Assignment 4 Lecture
The purpose of Assignment 4 is to acquaint students with the use of research techniques in a referential-informative report. In this assignment, you will simply provide properly documented factual information about your chosen topic. The research project assignment has several parts. All parts must be completed satisfactorily for the assignment to be accepted.
The research project is the assignment that dooms many students in Comp I. Most of those who do not complete the assignment either don’t have the time to do the project carefully, as is necessary, or don’t take the time to do the project carefully. The process is somewhat tedious, granted, but with a careful attention to details, you can complete the project efficiently and effectively.
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To prepare for this assignment:
Estimated time needed to complete Assignment 4: 15-20 hours
- Review the information about documentation, research terms, and research skills in the Assignment 2 Lecture.
- Review the tutorial on MLA documentation offered by the ACC Library: MLA Documentation Tutorial.
- Study the mini-tutorials on writing the research report offered by the ACC Library.
- Review Purposes and Patterns Primer: Referential Purpose for information on referential-informative writing.
- Review the Quotation Marks section in the Online Grammar Handbook for information on quotation formats.
IMPORTANT! REQUIRED READING!
Visit this Internet site–http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/1/–and read about plagiarism. Click on “Avoiding Plagiarism” in the left sidebar. Pay particular attention to parts 2 and 3 of this discussion, “Is It Plagiarism Yet?” and “Safe Practices.” (Click Next Resource at the bottom of the page to move to the next part, or you can click on these topics in the left sidebar.) Note that plagiarism is more than simply presenting another’s words and ideas as your own without crediting the original source. Incorrect, inaccurate, or missing citations are a form of plagiarism, too. If your research report contains plagiarism, you may have to rewrite the report on a different topic, or you may suffer worse consequences.
- Visit some of the web sites on the Recommended Links list below. These sites give additional information about citation and Work Cited entry formats, as well as, other helpful information about the research process. You may find small variations in format for some entries. Be sure to include all required information. Too much information in an entry is better than not enough.
- Read this document carefully and thoroughly.
What Is a Research Report?
A research report is like a jigsaw puzzle. In a jigsaw puzzle, you have all these pieces of information that go together to form the whole picture. In a jigsaw puzzle, you get these pieces from a box. In a research report, you get this information from various sources–books, magazines, the Internet, TV programs, personal interviews with experts. In a research report, though, as you build the whole picture you must tell where you got each piece–you identify the source and location in that source with a citation: (Morris 120) or (“Chickens” par. 17). A citation is a kind of shorthand. In almost all cases, the first word in a citation should be the same as the first word in a corresponding Works Cited entry for that source.
In this course, a referential-informative research report is not your personal experience or personal knowledge that you supplement with a few additional sources. A research report is your use of various nonfiction sources to build an accurate and factual referential-informative paper on an approved topic. In this report, you will simply present facts, such as facts about a person’s life or a historical event.
Your only original input will be the general parts of the report: introduction and conclusion of report, topic sentences and concluding sentences of body paragraphs (unless you have used borrowed information to build these parts, in which case you must cite in these parts, too). Everything else in the body paragraphs should be cited. If you do not properly credit the sources of your borrowed information, you are plagiarizing and you will need to revise.
- As a general rule, if you did not know a fact before you began the project, cite it.
- If you did know a fact before you began, cite it anyway.
- Again, do not include personal knowledge, personal experiences, or personal commentary in your Assignment 4 Research Assignment.
- And again, if you read something in a source and include it in your paper, it must be cited. It does not matter if the information is a direct quote, a paraphrase, a summary, or a general assimilation of ideas. ALL borrowed material must be cited.
You are better off doing the project on something you know little about than something you know a lot about. If you know too much about the topic already, you get lazy and don’t do the research; then you have whole sections of uncited material that I will not allow. I consider these sections personal knowledge, which is not the purpose of the assignment. If you are a published author on the topic, fine; you can cite your publications. Otherwise, leave your personal knowledge and personal feelings out of this report. Choose a topic you don’t know much about and learn something new in the process.
