an essay generally tries to prove something.

This single central point that your essay attempts to prove about your topic is called your thesis.

Note that there are two parts to a thesis:

• the topic of your essay
• and the point you intend to prove about that topic

Without an idea or a position to prove, your essay is just a list, without any real point. Here's an example:

"Evolution is a topic often discussed in biology classes."

This is a single statement; it points to a specific topic (evolution); but what's the point? There isn't one. It just states the simple fact that evolution is taught. No reasonable person would disagree that evolution is often taught in biology classes (some people may not like the fact, but this is not mentioned in the statement above.) There is no position mentioned here; consequently, there's no real reason to develop this into an essay.

Try this statement from Carl Sagan's "Ballad of the Samurai Crab":

"Evolution is a fact, not a theory."

Hmmm...some might consider these fightin' words!

Certainly the topic here (again, evolution) is now related to an issue. Since some people would disagree with Sagan's statement, it requires proof. Since Sagan's piece cannot be understood without detailed explanation of what he means by evolution, the statement requires expansion. This is an effective thesis.

Of course this thesis above does not fit our assignment; it's just an example of a thesis. Here are a couple of thesis statements that would fit the paper topic Student X e-mailed me about:

• Grades do not help elementary school students learn, and should be abolished.
• It's not pleasant to get a bad grade; nevertheless, grades are necessary for students in elementary school.

These are simple, short, straight to the point. There's no doubt about the point you are making in your paper.

(Note that these may not be ideal introductions to essays-an introduction many include more than a thesis. More on that later. For now, just make sure that, in your first essay, your thesis is as clear and explicit as these.)

How to Develop the Paper? (Abstract vs. Concrete / General vs. Specific)

You will be reading a number of essays that demonstrate how to show with examples rather than tell with generalizations and abstractions. McBride's "Hip Hop Planet" has dozens of actual examples of situations, people, and beats related to hip hop; "Inside the Making of 'Sgt. Pepper'" gives exact details about the events and actions that transpired during the making of the Beatles album. All of the essays we have read rely on detailed descriptions and examples.

Effective essays show rather than tell. Your essay should be made up of examples that are fully described. Not only does this support and illustrate the claims you are making in your paper, but it also gives the reader something to picture, to understand. You want the reader to see what you see, experience what you experience. You do this by avoiding abstractions and generalizations, by writing concrete, specific details.

Abstractions are words and phrases that mean different things to different people (words such as good and beautiful are abstractions), so they do not communicate pictures to readers. General words could be several different things (the word "dog," for example, could be anything from a Terrier to the cartoon dog Snoopy); the more specific your language is, the clearer picture you give to your reader: "terrier" is more specific than "dog," but "a soggy, limping Jack Russell terrier with a torn left ear" is a lot more specific than either. The more descriptive detail you add, the more specific your writing becomes; more specific writing communicates clearer pictures to your reader.

Consider the following real example. The student was writing about how texting can be distracting and how her friend Kimberly was missing a real, lively experience at Disneyland while staring at the screen of her smart phone. The original is very short; it is also so abstract and general that it doesn't really show the reader anything. It's just a statement without any evidence. The revised version provides the evidence in the form of detailed, descriptive examples. Notice the writer does not have to say she is "missing out"; the scene itself shows this. It's longer, yes, but it's also more polished and more communicative. It also uses dialogue because the scene described describes people talking (so it makes sense to use dialogue). The expanded version is much more effective writing.

Original:
Kimberly misses out by texting during the beautiful fireworks, the rides, and the parades.

Revised:
"Oooooh. Look at the purple starburst. It's gorgeous."
"Just a sec," Kimberly responded. Her face was not looking skyward; she was staring at her palm.
"Kim, quick, look." A spray of six fiery bursts lit the night sky.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Michael texted. He's going out to the movies, and Jen is freaked out about her hair." She started typing furiously, ignoring the art in the sky.

Notice that the revised version only looks at "fireworks," so the description will still go on to describe her missing seeing rides and a parade--both described in a lot of detail. Also notice that the revised version requires the student writing the essay to go to Disneyland and to look at the fireworks and rides and a parade, to describe what is actually seen (not just imagined or fuzzily recalled). The effective writer needs to experience the world, not miss it like Kimberly.

Openings: How to Begin an Essay (and How Not To)

Following are a couple of examples of actual student essay openings. This first one has a number of problems (editing errors and content problems):

As the modern civilization approaches the next level of living, we are getting more dependent on technologies, and we are getting our hands on all kinds of devices, and we are trying to own everything we can lay our hands on. People do not live simple lives anymore. We are not content with what we have, and we do not have the option of choosing what the right products are for us. It is undeniably true that technologies make our work faster and easier, but we do not notice that we are changing and getting attracted to different features and entertainment which harms people by creating procrastination, addiction and abuse to humans who are being replaced by machines.

Let's ignore the editing errors for now and just look at what is not working with this opening. The main problem is that even though there are lots of words here, they do not give the reader any concrete picture or idea. It is apparent that the paper is taking a stance against "technologies," but what does that mean? Near the end the complaint is against "different features and entertainment." Those are two entirely different topics, and it's still not clear what "different features" means or what "entertainment" means. Is the paper against features? against entertainment? The word technologies could mean anything from a simple wheel to a specific sort of nanotechnology used in weapons design. Since it is not focused, the word is essentially meaningless. We could argue that the statement "we are getting our hands on all kinds of devices" eliminates the nanotechnology, but does it mean can openers? iPods? television remotes? bicycles? refrigerator freezers? automatic weapons? and so on.

The paper needs to be narrowed, to focus on just one thing to give the reader a picture, a starting point. For example, the paper could just be about the Nintendo Wii being used as an exercise tool--that gives the reader a very clear idea of an actual thing. Then the paper shifts to "choosing what the right products are for us." Who gets to decide that? Here the word "right" is an opinion word. Different people have different ideas about right and wrong, and this is not a personal opinion class. Some people believe driving a car is wrong, but that is just their opinion; that does not make it wrong. Hindus believe slaughtering and eating beef is wrong, but that does not make it so; that is just the belief of a group of people. Words like "right" and "wrong" should not be in your thesis statements.

Besides, the student has shifted topics again; what happened to entertainment and technologies?

Next, the paper breaks the problem (or imagined problem, since there is not enough detail to actually explain what is causing a problem) down to something "which harms people by creating procrastination, addiction, and abuse to humans." Those are three different topics, three different arguments. The thesis needs to take one position only (not three). Of course "abuse to humans" is vague by itself, but either one of the other two points might make a workable thesis if it were attached to a specific thing (such as the inability to turn off a smart phone). Once a single focus is selected, though, the thesis must not over-generalize. Just because YOUR BROTHER'S iPhone causes HIM to ignore HIS responsibilities, does not mean that it has that effect on all iPhone users, so the thesis would have to be just about your brother.

Finally, the topic shifts once again in the last sentence to people being replaced by machines. This is an entirely different topic.

I've written a lot here about this short opening, but there was a lot to write about. The opening is unclear, unfocused, opinionated, overly general, and, ultimately, since it does not create a clear picture for the reader, it will not engage a reader (hook the reader and cause interest).

It is unclear, wordy and dull.

Now let's look at a successful opening:

"This pizza has been nearly untouched." Marilyn lifted the cardboard pizza box over the edge of the dumpster and handed it to me. It was 4:00 a.m. and still dark out, but there was enough light form a nearby street lamp for her to see the contents of the huge trash bin behind DeLorio's Pizza in Seal Beach. She had already pulled out enough food to fill half a grocery cart, enough food to feed herself and her friends for the week.

A lot of things work here. First, it's an actual scene, an example. It creates a picture and has plenty of descriptive detail so that a reader can experience it (so it is engaging). There is a little dialogue, a sense of covert activity, authentic (place name) detail to make this feel real.

This opening does not have a thesis statement. Typically, a thesis will appear at the end of paragraph one or the beginning of paragraph two. A logical thesis for this might be,

Freeganism is a way of life built on independence from capitalist, consumer systems; it shows that it is possible to survive, even thrive, on what might be considered worthless.

And What About Conclusions?

Somewhere you were likely told that a conclusion should summarize the paper and restate the thesis in different words. Why?

That's really just silly. In a short paper the thesis has not been forgotten, and the paper does not need summary. That would just be redundant, filler.

End with an example, with a thought-provoking incident that relates to the topic, with a call to some specific action (if appropriate). The conclusion is what the reader is left with; like the opening, it should have impact. Here are a couple of good endings:

Shelly stared up at the colorful fireworks and was filled with awe and joy. Kimberly was still texting.




Tucked into their sleeping bags in the interior of the abandoned office building, Marilyn and her freegan family settled into another bill-free night.

Who Am I Writing This For?

Always know your audience. Think about it: you wouldn't speak the same way to your boss as you would to your little sister, would you? Writing is the same: be aware of your reader. If you're writing a casual email or text to a friend, you can use slang, abbreviations, even profanity. But for your teachers? Not so much. If you're writing to a group of experts, you don't have to explain definitions of technical words, or give the background of a complicated idea. But if you're writing to a general audience, you're going to need to explain a lot more.

