Rhet 105
10/13/2004
NOTES
Wednesday, March 9 we will meet in room 289 of the Undergrad Library, at 2pm exactly,
please find the room early so you can be there on time.
Thinking about the Research Paper
The general purpose of this assignment:
-to teach efficient use of the library
-to develop habits of purposeful reading and note-taking
-to give practice in organizing information drawn from a variety of sources and in developing
this organized information into a unified essay
-to make you familiar with the conventions of bibliography and source citation
What you’ll do:
-You’ll read about your subject and discover different places to learn more.
-You’ll keep track of everything you do as your research.
-You’ll write the story of your quest for knowledge, incorporating quotations and information
into your story. (Yes, of course, you can write in the first person)
-You’ll create a Works Cited page and an Annotated Bibliography.
-You’ll practice research and documentation skills, and hopefully you’ll have some fun and
satisfy your curiosity as you go.
The components of your paper:
We’ll talk about formatting later, but here’s a general outline of what you should include in your
paper. You can break your paper up into sections if you’d like.
1. What I know and What I want to Know- one page, maximum
-What difference will this research make in your life
-What do you want to know and why?
(As you revise, this first section may become “What I knew and Why I wanted to know more,”
and you may include items you came across in your search that you didn’t initially know you’d
like to know.)
2. The Search-seven to eight pages
-What did you find out?
-How did your quest proceed?
-Share and reflect on the information you found. THIS is the most important part of the second
section, here is where you interpret what you read.