To Begin the Project
- The first thing you should do is copy and paste the required Research Report Checklist into your word processor. You might want to print out the checklist for convenience. Then, read the checklist carefully and be sure you fulfill all the requirements as you move through the research project. Compare each step of your work to the checklist. If you conscientiously complete the checklist, your research project should be acceptable. If you just check off each point and I discover that you obviously have not paid attention, be assured you will be revising this assignment. (And be aware that revising Assignment 4 can be harder than writing the original report.) The completed checklist must be submitted in your Assignment 4 file in Blackboard. Paste the checklist at the end of your report after the Works Cited section.
- Then, revisit the Assignment 2 Lecture to review the basic research terms and skills.
- Wikipedia has become a popular site for students to use in preparing research reports. Wikipedia is regarded as on “open encyclopedia.” Almost anyone can post information to this “encyclopedia,” and, for the most part, almost anyone else can come along and change another person’s entry. As a general rule, Wikipedia’s contents are not verified for textual content through standard editorial processes. As a result, Wikipedia is probably not a satisfactory source for this research project. Another similar open encyclopedia is the New World Encyclopedia. Do not use Wikipedia or any of its contents as a source. Do not use the New World Encyclopedia or any of its contents as a source. Do not use blogs, either, which are generally more opinion than fact. Facts in a blog may not be properly documented in the blog, so their authenticity cannot be easily verified. Do not use blogs as sources.
Basic Guidelines for Research Assignment
NOTE: Read and follow these guidelines carefully, or the success of your research project might be in danger.
1. You must use at least FIVE Academic sources. You must have at least two different kinds of sources. For example, a book (or eBook) and a magazine article are two different kinds of sources. Of these minimum three sources, only one may be an encyclopedia or a general reference book, such as a dictionary or almanac. You should avoid video sources. If you use a video source in your report, then you must provide either a complete transcript of the video or a nonreturnable copy of the video. Use only nonfiction sources to write about your topic. Cite and document all factual information about your topic. All sources included in your Works Cited section must be cited in your report. All citations must have a corresponding Works Cited entry.
2. If the source gives page numbers, use page numbers in your citations for that source. If the source does not give page numbers, use the abbreviation par. and a paragraph number in your citations for that source. Do not use printout page numbers in your citations.
3. When gathering information, you can record it for later use in at least three different forms. You can summarize a longer piece of information, such as a magazine article. You can paraphrase a shorter piece of information, such as a paragraph or two. You can use a brief direct quotation from a source. Review the Assignment 2 Lecture. Be aware that all these forms are borrowed information and ALL forms must be cited and documented in your Assignment 4 Research Assignment.
4. When using any of these types, you must properly cite the information and document its location. In other words, you must acknowledge that the information came from a published source; then, you must provide publication information that allows the reader to locate that source easily. Citations and Works Cited entries both use specific guidelines and formats that you are expected to use. This Research Assignment must be written using MLA (Modern Language Association) guidelines.
5. When you are examining a source for possible inclusion in your research report, gather all necessary publication data at that time. Do not expect that you can go back and locate the source later.
6. You are using borrowed material to support your basic ideas. You must give credit for ALL information you get from a source. You give credit by using citation and documentation. The general rule is that if you did not know a detail about the topic before you began the research project, that detail should be cited. Even if you did already know a detail but you are not professionally regarded as an expert on the topic, that detail should be cited. Citations appear in the text of the report; they direct the reader to the complete publication documentation in the Works Cited section of the report. Basically, everybody paragraph of your report should have at least one citation. You must have at least FIVE citations, at least one for each source. The first word in the citation must be the same as the first word in the corresponding Works Cited entry.
7. Do not have more than three citations in a row for a single source. That is, mix up the use of your sources in your report. Do not rely too heavily on any one source.
8. MLA documentation style cites sources within your research report by providing identifying information in parentheses following the borrowed material (a citation). The information in the parenthetical reference must point to corresponding information in the list of Works Cited at the end of your report. The first word in a citation must be the same as the first word in the corresponding Works Cited entry. In writing your research report, you must cite and document everything that you borrow–not only direct quotations, paraphrases, and summaries but also assimilated information and ideas. In MLA style, you provide complete bibliographical (publication) information only once–in the list of Works Cited at the end of the report.