So what's a "general audience"? A general audience is any group of people who are of widely varying ages, backgrounds, ethnic or racial groups, incomes-in short, a group like the people in this class. They may all be experts on something, but not all of them are experts on the same thing. So a general audience can be expected to know information anyone would know from living in the world, but not to have expertise in any one area. We all know something about food, but not everyone knows what lamb surbiyaan is, or pulgoki. If you're writing to a general audience, you'd need to explain what those dishes are.

But what if people DO know what those things are already?

No problem--a few will know, and they just get to feel smart and skip your explanation.

Structure of the Persuasive Essay

A persuasive essay is one whose explicit purpose is take a side on a controversial issue and persuade the reader to agree with their position.

Since some of your paper topics will require a persuasive essay, now is the time to start thinking about how to structure that essay.

The following outline is the traditional outline for a persuasive essay. It was originated by the Ancient Greeks and has been used successfully ever since. It is not the only way to organize a persuasive essay, but it's a good place to start if you've never done this before.

I. Introduction II. Background Information (as needed)
III. Argument
IV. Refutation
V. Conclusion

Well, that's not too helpful, is it? Okay, a little explanation.

I. Introduction

In the introduction to a persuasive essay, you need to accomplish a lot.

First, and most obvious, your introduction will include the thesis: the topic and your position on the topic. Let's say, for example, that you wanted to write on the death penalty. That would be your topic. You also need to state a position on the topic (without saying "I"): "The death penalty should be abolished" or "The death penalty should remain legal."

Why not say "I"? If you say, "I think the death penalty should be abolished" or "I think the death penalty should remain legal," then you've altered the topic. Now, the subject of each of those sentences is "I." So the paper now has to be about you. But that's not what you want. You want the focus to be the death penalty. So keep yourself out of it.

Also--and this is important--"I think" or "I feel" or "in my opinion" or other phrases such as those make you sound ineffective. They sound apologetic and uncertain, as if you are saying, "Well, it's only my opinion." That's not what you want. One thing that persuades people is confidence. People are not persuaded by someone who isn't certain of his position. Say the following sentences out loud, and you'll hear it: one sounds certain and confident, the other hesitant and apologetic:

In my opinion, the death penalty should be abolished.

The death penalty should be abolished.

More on the Introduction

In a persuasive essay, you have to assume that your audience does not agree with you. If they agreed, there would be no need to persuade them. So you have to find a way to get them on your side right away. There are several ways to do this. One of the most effective is to tell a story. Here's an example:

First, consider the stories.

An 11-year old retarded boy was brought to a mental hospital with a teddy bear under his arm. His parents were, they said, going on a two-week vacation. They never came back.

A 12-year-old boy's mother died one year, and he was committed the next year by his father--two days before the man's remarriage. The diagnosis: a reaction of childhood.

Consider, too, the story of one child committed because he had "school phobia," another because she was "promiscuous," a third and fourth because they were "difficult" or even "incorrigible."

How do these stories make you feel? Are you on the side of the children or the parents?

If you said you think the parents are terrible parents, or that the children had been treated badly, then you are already in agreement with the author--whether you know it or not. You are already on the way to being persuaded. And you don't even know the argument yet!

In the next paragraph, the author goes on:

Then, when you've heard the stories, listen to Justice Warren Burger insist that "the natural bonds of affection lead parents to act in the best interests of their children."

Do you agree with him? Can parents be trusted to act in the best interests of their children? Most of the time, maybe, but based on those stories, not all the time.

Now the author gets to the topic:

Recently the U. S. Supreme Court assured all parents--the confused and the pathologically indifferent as well as the caring and concerned--an equal right to put their kids in mental hospitals. They denied all children--the odd and the unwanted, as well as the ill--an equal right to a hearing before being institutionalized.

It should be clear by now that she doesn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision.

These lines are taken from a 1979 editorial by Ellen Goodman in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She goes on to support her position with details and quotes from authorities. But a lot of the work of persuasion is done by the time the reader finishes the fifth paragraph--even before she states her thesis!

This is a technique you can use, if you like, but you need to be sure of two things:

• Do not tell the reader how to feel. Simply state the facts: "An 11-year old retarded boy was brought to a mental hospital with a teddy bear under his arm. His parents were, they said, going on a two-week vacation. They never came back." Don't go on to add things like, "Isn't that terrible?" Then the reader feels manipulated and resists. Trust the reader to feel this for himself; that will persuade him more effectively.
• Your stories MUST be true and they must be cited, so your audience can see that they're true: fabricated stories have no credibility.

Background Information

"Background information" is whatever information your reader needs to understand your argument.

Remember that you are writing to a general audience. You can assume everyone lives in the world, but you can't assume anyone is a specialist. That means that, once you have done your research, you will know much more about your subject than your audience. You might have to explain some things before they can understand.

For example, if you are writing about artificial intelligence, you might need to explain what artificial intelligence is. Who developed it? What is it used for? Why is it so important? How does it affect ordinary people? And so on.

You don't always need to write a lot of background information. Sometimes, the topic you are discussing is well-known to everyone. In that case, providing paragraph after paragraph of background information will just bore them. If you were writing a paper about abortion, for example, you wouldn't need to explain what an abortion is. Pretty much everyone of adult age knows that. But sometimes you need a lot of background information. One of my students a few years ago wrote her paper on why we needed to spend the money to update the water delivery systems in this state. Most of us know that if we turn on a faucet, water comes out. But not many of us know where that water comes from or how it gets here. So she had to define terms like "aquifer" and "aqueduct," and explain how the water purchasing system works, and how the water physically moves from where it's bought to our faucets.

So how much background information to give is up to you. Think about what your audience would need to know, and then explain that to them. They might need definitions; they might need historical information; they might need legal information-all of this depends on your topic. If the audience needs no background information, leave it out. Give only what is needed: if you give too much, you bore your audience (and it's hard to persuade an audience who isn't listening!); if you give too little, you confuse them (and it's hard to persuade an audience who's confused).

The Argument Section

The Argument section is the longest and most important section of your paper. In the Argument section, you will present all your "reasons" and "evidence" to support your thesis.

What's a "reason"?

A reason is an idea or a general statement that supports your thesis. For example, let's say your thesis is: "The UFO crash-landing near Roswell, New Mexico in July, 1947 was covered up by President Harry S. Truman and Air Force General Roger Ramey due to fears of threats to national security and the risk of public hysteria."

That's a very controversial statement. There are many people who don't believe in UFOs, and others who don't believe that our government would cover something like that up. So now you need to provide reasons why we should believe this.

For example, "The government's stories about what happened at Roswell are inconsistent."

That's a reason. It's a general statement which supports your thesis.

You need a minimum of three reasons to support your thesis. You may have more, but you must have at least 3. The reason isn't grammatical or structural. It's psychological. In Western culture, we have been conditioned to think in terms of threes. I'm not sure why, but it's the case. So for example, if a celebrity dies on Monday, and another celebrity dies on Wednesday, people say, "Things come in threes! I wonder who's next?"

This is a superstition, of course, but it's deeply engrained. So give people what they expect. If you don't, it will be harder to convince them. They will listen to your first argument and say, "Okay, that's good, what next?" Then they'll listen to your second argument and says, "Okay, that's good, what next?" Then they'll listen to your third argument and say, "Okay, that's good." Once they read or hear the third argument, they feel complete. If you have more than three arguments, they will listen to them, of course. But if you don't have three, they will always feel as if something is missing. They may not be able to put their finger on what it is, exactly, but they will feel disturbed, and that will undermine your ability to be persuasive.

Now for the evidence

"Evidence" is factual information which you use to support your reasons. Factual information can be statistics, stories told by witnesses, quotes from authorities, results of studies, results of surveys, anything numerical, and so forth. (We'll discuss quality of evidence later.)

So perhaps your reason is the one we used earlier: "The government's stories about what happened at Roswell are inconsistent." Now you need some evidence to back that up-some facts that will show the reader that the government's statements have, indeed, been inconsistent. Here are a few:

• In the late 40's the army reported that a weather balloon with a reflective skin crashed and was mistaken for a UFO
• In the 50's the official reports ranged from nothing happening at all in Roswell to classified fighter craft crashing
• In 1997 the air force's official report was that parachute test dummies came down at Roswell and were mistaken for aliens.

You could go further for each of those, and find exact quotes from officials who gave each of those statements. Those quotes would be evidence, too.

Organizing the Argument Section

It might sound odd, but having enough facts to prove your point isn't enough to persuade people. You must organize those facts in a persuasive way.

Once you have all your reasons figured out, rank them. Figure out which reason is strongest, which is the second strongest, which is the third strongest, which is the weakest.

Then, save the strongest reason for last. Once again, this is not about grammar or structural correctness. It's about psychology. What people hear last is what makes the greatest impression and what they remember the longest. You want them to remember your strongest reason the longest.

Give your second best reason first. What people hear first is what they remember second longest.

