Research Paper Questions

Many of you have had some excellent questions that you have asked in class and through e-mail.  In an effort to provide you with additional resources to support your writing process, I will be using the blog to post some of your questions here.  As you e-mail me, I will add your questions (anonymously, of course) so that both you and your peers can refer to my answers as needed.


Question:
I was trying to find some things for the note cards but I can't find a lot. When I read the sources I find some things but when I keep reading they talk about some different things.

Answer:

What you are finding is completely normal.  The majority (with rare exception) of the sources that you will find will not ALL be just on exactly what you are trying to prove in your paper.  That's what makes your paper worth reading; it's original.  You are gathering information from different sources and piecing together what is important to your thesis.  The other stuff, the parts that are not, just discard.  Keep the relevant information and use that.  (This is why the more sources you have, the better.  Keep looking for more sources if you need them.  You may only be able to use parts of a particular article.) 

A little something fun....

While you are slaving away on your research papers, this internet hoax might provide a little relief....

But don't spend get stuck wasting too much time! It can be addicting!

You can read about it here and actually play the game here.

Topic Questions

The following is a list from some of my students from last year.  These were not their thesis statements, but the questions that they used to form  their theses.  I have removed the names, but I thought that this might be helpful for you to see how some of them structured their questions.

Name	Topic	Question
Ms. M	The American Dream	How does Gatsby represent the impossibility of the American Dream?
	Analysis of Love	How does love affect/link all the characters in the Great Gatsby?
	Symbolism	How does F. Scott Fitzgerald portray symbolism in The Great Gatsby?
	Imagery	How does Fitzgerald use imagery to capture the essence of the 1920s?
	The American Dream	How Does F. Scott Fitzerald portray the "American Dream" in Gatsby's character ?
	Deception	How does Gatsby use deception to continue living his 87wealthy lifestlye?
	Human Nature	How does human nature affect the tragedy of The Great Gatsby?
	American Dream	How did Gatsby and his American Dream fail and show the flaws of the "Dream"
	Character Comparison	How does the author describe Tom and Gatsby throughout the novel?
	Power of Love	Hoe does Gatsby's undying love for Daisy set the course for his life?
	Role of Women	How are women portrayed in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?

Some help with MLA formatting

In response to some of your questions, here are some helpful tips for MLA formatting.  You can find more details using some of the resources I posted in previous prompts.

Also, please check out sample papers in the dropbox folder, to use as a model of a literary criticism paper in MLA format.

Quotes of Four Lines or More

When inserting a quote of four lines or more, you need to format it differently than a regular quote.  

• Introduce the quote with a colon (not quotation marks)
• Indent an inch from the left (total margin from the edge 2 inches)
• Single space the quote
• Cite as normal (author's last name page number)
• Remember that if you introduce the source in your sentence, you only need to put the page number.

It should look like this:

If you have other questions, please feel free to e-mail me or post them and I (or others) can respond!

The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

For those of you who could not be in class on Wednesday, we watched the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street."  In order to respond to the blog post, you will need watch the episode.  To do this, you can access the episode in three parts on youtube.  The links have been provided below.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Rod Serling closes with the following quote.  For your blog post, consider:

What do you think Serling is saying?  Based on what we have studied so far do you agree with this statement?  Be sure to support your answer with evidence from literature, history, personal experience, etc.  Your answer should be a full paragraph (6-8 sentences).

“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own for the children, and the children yet unborn.”

Good Night and Good Luck

The following quote comes from Murrow’s speech given to the Radio and Television News Directors Association, at the beginning and the end of the film.  Read his address carefully and offer a short summary of what you believe he is saying.  

Do you agree or disagree with his sentiments?  Based on this speech, what do you believe Murrow would say about television today?   Would he be pleased or dismayed? 

Compare the transition from radio to TV in Murrow's time, to the advent of the internet in our own. Has it improved the flow of information and education, or is it too merely "a box of wires and lights?"

Support your answers.  This response should address all three points clearly and sufficiently for full credit.

“Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night the time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan is given over to a clinical survey of the state of American education, and a week or two later the time normally used by Steve Allen is devoted to a thoroughgoing study of American policy in the Middle East. Would the corporate image of their respective sponsors be damaged? Would the stockholders rise up in their wrath and complain? Would anything happen other than that a few million people would have received a little illumination on subjects that may well determine the future of this country, and therefore the future of the corporations? To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck.”

PowerPoint Presentations

Now that we have read the first two acts of The Crucible, you should have a sense for some of the key factors shaping the conflict in Salem in 1692.  

For the next two weeks, you will be looking at the historical context during which Arthur Miller wrote the play.  As we have briefly discussed in class, he wrote the play as an allegory, to serve as social commentary for the times.

As you begin to learn what was happening in this country in the 1950's, you should keep the following questions in mind.  These questions will shape our class discussions in the future, and they should also serve to guide your journal reflections.

• What similarities do you find between The Salem Witch Trials and The Red Scare?
• How might you have reacted as a member of society in that time?
• How did each of these situations get so out of control?
• Could this happen again?  Has it?

Follow The McCarthy Era link and locate your group topic in the bottom right corner.  Here you will find questions to guide you in composing your PowerPoint presentations and the rubric that I will be using to grade your final projects.  

Keep in mind that this week is short and you will have no other assignments this week.  You WILL have two journals and a blog due next week, so do not procrastinate on this assignment.  Get the majority of the work done this week, and use next week to fine tune it.  As always, e-mail me with any questions.