Research Assignment: Anatomy of a Research Paper



Research Assignment: Anatomy of a Research Paper

This assignment requires you to conduct the research for a term paper, without writing the paper itself. You will be graded on a) the quality of the sources you select, b) your thesis statement, and c) the quality of your annotated bibliography. The assignment will be completed in the following stages:

1) Research Question: Choose a topic related to the course, and a specific aspect of the topic to focus on, just as you would when choosing a research paper topic. Phrase your topic as a research question. For example, a topic like “crime in New York City” would be much too broad, but could be narrowed down to something like “Why did violent crime in New York City fall so dramatically between the late 1980’s and late 1990’s? Was it primarily due to improved law enforcement, or were other factors at work?”

2) Annotated Bibliography: Your bibliography will be in MLA format. This bibliography should include at least two peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles, at least one book, and at least one primary source. Web sites are permitted, but should be chosen carefully for quality. Remember: A large portion of your grade for this assignment will depend on the quality of the sources you choose.

Annotations should include a brief explanation of why you chose the source, and how it will help you answer your research question.

3) Outline of the Paper: This will consist of an introductory paragraph, including a thesis statement, as well as a summary of what would be included had you written a full length paper. The outline should be roughly 2 double-spaced, typed pages, or 500 words.

RefWorks: To help manage your sources and complete the bibliography as easily and efficiently as possible, I highly recommend that you use RefWorks, which is available through the St. John’s University Web site, at

To view tutorials on using RefWorks, go to



: For each stage of this assignment, you are required to use Turnitin, which is plagiarism detection and prevention software, which will alert you to any sections of your paper that have not been properly paraphrased or cited, and will help ensure that others do not plagiarize your work in the future.

You will be given a Class ID, which you can then use to enroll in the class at Turnitin. For more information on using Turnitin, and to create an account, go to



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