Then work your way down the list to your weakest reason. That will always come right before your strongest reason. There are two reasons for this:

• Do you know how to hustle pool? Here's how it's done: let's say you are an excellent pool player and you want to make some money. You would go to a bar where you're not known and hang around watching the patrons play pool, looking confused. Eventually, you would ask to play, and say laughingly that you're not very good. You would offer to make a small bet--a dollar, maybe. Then you would play as ineptly as possible. You would lose. Then you'd propose another game, for another small bet. Again, you would lose. Then you would say you had to go after one more game, and propose a larger bet, "just to make it interesting." Your opponent would gladly accept, knowing he could win. Then you would play well, win the game, and take the money. Your opponent would lose his money because he underestimated you--because you set him up to do so.
  Working your way down to the weakest reason works the same way: you give your first reason, and your reader says to himself, "That's good, but I can beat it." Then you give your next reason, which is weaker, and your reader gains confidence. Then as you go through the rest of the reasons, he is getting more and more confident. So when you give him your best argument at the end, his guard is down and he is caught by surprise--and maybe you can convince him a little, or at least weaken his certainty that he is right. (By the way, I'm not advocating that you hustle pool or anything else. It's dangerous. Making an argument works on the same principle, though, and it's a lot safer!)
• Have you ever been to the symphony? The music will go along at about the same decibel level for a while, and then it will start to get softer, and softer, and softer, and softer. Then, when you least expect it, the cymbals will clash--LOUD!--and it will be startling. It will sound louder than it really is because it was so quiet just a moment before. Giving your weakest reason right before your best works the same way: 2nd best reason is loud; 3rd best reason is softer; 4th best reason is softer; weakest reason is softest; then your BEST REASON IS LOUDER (that is, it looks better) by comparison.

So your outline for your Argument section will look something like this (this is just an example):

III. Argument
A. Reason: The government's stories about what happened at Roswell are inconsistent.
1. Evidence: In the late 40's the army reported that a weather balloon with a reflective skin crashed and was mistaken for a UFO. a. Direct quote from army official.
b. Direct quote from another army official.
2. Evidence: In the 50's the official reports ranged from nothing happening at all in Roswell to classified fighter craft crashing.
a. Direct quote from army official.
b. Direct quote from another army official.
3. Evidence: In 1997 the air force's official report was that parachute test dummies came down at Roswell and were mistaken for aliens.
a. Direct quote from army official.
b. Direct quote from another army official.

And you will have a minimum of three Reasons, with the accompanying Evidence.

The Refutation

The Refutation section is what turns your paper from an Argumentative paper to a Persuasive essay. Up to now, you've simply been stating your own view of an issue and giving all the reasons and evidence you can find to support your own opinion.

But giving good reasons and evidence won't be enough to change a reader's mind if he doesn't already agree. We human beings are weird: we are perfectly capable of holding two contradictory positions at the same time. When you give your argument, your reader might say, "I agree. I agree. You're right. But I'm still not changing my mind."

Convincing a reader you are right is not enough to change his mind. You also have to convince him he is wrong...without ever using the word "wrong."

This is what you do in the refutation. You state all of the arguments on your reader's side, and explain, one by one, why they are wrong...without ever using the word "wrong."

Yes, I did repeat myself, because that's important: if you are trying to persuade someone to change his position and come over to your side of the issue, NEVER tell him he is "wrong." People hate to be called wrong. They even hate it when you imply it. It doesn't persuade them--it just makes them defensive or angry and then it's impossible to persuade them. So you need to make them see why they should abandon their own ideas and agree with yours.

There are a number of ways to do this, but first let's talk about what a refutation paragraph looks like.

First, choose one of the reasons your opponent would use. Then restate it, concisely and fairly. Don't use obviously negative language to restate the argument, as this will just alienate your audience. Here are two examples:

• #1. "There are many naive people who believe the government when it says it was just a weather balloon that crashed at Roswell."
OR

• #2. "The government says that what crashed at Roswell was just a weather balloon, and it's easy to see how that could be the case: both weather balloons and UFOs are big round silver objects."

Which of these is insulting to the reader? Right! #1! Who wants to be called "naive"? It's the same as being called "childish" or "ignorant." It's insulting! #2 is much better: it shows that the speaker understands and respects your view of the events.

Second, refute the reason. Again, state this in a way that respects your reader. Here are two examples:

• #1. "There are many naive people who believe the government when it says it was just a weather balloon that crashed at Roswell. A weather balloon? Really? What about all the alien bodies that were recovered? What about all the witnesses? Anyone who believes the government's story is too gullible for words!"
OR

• #2. "The government says that what crashed at Roswell was just a weather balloon, and it's easy to see how that could be the case: both weather balloons and UFOs are big round silver objects. But then, once you hear about all the eyewitness accounts, and even pictures of alien bodies being recovered from the crash site, the UFO theory starts to make more sense."

Which of these is more insulting to the reader? Right again: #1! Who wants to be called "gullible"? Who wants to be spoken to sarcastically? Again, #2 is much better, because it assumes that the reader is smart enough to adjust his opinions in light of new evidence-and it gives him a way to do so without losing face!

Third, add evidence that refutes the opposing reason and supports your own position.

Once you get your reader to open his mind, then you have to seal the deal: you have to give him some really good reasons to move over to your side. Ideally, your evidence should be so compelling that it makes your side the obvious choice. Here is an example:

"The government says that what crashed at Roswell was just a weather balloon, and it's easy to see how that could be the case: both weather balloons and UFOs are big round silver objects. But then, once you hear about all the eyewitness accounts, and even pictures of alien bodies being recovered from the crash site, the UFO theory starts to make more sense. Then there is the eyewitness testimony of Grady Barnet, a civil engineer with the US Soil Conservation Service. He was among the first at the crash site, and saw a number of dead bodies, inside and outside a metallic, disc-shaped "aircraft":
They were like humans but they were not humans. The heads were round, the eyes were small, and they had no hair. The eyes were oddly spaced. They were quite small by our standards and their heads were larger in proportion to their bodies than ours. Their clothing seemed to be one-piece and grey in colour. You couldn't see any zippers, belts or buttons. They seemed to be all males and there were a number of them. I was close enough to touch them but I didn't - I was escorted away before I could [do so]. (Dean)"

Fourth, add a conclusion to the paragraph that reiterates why the reader should change his mind and agree with you. Here's an example:

"The government says that what crashed at Roswell was just a weather balloon, and it's easy to see how that could be the case: both weather balloons and UFOs are big round silver objects. But then, once you hear about all the eyewitness accounts, and even pictures of alien bodies being recovered from the crash site, the UFO theory starts to make more sense. Then there is the eyewitness testimony of Grady Barnet, a civil engineer with the US Soil Conservation Service. He was among the first at the crash site, and saw a number of dead bodies, inside and outside a metallic, dis-shaped "aircraft":
They were like humans but they were not humans. The heads were round, the eyes were small, and they had no hair. The eyes were oddly spaced. They were quite small by our standards and their heads were larger in proportion to their bodies than ours. Their clothing seemed to be one-piece and grey in colour. You couldn't see any zippers, belts or buttons. They seemed to be all males and there were a number of them. I was close enough to touch them but I didn't - I was escorted away before I could [do so]. (Dean)
And Grady Barnet was just one of many witnesses. Looking at all the accumulated evidence, it's harder and harder to accept the government's weather balloon story."

In the Refutation section, there is no minimum or maximum number of reasons you have to cover. The rule in this section is that you have to cover all the reasons your opponent has. If he has 3 reasons on his side, then you refute each one. If he has 7, you refute each one. Each reason you refute gets its own paragraph. So if your opponent has 7 reasons on his side, you'll have 7 paragraphs in your Refutation section.

The Conclusion

The conclusion of a persuasive essay is one more opportunity to persuade your reader. The classical way to end a persuasive esszay is to:

• Restate your strongest reasons, in different words
• Draw the obvious conclusion--that is, restate your thesis, in different words
• Include a "punch line" at the very end

A "punch line" is a great quote or example or statistic that you save for the end. It makes your point in a very strong way, one that readers will remember. What people hear last is what they remember the longest, so you want your last line to be powerful.

Here are a couple of examples:

Sixty years after French began investigating UFOs for Project Blue Book, he still thinks there's a cover-up. "It's going on today. There's no question about it. I've listened to their denials many times and, at that time, I was in direct opposition to their position. In my mind, there wasn't any question that UFOs were real" (Spiegel).

No matter what the government says, the Roswell story is too big to ignore. Are we that conceited that we think we are the only people in the cosmos? There are millions of star systems "out there." It is folly to believe we are alone. More importantly, the Roswell incident tells us more about ourselves than anything else. In 1995, Phil Cousineau wrote in "UFOs: A Manual for the Millennium": 'Something happened at Roswell that has come to symbolize what we don't yet know about the nature of life on other planets, the possibility of inter-galactic travel, the state of national security, and how far the government will go to ensure it'" (Stephens).

If you'd like to depart from the traditional classical ending, you can also end with an example, with a thought-provoking incident that relates to the topic, with a call to some specific action (if appropriate). The conclusion is what the reader is left with; like the opening, it should have impact.

If you want to take a short break and get a good laugh, you can watch the Monty Python "Argument Clinic" skit at this link: The Argument Clinic.

