Research Project Engl. 122-002 Fall 08

Assignment: Documented Argument
Due: Dec. 4

Why write a research paper?

Throughout your academic career, you will be asked to produce substantial source-based arguments. The days of the five-paragraph research paper are over, my friends, and now you will be writing involved academic papers that employ research not merely for the point of informing, but for persuading. To be successful in this endeavor it is important to master the steps of the research process and to develop techniques that you can apply to assignments in other classes. This project, modeled after that taught in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford, is intended to introduce you to these processes and strategies.

What exactly do you mean by "Research Paper," anyway?

Unlike a research paper where you just gather, sort, and order a body of information on the subject, much like an encyclopedia entry, according to Diana Hacker in A Writer’s Reference, “College research assignments ask you to pose a question worth exploring, to read widely in search of possible answers, to interpret what you read, to draw conclusions, and to support those conclusions with valid and well-documented evidence” (317). The difference is simple: in a college paper it is not enough to just present a bunch of information, but you, as the author, must use it for your larger rhetorical purposes.

In an argumentative paper, you take a stand on an issue upon which reasonable people disagree. As Hacker notes, you are not trying to get the last word in, you are not simply trying to win a fight, but to “explain your understanding of the truth about a subject or to propose the best solution available for solving a problem—without being needlessly combative” (67). To do this, as another textbook, Writing: A College Handbook explains, you:
[...] do not simply quote, paraphrase, and summarize. You interpret, question, compare, and judge the statements you cite. You explain why one opinion is sound and another is not, why one fact is relevant and another is not, why one writer is correct and another is mistaken. Your purpose may vary with your topic; you may seek to show why something happened, to recommend a course of action, to solve a problem, or present and defend a particular interpretation of a historical event or a work of art. But whether the topic is space travel or Shakespeare's Hamlet, an argumentative research paper deals actively with the statements it cites. It makes them work together in an argument that you create -- an argument that leads to a conclusion of your own. (Hefferman 495-496)
Our goal in this class is to write one of these beasts. To learn all the elements of argumentative research papers and how to put them together into one beautiful thing is what we will study for the remainder of this class. Get ready.

More clearly: You will write a 8-15 page argument (the Documented Argument). Due Dec. 4. Your goal is to support a persuasive thesis with good reasons and credible information found in your research. You will cite your sources and include a Work’s Cited page.

This project is a complicated, partly because you will be required to produce a longer finished product than you may be used to. Mostly, however, this may be your first foray into the practice of using material from primary and secondary sources with your own observations, opinions, original thoughts and analysis. We will spend considerable time discussing how to use your sources, but mostly the key is this: they work to support your points.

This makes it even more complicated because, as the Stanford site says, “all decent writing is the product of an involved process, a decent research paper will have behind it, in addition and invisibly, a many-layered research process.” Our goal is to learn these processes and put them to work.

Project Schedule:

Informal Assignments (15pts): Continuous

Analysis of the Controversy Paper (100pts): Oct. 14
Annotated Bibliography (50 pts): Nov. 11
Peer Review Workshop (20 pts): Nov. 13
Final Draft (300pts): Dec. 4







Credit: www.stanford.edu/~steener/f03/PWR1/research/index.htm