9. You are expected to use proper formats for citations and documentation. Careless or creative citations and documentation will not be accepted. You must have at least three citations, at least one for each source, but you will probably have more than one citation per source. Each time a source location changes, a new citation must be incorporated into your report, either as a singular citation (Jones par. 3) –used for a paraphrase or direct quote or summary from one source–or in combination with other citations (Rorer 714; “Bad Stuff” par. 8) –used for summarized information from more than one source. These summary citations should be used sparingly.
10. A citation is part of the sentence but not part of the direct quotation. Therefore, the parenthetical citations in your report should be placed outside the quotation marks but inside periods or commas.
11. When using a direct quotation, quote the material exactly and enclose it in quotation marks. Limit your use of direct quotes to no more than 10% of the total word count of your report. If your chosen quote is already enclosed in quotation marks in the article, be sure to use the special triple quotation marks format discussed in the Quotation Marks section in the Online Grammar Handbook.
12. When needed, periods and commas go inside quotation marks.
When you consider your research project complete, go back and review all requirements.
- Check that you have all the required parts of the project.
- Check that you have underlined your thesis statement.
- Check that your report meets the minimum length requirements.
- Check that your direct quotes do not exceed 10% of the total word count of the report. Enter the percentage of direct quotes used on the required checklist.
- Check that you have correctly cited and documented the source of all borrowed information.
- Check that the information you claim appears in a source actually appears in that source. In other words, check that your citations are accurate.
- Check that your citations and Works Cited section use the proper MLA formats.
- Check that you have not used first-person, second-person or third person pronouns to write your report.
Sample Research Report
NOTE:
- For economy in presentation, this report is single-spaced. Your research report, however, must be double-spaced throughout.
- The first word in each citation points to the first word in a Works Cited entry–not to publication data buried in the middle of the entry.
- The citation is not part of the direct quote. The parenthetical citation goes outside the quotation marks.
- Periods and commas follow the parenthetical citations.
- Entries in Works Cited are in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name or the first important word in a title (if no author is given).
- For purposes of example, several of the sources in this sample report are not authentic. This sample is meant to be an illustration of various components of the research project and the proper use of citations and Works Cited entries.
Outline – Wedding Customs
Thesis: In the United States, a few of the wedding customs are the exchange of the rings, the role of the cakes, and the wearing of the wedding dress and veil… why={which usually comes with an expensive price.}
I. The Rings
A. Diamond engagement ring
{I.&A = one paragraph}
B. Exchange of bands and significance of gold and circle
{B. = one paragraph}
II. The Cakes
A. Traditionally thrown
{I.&A = one paragraph}
B. Cutting of cake and bride feeding groom
{B. = one paragraph}
III. The Dress and Veil
A. Superstitions and colors
{I.&A = one paragraph}
B. Veil purpose
{B. = one paragraph}
(Note: To keep your outline properly aligned, type it using Courier font, as above. Also, use spaces, not tabs.)
{DRAFT}
Wedding Customs
Getting married is a hassle. The church must be rented, the caterer hired, the guests invited, the rings bought, the wedding party chosen, and on and on. These {Today}, many couples partake in large, expensive weddings to prove their {the couples} love and dedication. to one another. As they {the newlyweds} prepare{ing} for the wedding, the couple may participate in traditions for which they do not know the origins {are unknown}. Many wedding {of these} traditions began centuries ago in various countries. They { Some usual customs} have been brought to the United States after many years and are still practiced today. In the United States, a few of the wedding customs are the exchange of the rings, the role of the cakes, and the wearing of the wedding dress and veil which usually comes with an expensive price.
At the time of the proposal, the man generally gives his {the} bride-to-be a diamond engagement ring. He {The future groom} kneels at {the woman’s} her feet and places the ring on her {the} left hand if she accepts{ed}. The custom of giving a diamond engagement ring was originated in the 1500s in Venice by Mary of Modina (Howard 329). However, according to Charles Panati, Pope Nicholas I declared “that an engagement ring became a required statement of nuptial intent” in 860. The addition of the diamond to the engagement ring provided proof to the bride’s family that the groom was financially stable (Panati 23). The tradition of the wedding ring, however, started long before the engagement ring.