Oh My Gosh, I Hate Research!

When most people hear the word "research," they think of research papers and dusty libraries full of intimidating books and LOTS OF HARD WORK! OH NO!

Well, some of that is true, in some cases. And I'm not saying research can't involve hard work. But research may not be as intimidating as you think. In fact, you probably do research all the time yourself.

Let's say you want to go to a movie on Saturday. The first step is to find out wat movies are playing, and where. You could look in the newspaper, or you could look online. You decide online is better. So you go to movietickets.com and look up the movies playing locally, then click around until you find the right theater at the right time at the right price.

You just did research.

There, that wasn't so bad, was it?

Research is what you do any time you need or want to know something and go to a resource outside your own brain to find it out. We're all doing research all day. We ask other people questions; we observe; we read; we watch a show on the History Channel; we look things up on the internet.

Of course, we don't all do research for fun all the time, and it's not always easy. Sometimes you have to work hard to find the information you want, and sometimes it's a chore. It can be frustrating, but it can also be incredibly rewarding, since you can learn so much and find so much information that's useful. Even useless information can be fun, just because it's interesting…in which case, it's not useless.

When (and Why) Do We Need to Do Research?

The quick answer is, "When the teacher assigns it." Yes, but why is the teacher assigning it; what's the point?

The practical answer is when we need specialized information for something we are doing (buying a car, building a deck, learning to sail, analyzing a difficult poem that has us stumped, preparing for a debate on whether or not the FDA should approve a new medication for asthma, trying to understand what Schroedinger's Cat thought experiment really means).

Let's assume we have been assigned to do a debate about a specific medication. We may not want to debate about medication (which we will call Breathe-EZ). Big Pharma assures the public they absolutely need this stuff. It is going to revolutionize asthma treatments, and it is just a fraction of the cost of Flovent, Asmanex, Serevent, Brovana, ProAir, Spiriva, and a whole bunch of other medications (can you tell I JUST had to do some research to find out these brand names?). The FDA is not so sure, and they are looking at the clinical trial results, the potential risks-versus-rewards, the actual costs, and so on.

Vinny gets assigned the "This is a great medication" side of the debate, and Lily gets assigned the "We should not approve this medication" side.

The day of the debate, both are about as prepared as could be reasonably expected. Neither is that thrilled with the topic, and both waited close to the day of the debate to begin, but away they go. First Vinny makes an impassioned and emotional plea for helping asthma sufferers. He shows a YouTube clip of someone short of breath using an inhaler. He states some marketing stats and very attractive costs from the pharmaceutical company, and he wraps up with a hearty, "Breathe-EZ must be approved."

Vinny's done a pretty good job, and Lily is feeling worried. She can't really counter that YouTube video, and she doesn't have much evidence relating to the stats. But she starts gamely. She talks about the need for caution and lots of trials, and just then, the door opens; a scientific looking (?) man in a lab coat strides across and stands next to Lily at the lectern. He shows his credentials. He was a clinical trials researcher for two decades for Harvard Medical School, later moved into a research position for the Center for Disease Control for twelve years, and has recently been contracted independently to do investigative research specifically on asthma medications, including Breathe-EZ. He takes over the microphone (I forgot to mention there is a microphone). "Yes, I am very familiar with Breathe-EZ. In over sixty clinical trials involving nearly eight-thousand asthma sufferers, the medication has proven to work in less than 1% of the cases. Also, the side effects, which are alarmingly common, include greater difficulty breathing, heart and liver problems, and, frequently, death." He shakes Lily's hand, and he exits.

Wow! Lily is feeling a whole lot better, and she continues on. She is not sure how to handle the cost issue. She mentions that these are really just projected costs and is sort of waving her hands when the door opens, and in strides a professional-looking woman in a business suit. She takes the mic and shares her credentials: she has worked in marketing, accounting, and finance for twenty-seven years, and she is currently hired independently to investigate the cost claims made by the people who make Breathe-EZ. "The costs cited in their reports are costs to manufacture the medication. The numbers do not include the delivery system, packaging, marketing, distribution. They also do not include mark-up." She gives a knowing smile and continues, "The actual cost to the consumer will be in the neighborhood of seven to eight times more than other common medications on the market." She shakes Lily's hand and strides purposefully back out of the room.

So who is going to win the debate and why?

Lily blew Vinny away, not because she knew much more about her subject and not because she is a better speaker (writer). She will win this debate because she has credible, authoritative, expert testimony (evidence) backing her up.

In a research paper your job is to find credible, authoritative, expert evidence (that you quote directly...more on that in a moment) to support your general argument because you are not an expert and because you do not have enough in-depth, concrete, specialized information about the subject.

Credible? Authoritative? Expert?

Quite a lot of teachers will not let you use un-vetted websites for sources. If the site is a reputable news site (say, New York Times online), or if you search a library database for academic journals, that is generally considered fine. But whacko.com, biased.net, fanaticnut.org, and justanopinion.edu are not going to be acceptable. Wikipedia, Ask, Snopes and other such generic or wiki sources are also not usually acceptable for a research paper because the information is often user (not expert) supplied and often not fact checked. By the way, reputable print sources are good; print sources are good; print sources are good....

Let's go back to the debate and change the scenario just a bit: instead of the expert clinical researcher and the marketing/finance specialist, suppose that the first person to go to the microphone to help Lily out was Lily's mom: "Oh, she is such a great kid; you should believe her side of the debate." Umm...just maybe mom is a teensy bit biased. She may also know absolutely nothing about Breathe-EZ.

What if mom was followed by some random guy off the street who took up the mic and said, "I really don't know much about this subject, but I don't like medicines, so I'm on Lily's side."

Both of those testimonies are very weak. They are not going to convince many people. Vinny's touching YouTube clip will now probably give him the win.

Quick Review: What Do We Do With This Evidence?

Well, a couple of things. First we need to position key quotations (again, more on that in a moment) from our sources into our papers where they logically fit. If we are writing a paragraph about cost-effectiveness of a medication, for example, then a quotation from an expert who has crunched the actual numbers belongs in that paragraph. The quotation comes from a source (article in a journal, news broadcast, etc.).

Then we need to make sure we acknowledge the source (otherwise we are stealing it and presenting it as though it were our own information, and that is the "p" word-plagiarism). Someone did a lot of work, and we are using their efforts to help make our own paper stronger (and, we hope, earn a higher grade), so we need to give the source information credit. We do that in two ways:

• we include the appropriate information about the source on a Works Cited page
AND

• we include in-text citations every time we cite (quote from) one of the sources

I'll say more about how to do a Works Cited page later, in another section. Just know that if you do not have a properly-done, complete Works Cited page, your paper is going to be slammed. It is absolutely required.

NOTE: In a later section, below, I have included a link to a Works Cited page, so you will be able to see what one looks like. It does not represent all available source types, but it will give you the general idea. Get specific details for each type of source (film, newspaper article, lecture, personal interview, television news broadcast, etc.) on the Purdue OWL site.

The Other Kind of (Required) Documentation: In-Text Citations

This is unusually simple considering the Modern Language Association (MLA) had something to do with it; we place parenthetical citations after all direct quotations or other specialized information we get from our sources. Really, it is easy. REALLY…E-Z. Here is an example:

The creator, Ty Warner, "avoided large retailers and marketed Beanie Babies through smaller gift shops and collectible outlets, giving their products a certain luster in the eyes of collectors" (Aziz).

Simple! Following the direct quotation, which came from an article called "The Great Beanie Baby Bubble," by John Aziz (don't worry, we have a complete citation for this on the Works Cited page), we put the author's last name inside parentheses. The reader can then flip back to that Works Cited page (which is organized alphabetically) and scan the entries for the one that begins with Aziz. The article title and other source information is there for the reader, and Aziz gets credit for his quotation.

If we go back to the debate, this is the same as acknowledging and giving particular information for the expert clinical researcher and the marketing/finance expert.

But wait! The Purdue OWL has examples that use designators rather than parenthetical citations!

Well, yes. The Purdue OWL will show both sorts of in-text recognition. Here is what the Beanie Baby quotation could look like:

In an article called "The Beanie Baby Bubble," by John Aziz, the author states that the creator, Ty Warner, "avoided large retailers and marketed Beanie Babies through smaller gift shops and collectible outlets, giving their products a certain luster in the eyes of collectors."

This acknowledges the source, and it makes the parenthetical citation unnecessary.

So why bother with parenthetical citations?

There are three reasons; the third is probably the most important from a practical standpoint:

1. it is the standard way of documenting material in the body of your paper
2. it is simpler than including the long designators
3. your teacher is looking for these in your paper; if they are not there, the teacher will think you do not know how to cite parenthetically, and your paper's grade may go down; it may even not be accepted at all.

Use parenthetical citations mainly. If you want to also use a few quotations introduced by designators that acknowledge the sources, that's fine, but use parenthetical citations mainly.

Now About That "Use Direct Quotations" Thing...

