Research Paper Overview - PBworks



Research Paper Overview

~Your assignment is to write a research paper about a person of your choosing. Pick someone who is famous enough to be able to find information about him/her in a book, a magazine, and on the Internet. You must use one of each of these types of sources. You may use one of my suggestions (see back), or you may make your own choice. However, remember that you must be able to find information on your topic from these three types of sources.

~As you gather information about your person, look for a turning point in that person’s life. Was there an event in that person’s life that had enough of an impact that it changed his/her life thereafter? Find this turning point and make it the focus of your paper. Describe how his/her life led up to that moment, describe the life-changing event, and then explain how his/her life was different afterward.

~The paper will be a minimum of 6 paragraphs long. It should include an introductory paragraph, 4 or more body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. It should be written in the “voice” of a research paper; that is, it should be objective, formal, and impersonal.

~The completed assignment will include a title page, an organizer, timeline of important events in the subject’s life, the 6-paragraph or longer essay, and a Works Cited page.

~We will spend the next few weeks in class working on this project. We will spend time in the library researching. I will show you step-by-step how to organize the paper, research, write note cards, and cite sources in your paper. You will be graded on all of these steps, not just on the finished essay. The skills you learn during this unit can be used while doing research projects in other classes and in high school!

When completed, staple together and turn in the following, in order:

Rubric

Title Page

Final Copy

Works Cited Page

Timeline

Organizer

TURNING POINT SUGGESTIONS:

The following are subjects that may have a strong turning point that would be suitable for this assignment. You are not limited to this list. You may have great ideas of your own!

Amelia Earhart Alexander the Great

Mother Teresa Marcus Aurelius

Abraham Lincoln Johann Sebastian Bach

Jesse James Beethoven

Neil Armstrong P.T. Barnum

Christopher Reeve Clara Barton

Cesar Chavez Johnny Cash

Martin Luther King, Jr. John Lennon

Oprah Winfrey Christopher Columbus

Maya Angelou Dalai Lama

Ernest Hemingway Isadora Duncan

Gary Paulsen Anne Frank

Princess Diana Bill Gates

J.K. Rowling Ernest Hemingway

Henry Ford Langston Hughes

Wright Brothers Joan of Arc

Thomas Edison Stephen King

Alexander Graham Bell Jesse Jackson

Gandhi Leonardo daVinci

Helen Keller Charles Lindbergh

Mohammed Ali Malcolm X

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Eva Peron

Edgar Allen Poe Elvis Presley

Eleanor Roosevelt Martha Stewart

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Gehry

Michael Jordan Jackie Robinson

Princess Diana Albert Einstein

Stephen Hawking Donald Trump

You may choose anyone for whom you are able to find information from three different types of sources:

~Book

~Periodical (magazine or newspaper)

~Internet (must be reliable sources)

If you are not able to find information from these three types of sources, then you must choose another person to write about.

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