19 Works Cited Pages // Due the week of Feb. 2, 2015

Hi Everyone!

This week we talked about two main things:

1. 5 Rules for finding good research online
1. Do not use Wikipedia as a source**
1. **You can sometimes use facts from Wikipedia if you cite the place where the facts came from—instead of just Wikipedia. You can find the citation information if you click on the little blue number that can be seen right after the good fact. 
2. Do not use websites that get their information from the public—such as Answers.com, or any other comment-sourced pages.
3. Be wary of ".com" websites. The most trustworthy are ".edu," ".gov," and ".org."
4. If a website is not well-designed or well-written, it's probably not very legitimate.
5. Websites associated with well-known news sources or programs tend to be trustworthy on their facts (although not always unbiased in their opinions)—i.e.: Time Magazine, BBC News, etc
2. Using EasyBib.com to create a works cited page for your paper.
1. Every research paper needs a "works cited" page in order to show readers where information was gathered.
2. Each citation on this page must have a particular formatting (in this case, MLA)
3. Easybib.com asks for specific necessary citation information, and then takes it all and puts it into the format for you—yay!
4. Make sure to tell it to include the URL (or copy and paste it at the bottom of each citation yourself) so you can easily visit the website later on.
5. Copy and paste each finished citation into a document (saved with your name at the top) in Google Drive in the folder marked: "Works Cited Pages."
6. Title it: Works Cited 

So that said, your homework is:

1. Find at least 6 websites that look like they have good information.
1. Scan through the information.
2. You don't need to write down any facts yet—just make sure it looks like a helpful website for your topic.
2. Using Easybib.com, create citations for each of your 6+ sources.
3. Create a works cited page in Google Drive in the folder "Works Cited Pages."

Email me if you have questions or still are having trouble getting onto Google Drive!!!

18 Research Strategy // Due the week of Jan. 28, 2015

Hi Everyone!

This week in class, we talked about a way to reduce the time it takes to read an article—thereby helping you all in your future research!

The theory behind this strategy is this:

Every body paragraph (in general) should have the following outline:

1. Topic Sentence (Introduces the topic of the paragraph)
1. Evidence
2. Details
3. Facts
4. Reasonings
2. Conclusion Sentence (Wraps it up, reflects the topic sentence)

Given that, you can read the topic sentence (and also look at the conclusion sentence) of most good paragraphs and find out the general topic—without having to read it! Then you can see if you should read the paragraph or not—based on what information you are trying to find.

So your homework is:

1. Find an article about your chosen topic that has at least 6 paragraphs.
2. Print it out.
3. Read the topic sentence (and look at the conclusion sentence) of each paragraph.
4. Label each paragraph with 1-2 words that you think describe it well.
5. Check out the rest of each paragraph to see how well it worked.
6. Turn in!

17 Research Paper Choice // Due the Week of January 20, 2015

Hi Everyone!

We are now beginning our yearly research paper!

We are beginning a new blog as a giant project between several of my advanced English classes, which you can visit at: local-options.blogspot.com! Nothing is posted there yet (as we haven't written anything for it yet), but by the end of the first assignment, we should have about 30 projects on there, in a Time Magazine-esque creation—on which you research paper will be posted!

This week, we looked at some pages in Google Drive that are there to assist you in your choice of topic for the research paper. Email me if you do not remember the login username and password and I will send it to you.

The two parts to your homework are listed below (**Unless you are on Monday):

Topic Choice:
The first part of your homework is to choose and claim a topic.

Go to the page on Google Drive: "01 Research Paper Topics." This is a list of over 60 topics from you can choose your topic. Once you have chosen a topic, you will write your name next to it, as well as your chosen thesis*. Do it soon though, because if someone else claims your topic (and has written your same opinion on it), you'll have to choose another one.

If you want to write on a topic that is not one of these 60 topics, just add your topic to the list, and then write your name and thesis next to it.

*Thesis = Opinion because Reason 1, Reason 2, and Reason 3

• ie: Cats are the best pet because they are clean, friendly, and inexpensive.

Pre-Research Worksheets (**TUESDAY ONLY)

Before you choose your topic, I want you to make sure it is a topic you will truly enjoy! 

Therefore, go to the page: 02 Pre-Research Worksheets. Copy the template and paste it three times into a new document which you save into the folder: Pre-Research Worksheets Here under your first and last name.

Then fill out the templates for three different topics that interest you. Then choose one, and claim it—using the directions from above!

I know that is a boatload of information, so email me if you have questions!