RESEARCH TOPICS

1. Fuel Alternatives for the Future
2. Educational Equality: Boys vs. Girls
3. Kids and their tech. toys
4. Fast Food and our Society
5. Influential Toys/Media influences
6. Animal Cruelty
7. War on Terrorism and Racial Profiling
8. Emancipation of Minors
9. Gang Violence
10. Overmedicating Teens/Children
11. Music Swapping
12. My space and online blogs
13. Drinking Laws
14. Celebrity Idols- Positive or Negative role models?
15. Stay at home parents vs. working parents
16. Violence and high school sports
17. Body Image in America
18. Youth Voting in America

Research Paper Checklist

Topic Selection: ____________________________________ Due:____________ 

Controlling Idea: ____________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________Due: ____________

 Bibliography Cards Due: __________

 Note cards or Notes Due: __________ 

Thesis Statement: ____________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________Due: ____________ 

Outline Due: __________ 

Works Cited Due: __________ 

Rough Draft Due: __________ 

Final Draft Due: __________ 

Project requirements:

1. 2-4 page length.

2. MLA format.

3. Five source minimum. One source must be

in book form, and one source must be a

printed periodical.

4. At least four sources must be cited in the

body of the essay.

5. Students will generate a minimum of 30

note cards or notes from their sources.

6. Students must create an outline of their

essay including a thesis, concrete details,

and commentary.

7. Students will include a works cited page

at the end of their essay

Research Material Options:

ƒBooks

ƒ Internet Sites

ƒ Interviews

ƒEducational Publications

ƒMagazines

ƒNewspapers

ƒDocumentaries

ƒEncyclopedias

ƒCD-ROM/DVDs

ƒ Literary Critiques

ƒ Pamphlets

ƒVideos/Movies

ƒEBSCO

Research Terms

The following terms are used throughout this guide to refer to specific writing and research

concepts. Please refer to this sheet if there are any questions throughout the research process.

Bibliographic Information: the address for your source. Author, title, publisher, date, etc. This

information needs to be organized according to MLA style in the student’s works cited page.

Bibliography Cards (also known as source cards): contain the bibliographic information for one

source. Students will complete a bibliography card for each of the sources they use. These

cards should be placed in alphabetical order and number.

Categorizing: the process for sorting through and organizing the research note cards. For example,

research papers can be categorized by cause/effect relationships, comparisons, persuasive

appeals, problem/solution, qualities of an object, etc.

Commentary: specific opinions expressed by the student about each concrete detail. Commentary

must be directly related to the concrete detail, must be specific, and must be focused upon

the overall topic of the paragraph in which it appears.

Conclusion: record of what has been discovered through the writing of the paper. A student’s

conclusion should almost entirely consist of commentary and it should not repeat phrases

and sentences found elsewhere in the paper.

Concrete Detail: a specific example used to support the topic sentence. It can be a quote, fact,

statement, summary, paraphrase, or other illustration.

Controlling idea/questions: the specific idea that the project is shaped around. In the final draft

of the paper, the controlling idea changes into a thesis statement.

Drafting: the process of taking the research that has been done and writing it out in expository

form.

Editing: the process of checking spelling, grammatical usage, and punctuation.

Format: the physical parameters of the report. Spacing, punctuation, font size, and style are issues

of format. The format for this paper must follow MLA guidelines. Format requirements are

outlined later on in this packet.

MLA Style: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers specifically dines procedures and

requirements for scholarly research. Most colleges and universities use MLA style in some

capacity. MLA stands for Modern Language Association.

Paraphrase: recording the ideas found from a source in one’s own words. Paraphrases still must be

documented in the works cited page and parenthetical citation. To do otherwise is to

commit plagiarism. 

Plagiarism: use of another person’s ideas, words, or opinions as if they were your own. Any

undocumented information from a source is considered plagiarism. Plagiarism can be

intentional or unintentional. Students caught plagiarizing will fail the assignment and be

subject to the progression of consequences outlined in the student handbook.

Quotation: recording ideas found in a source and writing them with the original text. Quotations

must be surrounded by quotation marks.

Revising: the process of changing the structure and ideas in a paper.

Thesis: the articulated point of your essay. The thesis expresses your opinion about the topic and

states what your essay is seeking to prove.

Topic Sentence: a sentence that clearly defines the point of a specific paragraph. Each body

paragraph needs to begin with a topic sentence. The topic sentence relates directly to and

supports the thesis statement.

Transitional expressions: words that are used to provide organizational structure to an essay.

They connect ideas and topics in as smooth a manner as possible.

Works cited page: a typed document that contains the bibliographical information for every source

used by the student. The entries in a works cited page need to be formatted according to

MLA style.

Format for Research Papers 

Printing or Typing:

1. Research Papers must be typed

2. Times New Roman Font Only

3. 12 point font

4. Use only one side of the paper (do not print on the back)

Margins:

1. One inch margins throughout the entire paper

2. Indent the first word of a paragraph on half inch (five spaces or one Tab

space)

3. Indent long format quotations one inch (ten spaces) from the left margin

Spacing:

1. Double Space throughout the entire paper including quotations, notes,

heading, and list of works cited.

Heading, Header, and Title:

1. No title page

2. Follow the formatting below as an example of the first page of an MLA

format essay.

https://www.murrieta.k12.ca.us/cms/lib5/ca01000508/centricity/moduleinstance/9186/sophomore_research_packet.pdf