Update Weeks 9-10

I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. This week I had the pleasure of reading some of your first drafts; they are worthy and promising efforts. I will continue to read and comment on your drafts and revisions during the remaining three weeks of class. Keep up the good work.

Update Week 8

Here are the activities for tomorrow’s class:

We will review and hopefully approve everyone’s working thesis (contained in an opening paragraph or two). We will also review your working bibliography, and if ready, your annotated bibliography as well (here are two more examples of annotated bibliographies by ESC students).

If you wish to have your thesis discussed in class and benefit from everyone’s feedback, make sure to post it online, labeled clearly: e.g., “Draft of Final Research Paper.” (Check out Enid Farber’s draft of her paper “Loaded Language: The Terms and Terminology of the Immigration Reform Debate” in her website for a good example of an introduction and working outline. (Note to Katie: May I ask you to post your paper’s opening as well? Others may benefit from the example. Thanks.)

Having a working outline should also help; bring one tomorrow if you are able, so we can have a better sense of the structure of your paper.

After tomorrow’s class we won’t meet for two weeks, so you should have enough time to complete the first draft of your paper for our November 19 class. Your draft should include an outline, and you can of course e-mail it and post it before the 19^th.

PS: Thanks to Q for his demonstration of Questia, and to Enid for sharing her writing strategies last week.

Update Weeks 6-7

For today’s class we will review the following Hacker exercises:

1. Avoiding plagiarism in MLA papers (MLA 2-1 through MLA 2-5)
2. Recognizing common knowledge in MLA papers (MLA 2-6)
3. Integrating sources in MLA papers (MLA 3-1 through MLA 3-4)
4. MLA documentation: in-text citations (MLA 4-1 and MLA 4-2)
5. MLA documentation: identifying elements of sources (MLA 4-3)
6. MLA documentation: works cited (MLA 4-4 and MLA 4-5)
7. MLA documentation (MLA 4-6)

For extra practice, you may take this quiz and do the paraphrasing exercises here and here. (For advice on paraphrasing, read section MLA-2c in Hacker and read Benjamin Franklin’s advice in the Handouts category on the right.)

There are several multimedia presentations in the Internet showing how to avoid plagiarism. For those wishing to review the entire process, ESC has an excellent one here (it is on the right side of the page: “Understanding Citations- multimedia tutorial”).

Examples of introduction of quotes are found here.

There is also a blank form (”My Research”) in the Handouts category. We will go over this form in class.

Let us know if you wish to recommend other sites you have found particularly useful. Thanks.

Update Week 5

Now that everyone has decided on the topic of the final paper, keep researching and compiling a working bibliography, which you will also annotate. Remember to include primary and secondary sources in your research, as well as non-electronic sources (e.g., books).

You should always have access to all your writings, drafts, outlines, etc., while in class, whether these are available online or on thumb drives, disks, etc. We’ll show you how to post your work online if you need help.

Review Hacker’s chapter on Researching, and note the additional links on this page related to the different aspects of writing a research paper.

Welcome to Research and Writing

Here is our page, where you can find weekly updates, links to your websites, libraries, citation resources, handouts, etc. You may post comments and questions as well.

Update Week 4

The school will be closed on Monday, October 8. We meet again on October 15. Here is the rest of the update.

1. The tour at The New York Public Library has been scheduled for Saturday, October 13 at 3:30. Librarian Phil Yockey will meet us in Astor Hall, the main lobby off the Fifth Avenue entrance (at 42nd Street). We will spend the first 45 minutes in a classroom and then 30 minutes on a tour of the building.
2. On Monday’s class we read and commented on some of your work. We also became familiar with some electronic databases, discussed primary and secondary sources, and annotated bibliographies. Also, each of you created a website to post your writings.
3. You may create a website using wordpress.com, blogger.com or any other such service. Some of your websites are already linked to this page (See Class Members box on the right). Feel free to read and comment on each other’s work, and don’t forget to let me know your website’s address, so I can link it here as well. (If anyone is unsure how to set up/manage their website, don’t spend too much effort on it; we will help you do it in class. Most of your energy should be devoted to writing.)
4. For the 10-15 page final research paper, the class agreed to write on any topic related to the 1920s. You can start your research already. For a broad overview of the era, you can visit http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade20.html. By the time we visit the library, try to figure out a topic to write about, so the librarian will be able to point you to suitable sources.
5. In the meantime, keep revising and expanding the work you have already done. If you are behind in your writing, take advantage of the long break to catch up. By now everyone should have written at least one research paper between 2-4 pages long on a topic of their choice. You should also have selected at least three topics of personal or professional interest and posed a research question for each of these topics. You may e-mail me your work, but also bring a hard copy (and of course you have the option of posting it on your website to be shared with the class).

This is the introduction to one of your papers

Euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide (PAS), non-voluntary euthanasia, and involuntary euthanasia all hold different meanings, but are usually lumped together in the same arguments for or against helping others to end their lives when they have a terminal disease. Since there is some confusion about the differences of these terms, I want to state ethics advisor Chris Chaloner’s and senior lecturer Karen Sanders’ definition of physician-assisted suicide. It is when “the doctor provides the means and/or guidance, such as a prescription for a lethal dose of medicine, and counseling on doses and methods. He or she does not perform the final act: the patient does” (41). Throughout the next few pages I will touch on the history of physician-assisted suicide and talk about some its pros and cons.

A Simple Glass of Water

Bad to the Last Drop

Sample essay: Educating Illegal Immigrants

Introducing a quote - MLA samples

The Right to Agree

Benjamin Franklin’s advice

My research (blank form)

Update Week 3

We did the following in class:

• analyzed the letter to the Times about skyscrapers.
• reviewed some minor errors in responses to the original essays distributed in class (water, PowerPoint, etc.)
• discussed your questions about the original essays.
• discussed topics of general interest for a book to be written by the class. Among the choices discussed were the US and its place in the world, New York City, and immigration.