Background:
The work you have completed all semester and the skills you have been developing while doing so have all led you to this point: the Research Paper. Writing a research paper is not just an essential academic skill; it is also a life skill. You need to know how to read information presented, pull out what is useful, and present arguments based on what you have read.
Prompt:
For the research project, you will choose a topic presented in the book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong to research and analyze. Since its first publication in 1995, Lies My Teacher Told Me has become one of the most important— and successful— history books of our time. It has sold nearly two million copies, won an American Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship, and was heralded on the front page of the New York Times in the summer of 2006. A new edition of the book was published in 2018. With a new introduction, titled “Lies My Teacher Told Me in the Age of
Alternative Facts,” the book’s contents not only hold up but also may be more relevant than ever.
While your subject, outside research, and organization are up to you, your paper should contain all major sections of a research paper, and create an argument about why this history was created and by whom.
Introduction to the Essay
Introduction to the Topic and Focus
Argumentative Thesis
Discussion of the Significance
Discussion of the Who (who created the narrative, how it benefited them, and who it harmed)
Overview of Relevance
Purpose and Audience:
Your purpose is to present an analytical argument about your selected topic that provides supporting evidence from appropriately weighty and credible secondary sources. Your purpose is NOT to simply report on those sources—they are to be used as support for your own thesis.
The audience for this essay is the academic community. It might help to think of your essay as your entry into the ongoing academic conversation about your topic, meaning your finished product should be the kind of a secondary source that other people writing research papers would cite. Because academic writing should be as objective and impersonal as possible, avoid personal statements (“I,” “me,” “my,” etc.) and uses of the second person (“you”).
Assignment Objectives:
Establish and maintain a clear controlling idea (a thesis) in a documented essay of at least 1,500 words with significant and substantive content that is based on college-level reading materials.
Develop an essay that uses convincing evidence in a sequence of effective and organized paragraphs with a clear and apparent logical progression to illustrate a larger idea.
Use the library and Internet as tools to find college-level reading materials. Comprehend and evaluate such texts. Incorporate these readings as concrete and credible support for a position. Acknowledge evidence from a variety of primary and secondary sources.
Apply MLA format to cite and effectively integrate sources within an essay.
Revise an essay successfully through a succession of drafts.
Demonstrate control of formal English grammar, punctuation, spelling, and usage with few surface errors.
Recognize and use appropriate tone and diction in addressing audiences, especially academic audiences.
Recognize and avoid plagiarism.
Minimum Requirements:
Minimum of 1,250 words
3 or more credible sources in addition to your chosen chapter
MLA Formatted Document, citations, and Works Cited Page
Grading:
Your Research Paper is worth 10 points, and will be evaluated using the rubric below. Please familiarize yourself with its components and email me with any questions
Categories
Strong
Satisfactory
Developing
Needs Work
Content: Refers to the writer/designer’s communication, ideas, insights, and connections; accuracy of information presented; adherence to required sections.
Meets word min: 250 word count
Addresses all 5 research sections: Topic, Focus, Who, Significance, Relevance
Structure: Refers to the writer’s order, organization, transitions, and cohesion of overall structure, at the paper, paragraph and sentence level.
Uses sentences and paragraphs to address each section
Sentences and paragraphs include a logical order and cohesion
Collaboration: Refers to the writer’s introduction, integration, and citation of 1) academic & popular sources 2) primary research: personal experience/memory, observation, field notes.
3 outside sources in-text at minimum overall
Style: refers to the writer/designer’s creation, selection, & use of voice, syntax, diction, and grammar.
Use of diction appropriate for context, content, and audience
Writer’s Voice/Identity matches Situation
Grammar and Mechanics: spelling, grammar, punctuation, surface errors
Conventions: refers to the writer/designer’s adherence to the project’s format expectations and genre expectations.
MLA formatted Document
Adheres to Citation Guide: MLA in-text citations
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