Yes, I know. Every handbook and the Purdue OWL site explain/show that there are three types of information that must be documented:

1. direct quotations
2. specialized source information that is summarized
3. specialized source information that is paraphrased (whatever that means)

My students are required, whenever possible, to avoid the summary and paraphrase and just use direct quotations. There are a few reasons:

• When you summarize or paraphrase, there is a pretty good chance that you will misrepresent the source. If the information is highly specialized, you may not fully understand it, and your summary may not capture the idea and intent of the source completely. That is very common. If you use word-for-word quotations, the expert's own ideas come through. Sure, the reader may have to look some things up, but it is much safer to use the exact language of the source.
• If you summarize, then you are now responsible for the evidence; it is your wording and your interpretation. It is also less authoritative. Going back to that debate, it would be like Lily saying, "An expert in finance finds Breathe-EZ to be more expensive than it seems." This does not have the impact of the expert striding up to the microphone and pronouncing that in her own voice.
• Also, it is often hard to tell where the student's voice (writing) stops and the source's voice (information) starts.

So just to reiterate, because this is important: each time you give a quote or a specific piece of information from a source, you MUST cite that source. In other words, you MUST give credit to the source, to show where you got this piece of information. Here's an example: "The California Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for Gov. Jerry Brown's criminal justice reform measure to make the November ballot" (Nichols). This is a direct quote, taken word-for-word from an article on a website on the Internet. Any time you quote directly-that is, you use an author's exact words-you MUST put those words in quotation marks (that's what shows the reader they are someone else's words).

You must also cite the source. That means you have to tell the reader where you got that quote. The citation is the word in parentheses after the quote: (Nichols). Nichols is the last name of the author of the article. If the article came from a print source, such as a book or paper magazine, you would also have to include a page number: (Nichols 13). But since few Internet sources have page numbers, the author's last name will suffice.

What about when you aren't quoting directly? If you are using specific facts that you got from a source other than your own brain, you have to cite your source. Here's an example:

In the United States, there are more than 2.3 million people in prison (Wagner and Rabuy).

This is not a direct quote, but since that number came from a source outside your brain, it needs to be cited.

One note about quoting directly: if you put quotation marks around someone else's words, that means they are the person's EXACT words, right down to the punctuation marks. If they misspell something, you misspell it too. Copy it exactly as it's written.

The Works Cited List

We've already talked a bit about the Works Cited list, and some of you may also have learned about this in other classes. But just to be sure everyone knows all they need to know, here's a brief lesson:

I know you all think the Works Cited list was made up by English teachers cackling together over a bubbling cauldron with the sole purpose of torturing you beyond endurance. But that's not quite true. I can't speak for the cauldron part, since I wasn't at those meetings, but the real purpose of the Works Cited list is to give your readers the information they need to judge the reliability of your sources, and to allow them to find your sources if they want to.

When you write your essay, you will use information from other sources. You will (as we have already discussed) use in-text citations to show which sources you used. But those in-text citations do not give the complete information about the sources; they are used like abbreviations. To get the full information about the source, you need to flip to the back of the paper, to the Works Cited list.

Let's say you have a quote in your essay like this: "A one-page internal 63-year-old memo about a UFO report involving three alleged flying saucers and alien bodies recovered in New Mexico is making the rounds again this week" (Spiegel).

The in-text citation is "Spiegel," so if I want to know more about this source, I would flip to the Works Cited list at the back of the essay. I would look down the list until I found an entry beginning with "Spiegel."

This is important: whatever is in the parentheses in your in-text citation MUST match the beginning of the citation in the Works Cited list. So your Works Cited entry for this source would look like this:

Spiegel, Lee. "FBI UFO Document Is The Most Popular Of All Its 'Vault' Files." Huffington Post, 27 Mar. 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/fbi-ufo-document_n_2965993.html. Accessed 23 June 2014.

In the Works Cited list, only include works you've actually cited in the paper. (A bibliography is a list of all the works you consulted, but you are not required to submit a bibliography for this paper. You only need to submit a Works Cited list.)

Alphabetize the Works Cited list.

For a sample Works Cited list, see the Purdue OWL website at this link: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

There are also exercises you can do in the Writing Lab to make yourself more comfortable with doing Works Cited lists in various formats. But there's no need to memorize all the types of entries. Just keep the Purdue OWL or a current handbook nearby so you can look up what you need.

Make sure you have the format correct for each citation. Some teachers don't care much about format. Others care A LOT! So in this class, we will pay close attention to format, so you're ready for those teachers who care A LOT.

Look It Up

Do not guess. Do not invent. Do not think you "just know" how to do a Works Cited page.

They are not hard to do; they just require you to look at examples and follow instructions. Always have the Purdue OWL site or a college writer's handbook in front of you when you have to do one of these. Look closely; follow carefully.

To Recap

Try to use direct quotations whenever possible. Be sure you surround the quoted passages with quotation marks. Be sure you have parenthetical citations after your quotations (remember, you may use some designators, but mainly use parenthetical citations because it is standard, simple, and expected by your teachers). Be sure you have a proper Works Cited page.

About that Works Cited page: everything on it should be cited in the paper; if an item appears on the Works Cited page, you are saying you "cited" from it. Do not load up the page with things you did not use in the actual paper (note: a bibliography is different, but let's not confuse things here).

All of the documented quotations, if they are from credible sources, will enhance your paper by providing specialized information and by supporting your own ideas with authoritative, expert evidence.

That is what a research paper is all about, and this information is true forever, for every class, for the real world after school when you write a research report (if you do); DO NOT FORGET THIS NEXT SEMESTER OR EVER. Yes, formats change (in psychology you use APA format, for example), and sometimes the nature of the research is different (in hard sciences you often are conducting hands-on, not book, research, and that has its own challenges/requirements). But, for the most part, this information can be carried over throughout school and well into the real world.

When in doubt about any of this, ask your teacher. Some may require paraphrase. Some may have modified format requirements. It's always safest to ask.

Okay, let's get to it: The Research Project

There's something that strikes fear into almost everyone's heart when they hear that phrase. Mine too. But it's not just because of the research--it's because it's a big project, and big projects always look huge and therefore intimidating.

So break it down into small tasks:

1. Do the research.
2. Write the paper.

Wait--what?? Those are huge tasks! Let's break it down into much smaller tasks, and for now, let's just focus on doing the research. And further, let's just use, as an example, how to do the research for your Conspiracy Theory research project assignment.

1. Think about the kinds of sources you can use: books, newspapers, magazines, the internet, personal interviews with experts who know about your conspiracy.
2. Go find the books you need.
3. Go look in the magazines and newspapers that you need.
4. Find some people who know about your conspiracy and interview them (you may or may not be able to do this or choose to do it; more on interviews later).

Well, that's better, but still sort of big and overwhelming, especially if you've never done it before. We need to break it down into still smaller tasks.

Where can you find the books you need?

You can find books in libraries. The easiest library to get to for most of you will be the Harbor College library. So here's how you find the books you need there. You can follow a similar procedure in other libraries. Follow along in your own browser as we do these steps, so you can see how it's done:

1. Go to the Harbor College homepage: www.lahc.edu
2. Look at the menu on the top of the page and find the "Library" link.
3. On the Library page you will see, right in the center, a heading that says "OneSearch." Fill in that box with your search term, and click "Search."
4. Since we're using Roswell as our sample conspiracy, let's fill in "Roswell" without changing anything else, and click "Search" and see what happens.
5. Well, we got 29,499 results, some of them completely irrelevant. But there are some useful things there: #1 is a book called UFO crash at Roswell : the genesis of a modern myth. That looks like it might have some good information we can use. So click on that (the title is a link).
6. That takes you to a description of the book and list of topics covered, and sure enough, there's a lot of information on cover-ups at Roswell. The description also tells you where in the library to find the book and whether it's checked out or not. Now you have a source where you can get information for your research paper!

Where can you find the magazine and newspaper articles you need?

Maybe you don't want to use all books. Magazines and newspapers have tons of information too. But in this digital age, most libraries don't keep a lot of paper versions around for too long. So the best place to go to find them is the databases.

"Databases" sounds intimidating to many people. But it's not. A database is just a collection of information (data). In this case, the databases are simply digital collections of paper magazine and newspapers. The magazines and newspapers have all been put into collections online that you can search. Simple.