The custom of the engagement ring began in the ninth century, whereas, the custom of the wedding ring began in 2800 B.C. in Egypt and later traveled to Rome. The current exchange of the wedding bands contains a strong symbol. A ring is the shape of a circle, and the Egyptians believed that since a circle has no beginning and no end that the marriage would last forever (Panati 47). The long-lasting tradition of a gold wedding band also arose at this time. Many of the young men buying golden wedding bands went broke for their {potential} future wives. “‘Most women know nothing about gold except for the single marriage ring placed on one finger,'” noted a Christian priest in the second century. During the times she {women} would be observed “in public, the average Roman housewife proudly wore her gold band,” but then back at home she would wear an iron ring (“Marriage Customs” par. 7). The wedding ring still carries a strong symbol of everlasting love.
During the first century in Rome, only the wedding cake ingredient of wheat was thrown, and the bride and unmarried women would “scramble for the grains” as a sign of fertility. Then, in 100 B.C., a baker made the wheat into small cakes to be eaten. The attending guests missed their {an} opportunity to throw the grains at the bride, so they {the party} began throwing the cakes. To keep the bride safe and the guests happy, a new tradition arose. The guests {crowd} crumbled the small cakes and showered the couple…. {with them.} This {The tradition} eventually became the modern-day {celebration} tradition of showering the bride with rice (Panati 25-26).
A similar tradition is the smashing of the first piece of wedding cake into the groom’s face. The cake is cut and the couple begins to feed one another, then the bride lovingly crams {a} her piece into {the mate’s} her spouse’s face. “The cake-cutting … is a four-step comical ritual,” states Tad Tuleja. First, the groom guides the bride’s hand while cutting the cake to prove {his} control. {over her}. {She} Then, offers him the first piece, to accept{ing} his control. This {The} offering symbolizes the bride’s {body as a} sacrifice of her body to her {the} new husband. But, before the groom can eat the cake, the bride childishly shoves {a large piece} it into {the groom’s} his face. This {The playful} action proves that the bride is a child that needs to be watched over. In the final step, the bride wipes the icing from {the groom’s} his face as an apology for {the} her childish behavior (Tuleja 63-64).
Choosing just the right wedding dress is often centered on fashion. these days. When the tradition began, the choice was for a different reason. The color of the dress made a significant difference, as suggested in the {the following} poem that follows:
Married in White, you have chosen right,
Married in Blue, your love will always be true,
Married in Brown, you will live in town,
Married in Red, you will wish yourself dead,
Married in Yellow, ashamed of your fellow,
Married in Green, ashamed to be seen,
Married in Grey, you will go far away,
Married in Black, you will wish yourself back.
(“Wedding Customs” par. 9)
Other than color, there are several superstitions linked to wedding dresses. It {Several} is believe that it is {in bad karma if} unlucky for the bride to make {a personal} her own wedding dress or for her to wear {the} her whole ensemble before getting married. These {The aforementioned} superstitions are less popular than some of the others associated with weddings (“Wedding Customs” par. 3).
Before the tradition of the wedding dress began, the custom of wearing a veil started. It originated because brides were often captured from nearby villages due to lack of supply. To keep her parents and other men from seeing her until her marriage, she was made to wear a sack over her head. This sack also kept her hidden from evil spirits. The bride was “thought to be particularly vulnerable to evil spirits,” and use of the veil “would disguise the bride and therefore outwit malevolent spirits” (“Wedding Customs” par. 5).
Many of these customs and traditions are still active today, and the people who participate in them are probably unsure of why they do or why the customs originated. Some examples are the significance of the rings, the cake, and the wedding outfit. Many people say “I do” and exchange rings but get divorced after the first year. Those rings don’t symbolize forever. Couples often cut the cakes because that’s what everyone else does. The bride most likely has no idea of what she is offering to her husband. Brides choose wedding dresses to make fashion statements and are unaware of the color significance. Most brides these days aren’t hiding from anyone; they just like the look of the veil. It seems strange that couples willingly accept these traditions solely because they are traditions.
Works Cited
Howard, Geoffrey. The Rites and Rituals of the World’s Religions. New York:
Penguin Books, 1996. Print.
“Marriage Customs.” Encyclopedia Americana. 1984 ed. Print.
Panati, Charles. Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. New York:
Harper & Row, Publishers, 1987. Print.
Tuleja, Tad. Curious Customs. New York: Harmony Books, 1987. Print.
“Wedding Customs and Superstitions.” Weddings UK. 27 February 2014
<http://www.weddings.co.uk/info/tradsupe.htm>.
