What is a Research Paper?
For the research paper writing part of this course, a research paper is probably different from what most people understand as a research paper. It's important that you understand what this difference is before you start in this course.
It is nearly impossible for students at this point in their studies to do real research in a traditional fashion. What I mean by this statement is that "real research in a traditional fashion" is the investigation of a new topic or a new aspect of a topic that has not been adequately researched in the past. Students do not have the experience or the resources to do this kind of research. And what has often passed as research is no more than summaries of easily gotten materials that the student assembles from a variety of sources, now usually internet sources. But this is not research.
Research begins with questions. If you already know what you think you should know about a topic, then you are not doing research. A research paper is not a persuasive paper. A persuasive paper is written to convince others that you are right, which assumes that you know all about your topic. But that is not research. You research because you do not know all you need to know about a topic. Again, research begins with questions.
Questions:
What do I know about this topic?
Why do I want to know about this topic?
Do I know enough about the topic to know where to find more information?
Do I know enough about the topic to know that I don't know enough about it?
Where did I get the knowledge that I do have about the topic?
What are the best sources for more, reliable, information?
And, most importantly,
What is my personal connection with this topic?
It is this last question that will distinguish your research paper from traditional (and boring) research papers. Your research paper MUST have a personal connection that is explicitly stated in the paper. This personal connection with your topic is what will make your paper interesting to the general reader. This personal connection must be made throughout the paper to illustrate how the information that you are finding is helping you in your own life. This research is not just an academic exercise; it means something to you.
For the research to mean something to you, you must choose a meaningful topic.
What are meaningful topics?
Possible meaningful topics include topics that come out of your interests, interests such as:
hobbies
current and prospective jobs
family relationships and histories
medical concerns related to you and family
concerns that we all share: school, family, citizenship, community.
This paper MUST include YOU. This inclusion is the only way that you can be doing real research. Here is an example. Suppose that you are interested in the public topic of Capital Punishment. There is nothing that you can say about this topic (or Abortion or Gun Control or The Right to Bear Arms, etc.) that has not been said before. But you can say something interesting and do real research if you investigate an angle that means answering questions instead of trying to convince others that you have the answer. So what might you do with such a topic as Capital Punishment? One thing you might do that would involve research is to poll local ministers and ask them what their views are on the topic. If they are opposed to Capital Punishment, ask them to explain why. If they are for it, ask them why. Ask them how their views of capital punishment are consistent with Christian beliefs or Christ's statement about "the eye for an eye" being the Old Testament way. In other words, do research instead of just using what you already expect to find in book and magazines and on the internet to confirm your own opinions about the topic.
Every research paper MUST include a library log that indicates your investigation of the topic. The research paper is not acceptable without this log.
Every research paper MUST include a rough draft that indicates that you are asking real questions about the topic, not that you have already made up your mind ahead of time.
Choose a topic that comes out of your interests, something that you want to know more about, and you will do fine, but be sure that your wanting to know more about the topic is a part of how you write the paper. This desire for answers makes your paper more interesting because this desire if what makes us human.
MORE QUESTIONS
These questions are ones that students often ask about the research paper.
How long should it be?
I think this question is asked because papers of a certain "length" are required in high school. But for a real research paper, such a question makes little sense. How could anyone know ahead of time how long a paper should be in order to answer the questions that guide the research? It's not possible. So the answer to the question is that there is no set length. The paper will be as long as it needs to be to thoroughly answer the questions that guide the search for answers.
What topics can I write about?
I've answered this question several times in the course calendar and syllabus. The only topic that is not acceptable is one that is not clearly connected to the writer's life in a way that is obvious in the writing of the paper. In other words, the personal connection that you have with the topic is a part of the paper. Any topic is acceptable if you have questions that you need to answer, and to answer those questions you need to do research. As stated many times, arguments are not research, and, therefore, are not acceptable.
Do I have to use the Modern Language Association format?
This is easy to answer: Yes. The MLA is the only format acceptable.