Here's how you do it:

1. Go back to the Library's home page (http://libguides.lahc.edu/library).
2. At the top, click "Databases."
3. If you haven't seen this page before, take a minute to scroll down and look at all the resources. You may not need all of them for this class, but you'll see things you might need for other classes, or just for fun (I like the "Kanopy" site a lot--you can get tons of free movies there).
4. For our purposes in this class, the best place to start is "EBSCO-All." Click that link.
5. Again, if you haven't been here before, click on "Publications" at the top of the page and take a second to scroll down and see how many resources are available and what they are. You may find sources you can keep in mind for other classes or future classes.
6. If you look down this page, you will see that you can limit your search in very practical ways.
   • You can choose to limit your search to Full Text. I always cherck that, since I want to see the whole article.
   • You can choose to limit your search to Peer Reviewed Journals. This might be useful, depending on the topic. But since our UFO topic isn't that specialized, let's leave that unchecked.
   • You can choose which publication type to limit your search to; I'll stick with "All," since I want as much information as I can find, at least to start with.
   • You can choose to limit your search to a certain language. I'm going to choose "All," just because I'd like to know if anyone has actually written an article about Roswell in, say, Lithuanian.
   • There are many other choices, but that's usually as far as I go. Feel free to explore them.
7. In the top search box, type "Roswell incident" and change the search field box next to it to "Subject Terms." Click "Search."
8. You should get 80 results. The 10 on the first page relate directly to Roswell, and you can click on "HTML Full Text" to read them online. Some of the others on the following pages relate to Roswell, some do not. You can click through them to see if any are useful. Either way, now you have even more sources to use for your paper!
9. But it gets better: Click on the source called "Alternative Histories." Then, on the right side of the page, look for the "Tools" list. You can print the article or email it to yourself for later, among other things.
10. Under "Tools," click "Cite." A list of citations for this article will pop up in many formats. Scroll down to MLA format (that's the format we're using for this class). Copy and paste the citation into your own Works Cited page. Make sure the indentations have been preserved, and you're done. Now you don't have to figure out how to cite this source--it's been done for you! Yay! Less work!

Using the Internet

Today, most people who want to do research go straight to the Internet. It's easy and quick and free and you can do it in your pajamas from the comfort of your own home. The Internet is a wonderful thing, with its endless knowledge and information. Nowadays, if you're stupid and uninformed, it's your own fault. With sites like TedTalks and OpenCulture.com, you can learn anything you want any time. You can take courses from Harvard and Stanford and M.I.T. for free. It's amazing!

But in with all of that amazing knowledge, there's a lot of worthless, misleading, biased, or simply inaccurate information. When you're using books or databases, you can usually be pretty sure you're getting reliable information, because it's been fact-checked and edited and evaluated by professionals who know their fields. But anyone can post anything on the Internet-it's unfiltered and unchecked. That's a good thing for freedom of information, but it does place the burden on you to judge and evaluate what you see.

How Do I Know if a Website is Credible and Reliable?

The Internet has millions of websites. Some are reliable sources of information; others are not. But it can be hard to know the difference.

Here are a few things to look for in measuring reliability:

• Is the author listed? If you can see who wrote something, you have a better way to judge its reliability. You can always look up the author and find out whether he or she has any expertise in the field.
• What is the author's purpose in writing this information? Does he or she want to sell you something? Persuade you of something? If so, his or her information may be unreliable or incomplete.
• Who is the sponsor of the website? Look at the home page of the site to see what organization or group is paying for the site. Does that group have a bias of any sort? If so, any information they provide may be slanted or incomplete.
• Look for a date: how current is the information you are using?
• Look to see if the author used or cited any sources. That will tell you where the information came from, and you can check to see if the sources themselves are reliable.
• Credible sites pay attention to spelling, grammar, and writing style. If the information on a site is hard to understand or poorly written, it is often the work of an amateur, and any information you get from it should be checked closely. Professionals pay attention to writing style.
• Look to see what the domain extension is: domains such as .com, .org, and .net can be bought by anyone. This does not mean they should be written off as unreliable, but it does mean that the information on them should be checked. The .edu domain is reserved for colleges and universities, and .gov is reserved for government agencies. These tend to be an indicator of reliability. However, as with any information, always double check it with other sources.
• Think of your audience: what kinds of sources do they value? Some website may be perfectly fine, but may not be authoritative enough for your audience. If you are speaking to professional and academic biologists, for example, information from Popular Science would not be well-received. You would be better served by articles from professional journals.

Here are some things NOT to do:

• Don't be fooled by site design. Professional scammers, persuaders, and sellers are very good at designing sites that look professional. Reliable sites often have good web design, but so do totally unreliable sources. Anyone can pay for a website, and those who want to deceive you know that a site's appearance is vital in keeping you in their site.
• Don't use sites like Wikipedia. They are not "peer-reviewed"; that is, they are not edited or checked by experts in the field. Almost anyone can put up a Wikipedia page, and the information on it may be correct, partially correct, mostly incorrect, or completely made up. I found a Wikipedia page which listed over a dozen sources at the end of the essay, so at first glance it looked pretty reliable. But upon further investigation, I found that every single source listed was made up!

Even with these pointers, it can be hard to know if Internet sources are reliable or not. If you are in doubt, ask your instructor or a librarian for help.

One last word of caution: even the most reliable sites can make mistakes. Check everything! If you can't find a fact in two independent sources, don't use it.

And while we're at it, that "independent sources" thing is important. For example, let's say you find a statistic on Website A and want to check it. You go to Website B, and voila! There it is again! So you're good, right? Maybe. But first, check to see if the Website A got the fact from Website B. If it did, you're back at square 1.

Here's an example: an article on livescience. com says, "The percentage of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes was 17.8 percent in 2013, a drop from 20.9 percent in 2005, and the lowest rate of smoking since researchers began tracking this figure in 1965, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."

Let's say you want to verify this statistic. You cannot go to the CDC website, because they are the ones who provided the statistic in the first place. You need to verify that from some other source.

By the way, articles you find in the library's databases almost all come from reliable sources.

Keep Track of your Research As You Go

Take notes as you research on index cards or on photocopies or on your computer. You will be finding a lot of information, and you will quickly find that it gets hard to remember where you saw something if you don't keep your information organized.

Keep a working Works Cited list on index cards or on your computer (you will need this for your final Works Cited page).

The Works Cited page shows your reader where your source information came from which is doubly important:

1. it keeps you from plagiarizing--a kind of writing theft that can get you an "F" in a course, even, in some cases, expelled from the school...don't do it!
2. it lends weight, authority, credibility to your paper.

The information on how to put together the finished Works Cited page can be found at The Purdue OWL Website (be sure you select the MLA style sheet for this class), and of course there is more information above, in a earlier part of this page.

Using Index Cards

Long ago, when I went to college (yes, in those days there were no computers. The Earth was still cooling, and I had to dodge dinosaurs on the way to school), I was taught to use index cards to keep track of information. It's a bit old fashioned nowadays, but it still works really well. I still use it when I have a long article to write that involves a lot of research. So I'll pass it along to you. If it's helpful, feel free to use it. If you prefer to use another method of organizing, that's fine too-as long as you keep track in some way.

• Get some index cards. It doesn't matter what size or color they are. Get what you like.
• When you start to read a book or article that has useful information, start making notes on your index cards. You will have two kinds of cards: Information cards and Source cards.
• First, make a Source card for each book or article you use. Just one card, with all the Works Cited information on it. If you used the article we found earlier in the databases, for example, you'd make a card for that, by copying the citation you were given:
  

  Jerome, Richard and Michael Haederle. "A Saucer Scorned." People, vol. 42, no. 18, 31 Oct. 1994, p. 93. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.cyclib.nocccd.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=9411097519&login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

  Then put that aside (you won't need it again until you create your Works Cited page).
• Then begin making your Information cards. On each card, write one quote or fact that you plan to use. Just put ONE item on each card. (This may seem wasteful, since you'll have more room left on each card, but I'll explain later why you should limit each card to one item.) Then make sure, at the bottom of the card, to list the source, using the same type of citation you'd use for an in-text citation in your paper. A sample Information card would look like this (I put quotation marks around the information because it is quoted exactly from the article. I put the last name of the author in parentheses at the bottom. The article doesn't have page numbers, so I didn't include any)

Something large and silvery wobbled through the air and plowed into the desert dirt... It is also a fact-on-record that the government took an immediate interest in...well, whatever it was. The air force dispatched a team to scoop up the wreckage -- one metallic chunk was four feet long -- and flew some back to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, for scrutiny."

(Murphy)

• You will have a few Bibliography cards, just one for each source you use. But you'll have a LOT of Information cards, since you'll probably get many items you can use from each book or article you read.
• A word of caution: if you are working in the library or someplace other than your home, please put a rubber band around your cards to keep them all together, and put some kind of identifying information on the bundle of cards-your name and a phone number, for example. Every year, the librarians find stacks of index cards in the library that have been accidentally left behind, and they have no way to return them to their owners. That's a lot of work to lose! So please make it possible for your cards to be returned if they're lost.

A quick story about Index Cards: When I was in graduate school, I knew a woman named Elspeth. We were all at the same stage, just finishing up, writing our dissertations. A dissertation is a book-length work which requires both secondary and primary research; so we were all deep in the research phase. Elspeth had to go to England to do her research. This was, of course, expensive, and she had been saving for years to be able to afford it. She was there for a year. Every day was about research. Elspeth had been a competitive swimmer before grad school, and she still swam every day. So her daily routine in England was to get up early, go swim, then spend the day doing research. As you can imagine, she amassed thousands of index cards.

When the year was over, she came back to Los Angeles, and got herself a cheap room in the attic of a house down in the West Adams district near USC, in an old mansion that had been broken up into apartments. I went over one day to meet her for lunch. When I arrived, it was chaos: there was smoke coming out of all the windows, and people were frantically carrying stuff out of the building. The fire department hadn't arrived yet. I looked all around, but couldn't see Elspeth. I asked a guy coming out of the building if he'd seen her, and he said, "She's right behind me." I looked up the stairs, and there she was, carrying a huge laundry basket overflowing with index cards. On top of the index cards was her bathing suit.