ASSIGNMENT 4 REQUIREMENTS
Using the Focus & Thesis Statement you outlined in Assignment 3, write a referential-informative report of at least 1000 words and no more than 1500 words. The report must contain proper MLA citations for all borrowed materials, as well as, proper MLA Works Cited entries for all cited sources. You must include the required parts noted below.
Note these conditions regarding your submission of Assignment 4:
- You may not submit Assignment 4 until you have successfully completed Assignments 1-3 and the first two quizzes, even if the delay causes your Assignment 4 submission to be late. You may not submit Assignment 4 until after you receive your graded, accepted Assignment 3.
- If you do not submit Assignment 4 within one week of its due date, you cannot qualify for a final grade higher than C.
- If you do not submit Assignment 4 within two weeks of its due date, the assignment will not be graded and you will be dropped from the course.
- If you do not submit an acceptable revision of Assignment 4 (if required) within three weeks of the Assignment 4 due date, the revision will not be graded and you will be dropped from the course.
Submit your Assignment 4 Research Assignment in one rtf or doc or docx file using the Submissions button in Blackboard. The one file should contain your report with citations and Works Cited list. Paste the required checklist at the end of the report after the Works Cited list. All parts of your file except the checklist must be double-spaced. Send all parts as one properly-named rtf or doc or docx file.
Required Parts
In a nutshell, these are the required parts of this project that must be included in your file. They are discussed in more detail below.
- Referential-informative research report of at least 1000 words and no more than 1500 words, with a minimum of FIVE Academic sources, at least one citation for each source, and a Works Cited section. Be aware that you will probably have more than one citation per source. You must properly cite all borrowed information.
2. Research Report Checklist
1. Referential-informative Research Report
Your goal in this report (1000 words minimum, 1500 words maximum) is to present a clear referential-informative thesis and then support it using well-defined support points.
- Double space your report. Indent all paragraphs at least five spaces.
- Present your thesis {from Assignment 2} in an underlined thesis statement in your introduction.
- You must have at least three support points, which must be developed using borrowed materials from at least FIVE Academic sources.
- Limit your use of direct quotes to no more than 10% of the total word count. Quote accurately.
- Do not use first-person or second-person or third-person pronouns to write your Research Assignment. You may use these pronouns if they appear in a direct quote, but do not use these pronouns in your own writing.
- The report must incorporate at least FIVE Academic sources. Only one encyclopedia source is allowed among the minimum FIVE sources.
- The report must also include a Works Cited section and proper MLA citations of sources used. You must use proper MLA formats for your citations and Works Cited entries.
- DO NOT use printout page numbers in your citations for Internet sources.
- All borrowed information must be properly documented.
- If I discover you have plagiarized in your report, you will have to rewrite the report using a different topic.
- If you don’t know what any of this stuff is, you need to review the Assignment 2 Lecture document.
2. Research Report Checklist
You must complete and turn in the required checklist with the assignment. Paste the completed checklist at the end of your report after the Works Cited list.
Submit your word-processing file–in rtf or doc or docx format–using the Submissions button in Blackboard. Include your report and your Works Cited list–both double spaced–in one properly-named rtf or doc or docx file. Also include the checklist at the end of your report after the Works Cited list.
Recommended Links
The following links take you to documents that will help you to complete this project. Make use of this recommended information, and study MLA formats carefully.
NOTE: The links marked with an asterisk (*) are the primary documents you should investigate.
*MLA recently updated documentation guidelines for some sources, primarily Internet sources. Several of these changes were covered in Assignment 2 (Library Presentation). You can find examples of these changes at this web address:
Purdue Online Writing Lab: Research and Citation Resources
Searching for Information
The ACC Library site is an excellent gateway to many search options.
Developing Research Topics
Citing Sources and Plagiarism
A to Z List of ACC Library E-Resources
Finding and Evaluating Information on the Internet
Finding Periodical Articles
Low Quality Websites: Content Farms
Finding Biographical Information
Organizing Information
*(Assignment 3 Lecture)
*Quotation Marks section in the Online Grammar Handbook for information on direct quotes.
MLA Documentation
*Documentation and Plagiarism
*ACC Library MLA Documentation
*MLA Documentation Tutorial