Research Composition 2: Choose Your Own Adventure

The Due Dates:

Proposal April 2

Annotated Bibliography April 8

Rough Draft April 16

Final Draft (with self-assessment) April 21

Proposal: The proposal should be approximately 1-2 pages and give me some idea of the path you wish to take with this project. Soon after you have turned in your proposals, I will be conferencing with each of you about them. This will give me a chance to give you some advice on how to go about researching your specific topic. Your topic can be anything you choose, but it must have a legitimate argument that points to some significant issue. (For example, arguing that Pete Rose should be inducted into the Hall of Fame would not be acceptable, but arguing that the move of major league baseball stadiums out of inner city areas has a profound effect on the local economy would be acceptable.) The range of possible topics for this research composition is great, and you may try any topic provided that I approve it. I will emphasize again that you do, however, need to make sure that you choose an arguable thesis for your composition (in other words, simple reports will not be acceptable).

Annotated Bibliography: I will pass out an assignment sheet later. The annotated bibliographies will basically required 8 sources, for each of which there should be a paragraph-long annotation.

Rough Draft: We will once again bring in our rough drafts on April 16 for peer review. I am sure most of you realized with the other papers that the more complete your rough draft is on peer review day, the better and more useful the feedback will be for you. I will not be commenting on rough drafts this time, so be sure that you make the most of the peer review day.

Final Draft: The final draft is due on April 21. Your final drafts should be 6-7 pages (typed, double-spaced, 1" margins, etc.), and they should also include a "Works Cited" page in addition to those 6-7 pages. You will need to have at least 6 secondary sources for this paper, but you are welcome to have more sources if you want. At least 3 sources should be print-based sources (i.e., you have to go to the library). Any internet sources should be analyzed for validity and reliability. Your paper should conform to MLA standards of correct citation, which we will discuss in class.

In this composition I will be looking for the following:

--Do you present an arguable thesis?

--Do you support that thesis with pertinent subclaims?

--Is your analysis effective?

--Do you use sources well, and do the sources you use provide good support for your argument?

--Do you set up your quotations effectively?

--Are you able to use MLA documentation correctly?

--Do you present and effectively counter any opposition?

 

Self-Assessment: This should be turned in along with your final draft. I will not grade any final draft that does not have a self-assessment. For the self-assessment you will need to do the following:

1.) State your thesis and/or the scope of your paper.

2.) In a second paragraph, explain

--your original intentions and rationale

--how your idea has evolved

--problem spots in your paper

--aspects of your paper that you feel are its strengths

--problems you may have had with finding sources

--things you learned from peer reviews

3.) Finally, write down a few questions or concerns that you had in writing this paper. These could either be writing problems you would like for me to help you with on a one-on-one basis or things that you feel could be addressed in class.