As it happened, the fire department arrived and put out the fire, which was localized to one apartment (not Elspeth's). Everyone was okay. Later, her neighbors were amazed that all Elspeth chose to save was a bathing suit and a bunch of index cards. It didn't amaze me-that was a year's worth of hard work!

Interviewing an Expert

Interviewing people to get information can be useful and interesting, and you can meet some great people, as well. But be wise in choosing who to interview. Make sure the person you interview actually has the expertise you need. If you are writing on marine biology, then your neighbor Joe is not the right choice, even if he goes deep-sea fishing every year-unless he is also a marine biologist.

When setting up an interview, make an appointment. Even if it someone you know personally, it's best to set a time, so you can be sure you aren't an inconvenience. Also set a time limit, for the same reason, and so that you can plan your questions. Be sure to stick to the limit.

BE ON TIME FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT. I can't stress enough how important this is. Being late is a sign of disrespect. This person is doing you a favor by giving you his or her time, and that time is valuable. Don't waste it. It's better to arrive early and drive around the block for a few minutes than to arrive late.

Arrive with a list of questions that you have prepared ahead of time. Do a little research before you arrive, on both the topic and the person. Doing research on the topic ensures that your questions will be to the point and that you will get the information you need from the interview. Doing some research on the person may help you avoid missteps; asking something like "How long have you been in this field?" shows you haven't done your homework.

Ask if you can record the interview. Turn on your recording device first. Put it in plain sight. Then ask, "Do I have your permission to record this interview?" and make sure the response is recorded. That way, they can't later deny they gave you permission to record.

If they say it's okay to record, leave the recorder on. If they say they don't want you to record the interview, don't argue; just turn off the recorder and take notes instead.

Whatever you do, don't record someone without their knowledge. It's a felony in some states, and can also lay you open to civil litigation.

If someone asks you to keep something private, or "off the record," you are obligated to do so. This means you cannot use that information. You cannot tell anyone else that information, even your spouse or closest friends. It is strictly private. This will probably not come up for any project you do in this class, but it's worth knowing, for any future projects.

But that doesn't mean "off the record" information is useless. On the contrary, once you know something, you can usually find it out from another source as well.

When you are asking your questions of the person you are interviewing, ask your most important questions first. Don't save them for the end, in case you run out of time.

When you are asking your questions, LISTEN to the answers. When you are new at interviewing, and if you're nervous, sometimes you just ask the questions and wait for the other person to stop talking and ask the next question. You're not listening. But try to put your nervousness aside and listen to what the person is saying. You may want to ask follow-up questions, and you may find out something you didn't even know to ask about--that's always fun.

Keep an eye on the time. When you near the end of your time, look over your list of questions and make sure you've gotten any vital information you need and haven't missed anything.

At the end of the interview, thank the person you've interviewed. Ask the person if you can contact them with any follow-up questions or to check the accuracy of any quotes.

Then, within the next day-and this is important--send a thank you note. Not an email or a text. A real paper thank you note, handwritten and sent through snail mail. It should be short and simple, something like: "Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. I appreciate your time, and the information you gave me will be very helpful." (You can phrase it any way that's appropriate-that's just an example.) This is important because no one does it. If you do it, therefore, you will stand out, and the person will remember you. That might come in handy later on. Even if it doesn't, it's the polite thing to do, and all it costs you is the price of a stamp.

Many years ago, I wrote an article about a famous writer. In the course of the research, I interviewed another writer, we'll call him "Dale," who was not very well-known. I went to his house, and he was very nice, and it was a great interview. Five years later, I was writing about another writer, and Dale had known this other writer well--but by now, Dale was a huge success, and it was nearly impossible to get an interview with him. Everyone told me to forget about it. But I figured I would ask--after all, all he could do was say no. So I called him, and told him my name, and there was a little pause. Then he said, "Oh, I remember you! You're the one who sent me the thank you note! Sure, come on over!" So I got the interview no one else could get, just because of a simple little thank you note. Sometimes it's the little polite things that make a difference.

One story: years ago, I was writing about the writer, Lillian Hellman, a playwright and screenwriter. Two of her good friends during the time she spent in Hollywood were a pair of screenwriters, Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, a husband-and-wife screenwriting team. During their careers, Hackett and Goodrich were the top screenwriting team in Hollywood, and the highest paid. But by now, they were retired. I contacted Albert Hackett and asked if I could interview them about Lillian Hellman, and he agreed. Unfortunately, by the time the interview happened, Frances Goodrich had died, but Albert Hackett agreed to go ahead with the interview anyway. They had been married for 53 years, and she had been gone for only 9 months at the time.

He lived in New York, in a lovely apartment across the street from Central Park. He invited me in and offered me coffee and pastries and we talked. He was a wonderful, sweet, funny man and gave me a lot of good information. He was, at the time, 86.

Suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he broke off and, out of the blue, said, "When Frances died, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to stay home, because everything reminded me of her, but I didn't want to go out because it was no fun without her." He sounded very sad. But before I could say anything he went on: "So I started calling all the widows I knew, because finally, I had something in common with them. I knew three of them, and one could walk, so I married her." I had to laugh, which was what he wanted. Then his new wife came in. They had just gotten married that week, and they were like honeymooners, holding hands and giggling with each other, he in his 80s and she, "the younger woman," in her 50s.

They gave me some cookies and asked very solicitously if I had cab fare, and were excitedly planning dinner when I left, as if it were the first dinner ever eaten.

I highly recommend interviewing people for projects-you get to meet so many interesting people!

Other Libraries

Most likely, you won't need to go to other libraries to do your Project. But some of you may want to go further afield, and for other research projects you do in other classes, you may need more resources, and the Los Angeles area is chock-full of libraries. So here's a quick idea of what's available out there:

• Public Libraries: Depending on where you live, some branch of the Los Angeles (lapl.org) or Orange County (ocpl.org) Public Library will be available to you. Go onto their websites to see what's around you; depending on your address, you may have borrowing privileges at more than one library system. And the Public Library system is amazing! You can borrow books and movies, download books, movies, and music, use the public databases (they have some we don't have, and vice versa), and more.
• College and University libraries: Public college and university libraries, and many private college and university libraries, are open to the public. Sometimes they restrict borrowing privileges to people who are enrolled there, but not always (ask about their policies). Four-year colleges and universities have much larger library and information budgets than community colleges do, so their resources are broader: they have a wider selection of books, e-books, databases, etc. And they also have more specialized collections: UCLA, for example, has a separate library for many of its disciplines: a Music Library, a Fine Arts library, a Philosophy library, a Business Library, and so on. Last time I checked, UCLA had 12 libraries, 12 archives, and quite a few separate research centers on campus. They are one of the top research libraries in the country, and one of the largest library systems. And that's just UCLA--in the whole UC system, you can find almost anything you might ever want. USC also has a stellar library system, as does UC Irvine. The Cal States have large libraries as well. And much of what they have is available to you.
• Private libraries: There are so many of these I can't list them all. Here's a sampling:
  1. The Los Angeles Law Library, open to the public
  2. The library at the Arboretum, which specializes in botanical information
  3. The library at the Braille Institute, which provides almost any book you want in audio or Braille form.
  4. The library at the Getty Center, which specializes in art information
  5. The library at the American Film Institute, which specializes in film and television materials
  6. The library at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which specializes in film and television materials.
  7. The library at The Japan Foundation
  8. The library at the Writers Guild, which has all sorts of scripts and other manuscripts, as well as legal information on copyright, contracts, etc.
  9. The Clark Library, which specializes in 18th century literature
  10. The library at the Jung Institute, which specializes in the work of Carl Jung and related materials.
  11. The library at the Philosophical Society, which, of course, specializes in philosophy.
  12. The library at the Natural History Museum, which has so much I can't begin to describe it all.

This is just a small sample of all the information that's available to you. In short, if you need it, it's out there somewhere.

From Notes (or Index Cards) to Outline

There are lots of methods of prewriting which allow you to get ideas down on paper before you actually commit a lot of time to full-blown essay writing. Many instructors require that you produce one or more of these pre-writing exercises for each essay; I merely recommend you find a method of shaping your papers that works for you.

For the research project, however, I recommend that you start with a proposal that includes some very broad notes about the main areas you intend to develop for your paper. From there you started reading about your topic more and expanding on those notes.

Eventually, a logical plan for your paper should emerge from those notes. Some people keep notes on scraps of paper or post its, but those often get lost or disorganized, so sometimes people expanded their notes into a scratch outline (an informal outline, more of a list where key ideas are often just noted with asterisks or "bullets.") or a full, formal sentence outline.

Outlining (formal and otherwise) is a means of organizing your essays, of creating a plan that you can follow before you spend too much time typing up material that doesn't fit whatever thesis you are trying to prove. To be truly useful, you should do this before you complete a rough draft; the whole point of the outline is to give you a set of notes to follow, to remind you what you must include in your paper to support your thesis, and to explore the best sequence for presenting that information.

Simply put, your outline is list of notes about what things you will include in your paper and in what order you will include them. To have any value your plan (an outline is just a plan) should be done BEFORE you write your rough draft; the point is to be able to move bits around on your plan easily, to see which areas you need do more research on, to make sure you stay on track as you draft your paper. All outlines should contain the following at the very least:

• your complete thesis statement (remember that your plan illustrates how you are going to develop and support your thesis; unless you can clearly state your thesis, you have no way of evaluating how effective your plan is)
• the basic topic areas you will cover in the order you will cover them
• under each basic topic area you must include specific details, examples that you will be including to develop that portion of your essay

Growing Your Outline

The following is not very useful:

THESIS: Although most evidence fails to prove that aliens crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, there are enough inconsistencies in the U.S government's reports to suggest that some suspicious activity took place there.

• Opening
• Inconsistencies
• No solid evidence
• Conclusion

What the heck is that? The thesis is a start (though it doesn't describe the nature of the conspiracy, the names of conspirators, the motive for some sort of cover-up), but that list is so broad that it's really no more than some initial quick notes (the kind that you might put on little Post-its). Of course it's not a formal outline, but it's actually OK to start with more of a list and refine it until you turn it into a more detailed outline once you've gathered more information.

Let's keep it informal (simple) for the time being, but let's turn the words into sentences and add some substance so that we can see what sorts of things are going to be researched and included in the paper:

THESIS: The UFO crash-landing near Roswell, New Mexico in July, 1947 was covered up by President Harry S. Truman and Air Force General Roger Ramey due to fears of threats to national security and the risk of public hysteria.

• The paper will open with a dramatic description of the alien ship crash landing and army personnel clearing away the evidence.
• There were glaring inconsistencies in the military's story.
• In the late 40's the army reported that a weather balloon with a reflective skin crashed and was mistaken for a UFO
• In the 50's the official reports ranged from nothing happening at all in Roswell to classified fighter craft crashing
• In 1997 the air force's official report was that parachute test dummies came down at Roswell and were mistaken for aliens.
• etc.
• Do that for all of the items on your informal list.

As you research more, you will add to the items (both main categories and examples that you will include in your paper), and you will eventually be able to see the entire map of your essay.

If you made index cards, here's a suggestion about to use them effectively:

• Once you have a thesis statement and several reasons, begin by writing your thesis on an index card. Tack this up somewhere or keep it handy so you can keep referring back to it. This will help you stay on track.
• Write "Introduction" on an index card. Then go through all your Fact/Information cards and choose items you think will work well in the Introduction. You will have a small stack of cards. Set them aside.
• Write "Background" on an index card. Then go through all your Fact/Information cards and choose items you think will work well in the Background Information section. You will have a small stack of cards. Set them aside.
• Write "Argument" on an index card.
• Write your first Reason on an index card. Then go through all your Fact/Information cards and choose items you think will support that Reason. (This will be your Evidence.) You will have a small stack of cards. Set them aside.
• Repeat this process for each of your Reasons.
• Write "Refutation" on an index card.
• Write the first reason on the opposing side on an index card. Then write a refuting reason below it. Then go through all your Fact/Information cards and choose items you think will support that refuting reason. (This will be your evidence.) You will have a small stack of cards. Set them aside.
• Repeat this process for each of the opposing reasons.
• Then go through each small stack and put the information in the order you think you'll be using it in the paper.

After you've finished this, you should have a pretty clear idea what the structure of your essay will look like, and you can make your outline.

In your outline, write each of your reasons and pieces of evidence as a complete sentence. I know this will take time, but it's worth doing. And here's why:

The good thing about this method is that it serves as an early warning system: if you have no evidence to support one of your reasons, that will become apparent right now. It gives you time to go find some evidence!

A word of caution: once you have all the cards in the order you want them, number them lightly in pencil. You can erase and change numbers later. But this way, if your cards get out of order, you won't have to go through the whole organization process again.

From Outline to Draft

Once you've formulated a workable plan (with some sort of outline), it's generally just a matter of fleshing out that outline to produce your draft. The beauty of the sentence outline (I know, you may not find it all that beautiful...*sigh*) is that you already have complete sentences. We will use all of the sentences already written (why waste them?), but we need to move from point to point smoothly, so we'll need to add transitions.

The general rule in a paper like this is that you make a statement, and then give a piece of evidence (a quote, an anecdote, a statistic) to back it up...just like in your index cards and outline.

Here's a portion of a rough draft that uses the this approach:

There were glaring inconsistencies in the army's story. Over the decades the army could not keep its story straight. Either new evidence came to light, or they were just inventing plausible excuses to keep the public satisfied. In the late 40's the government reported that a weather balloon with a reflective skin crashed and was mistaken for a UFO by hysterical observers. One official report states, "The newspapers insisting that there was a cover-up at Roswell are just trying create a panic to sell papers. The remains of a test balloon were scattered across the landscape, and an untrained civilian could easily have mistaken this for just about anything, but that is all pure imagination" (Carey 215). The official view, however, does not agree with what several key eyewitnesses reported. Those civilians were not all hysterical or even untrained; by one account, "many were educated, and, in fact, there was both a scientist and an ex-military man among them" (Cameron). More surprising than this inconsistency between government and civilians, however, is that the official view given in 1947 does not agree with what the U.S. State Department printed just ten years later.

Finally, of course, after you complete your draft, there is the process of revision--editing, formatting, and proofreading--which you need to do before turning in the final version of your essay.

Balance your Sources

What this means is that you want to try to use each one of your sources about the same amount. If you rely too heavily on one source, even if it's an excellent source that says everything you need to support your paper, it leaves you with three problems:

• the essay becomes that writer's essay, not yours
• even if you can argue that much of the writing is still yours, you are only being supported by one authority, and that's not very much support (your argument is weak)
• you only have one puny entry on your Works Cited page

So when you have the choice of two or more sources that say pretty much the same thing, select information from one source for one part of your essay, another source for another part, and so on.

As always, if you have any questions, please ask!

And here are a few FAQS with answers that you may find useful

1. Q: How much of the Project should be mine, and how much should I take from my sources and document?
   A: This is an area not everyone agrees on (which is why it's a frequently-asked question!); I tend to disagree with many of the standard handbooks on this point. They generally suggest about 2/3 of the material should be from your sources (evidence supporting your claims), but I think about 1/2 to 2/3 of the paper should be your voice, your analysis or interpretation with about 1/3 supporting evidence from your sources. Then again, this is an exploratory paper, one which requires you to demonstrate your thinking; if it were an explanatory paper (mainly just general information), then you'd be copying more facts from sources and thinking less.
2. Q: How many of my sources do I need to use?
   A: All of them. All of the items that appear on your Works Cited page (and the minimum is five, for your Project) must be quoted from (and cited) in your paper. You will want to use at least two or three quotations from most of them so that you have enough research material to adequately support your argument and to not rely too heavily on any one source.
3. Q: How do I know if I need to document something or not?
   A: Unfortunately, the answer is not that simple. There's a body of knowledge called common knowledge (for example: Lincoln was president of the United States during the American Civil War; Sacramento is the capital of California). Common knowledge does not need to be documented. Specialized knowledge (that an expert in a field would know, the results of a specific research study that you didn't conduct yourself, another person's interpretation of a movie, any exact wording that you take from another person) must always be documented. There is a grey area that often occurs when you summarize or paraphrase. I try to avoid the grey area by avoiding summary and paraphrase and using direct quotations whenever possible; those must always be documented. And if you are in doubt about a specific item, you can always ask your instructor.
4. Q: Do I need to include a title page?
   A: Different instructors have different thoughts about this, so always ask your instructor. I do not want to see any title pages; just use the standard MLA format.
5. Q: There is another format called APA format; is it OK if I use that format?
   A: No. Papers written for English classes, the humanities and history and several other disciplines use the MLA (Modern Language Association) format. The APA (American Psychology Association) style is for papers written in the social sciences. The key difference is that APA format emphasizes the date a source was written (important if you are discussing a treatment for ADHD or examining census trends). Your papers for this class must use the MLA format, or they will not be accepted.

For information on using MLA format to cite and document correctly, see The Purdue University Online Writing Lab.

About Wikipedia, SparkNotes, and Databases

DO NOT cite Wikipedia in academic essays. Since it is not edited by reputable experts, it often has errors and isn't reliable. It's okay to use it as a starting point for your own research, but go on and find other sources to verify the information, and cite those in your essay.

Also avoid SparkNotes, ENotes and similar sites. Teachers hate them since they provide only the most superficial analyses. Avoid citing them in academic papers; instead, go find analyses from more reputable academic sources: university and scholarly websites, peer-reviewed journals in library databases, and books. Don't be scared by that word "databases." The databases are just collected electronic versions of articles published in print magazines, journals, and newspapers. They also sometimes contain e-books. You can search them and find tons of good material. There's more about how to use the databases on the Writing Tips page.

And if you need help getting started or with a rough draft, please feel free to see me in my office (my office location and hours are posted on the Schedule) or e-mail me at annw708@gmail.com.

Copyright © Ann Warren 2016-2023 and beyond