Research Paper

arch Paper

Your research paper can either be done alone or with one partner. 

 

First you much choose a topic from below:

1.      Causes of “The Great Depression”

2.    Life during “The Great Depression”

3.    The Roaring 20’s

4.    The Stock Market Crash

5.    Women’s Role during “The Great Depression”

6.    FranklinDelanoRoosevelt

7.    Organized Crime during the 1920’s

8.    Stock Car Racing

9.    Farming during the 1930’s

10.                        President Herbert Hoover

11.         Jazz during “The Great Depression”

12.                        Fads and Fashion during the 1920’s

13.                        Technology and Inventions during “The Great Depression”

14.                        The Dust Bowl

15.                        Riding the Rails

16.                        Your choice – you must have approval from your teacher

 

Second  research your topic and take notes.  This will help you decide your thesis statement. 

As you take notes please remember to write down your sources. 

Hint – add to your work cited page immediately after you have used the source,

also include the information in your notes (Author’s Last Name, Page #),

therefore, you won’t forget what source you used!!!!

Research dates: Wednesday March 11th – Friday March 20th

I will be available at the Pelham Town Library on Thursday March 12th

after school from 2:30 to 3:30 for extra help with research. 

 

Third You must develop a thesis statement on the format I have made

or a plain lined sheet of paper and submit it to your teacher for approval. 

Due: Monday March 23, 2009 – This is a homework grade

 

Fourth you will need to create an outline.  Use the format I gave you.

Due: Friday April 3, 2009 – This is a quiz grade

 

Fifth You MUST write a ROUGH DRAFT using your outline!

You MUST include the IN-TEXT CITATIONS!

Due: Tuesday April 21, 2009 – This is a quiz grade

 

Sixth You will peer edit on Tuesday April 21, 2009

so you will need your rough draft.

 

Seventh You MUST write a final draft

Due: Monday May 4, 2009 – This is a test grade

 

This video will teach you how to create a header in MLA format  

 

http://www.teachertube.com/images/greylogo.swf&searchlink=http://teachertube.com/search_result.php%3Fsearch_id%3D&frontcolor=0xffffff&backcolor=0x000000&lightcolor=0xFF0000&screencolor=0xffffff&autostart=false&volume=80&overstretch=fit&link=http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=5e2b89f059235803a5b7&linkfromdisplay=true&recommendations=http://www.teachertube.com/embedplaylist.php?chid=61"> 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

A Thesis Statement

 

Once you have done your research you are able to consider

all sides of your issue and you are ready to form a tentative thesis:

a one-sentence, occasionally a two sentence statement of your central idea. 

The thesis statement expresses not just your opinion, but your informed,

reasoned judgment. 

 

For example – after researching the population of mountain lions in California

I am able to create a tentative thesis statement.

 

Tentative Thesis statement

Because the mountain lion is not endangered in California and

because attacks on humans are increasing, California should lift

its ban on hunting and thin the lion population. 

 

Your thesis statement will be included in your introduction.

 

 

 

Name:_______________________________Section:________

 

 

Thesis Statement:__________________________________________

 

__________________________________________________

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Submit for approval – Monday March 23, 2009

Homework grade

 

Outline

 

Name:__________________________________________________Sec:________

 

Topic:______________________________________________________________

 

Thesis Statement:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

A.      Subtopic 1 (supporting reason) _______________________________

 

 

1.      supporting detail_______________________________________________

 

2.      supporting detail_______________________________________________

 

3.      supporting detail_______________________________________________

 

B.       Subtopic 2 (supporting reason) ________________________________________________________

 

1.      supporting detail_______________________________________________

 

2.      supporting detail_______________________________________________

 

3.      supporting detail_______________________________________________

 

C.       Subtopic 3 (supporting reason)__________________________________________________

 

1.      supporting detail __________________________________________________

 

2.      supporting detail______________________________________

 

3.      supporting detail_______________________________________

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Outline

 

Name:_____John Smith_____________________________________Sec:__A______

 

Topic:________The Mountian Lion

 

Thesis Statement: A future proposition should retain the ban on sport hunting but

allow the Department of Fish and Game to control the population. 

Wildlife management would reduce the number of lion attacks

on humans and in the long run would also protect the lions.

A. Subtopic 1 (supporting reason) The Once- endangered mountain lion

4.      supporting detail      Native Americans, cougars, pumas, panthers – admired

 

5.      supporting detail      Ted Williams and all out war on the lions

 

6.      supporting detail      Maurice Hornocker and lion population

 

  1. Subtopic 2 (supporting reason) Reappearance of the mountain lion

 

    1. supporting detail       California fish and game population numbers

 

    1. supporting detail       Population increase outside Calif.Yellowstone

 

    1. supporting detail       Population in the US and the support of the lion population

 

  1. Subtopic 3 (supporting reason) Increasing attacks on humans

 

    1. supporting detail       Statistics of attacks in US since 1890

 

    1. supporting detail       3/4 of attacks happen in the last 25 years

 

    1. supporting detail       Attacks on children

 

 In conclusion, wildlife management would benefit both Californians and the California lions.  ========)

This is the start of your conclusion – you basically need to re-state your thesis – to let

the reader know that you have proven your thesis.  

 

 

Sample paper

 

Smith 1

 

John Smith

Mrs. Lamontagne

English

May 4, 2009

The Mountain Lion:

Once Endangered, Now a Danger

          On April 23, 1994, as Barbar Schoener was jogging in the Sierra foothills of California,

she was pounced on from behind by a mountain lion.  After an apparent struggle with her attacker,

Schoener was killed by bites to her neck and head (Rychnovsky, 39).  In 1996, because

of Schoener’s death and other highly publicized attacks, California politicians presented

voters with Proposition 197, which contained provisions repealing much of a 1990 law

outlawed sport hunting of mountain lions and even prevented the Department of Fish and

Game from thinning the lion population. 

     Proposition 197 was rejected by a large margin, probably because the debate turned

into a struggle between hunting and antihunting faction.  When California politicians revisit

the mountain lion question, they should frame the issue in a new way.  A future proposition

should retain the ban on sport hunting but allow the Department of Fish and Game to

control the population.  Wildlife management would reduce the number of lion attacks

on humans and in the long run would also protect the lions.

 

Smith 2

  

          The Once- endangered mountain lion

          To early Native Americans, mountain lions, also known as cougars, pumas, and panthers,

were objects of admiration.  The European colonists, however, did not share the Native

American view.  They conducted what Ted Williams calls an “all-out war on the species” (29). 

The lions were eliminated from the eastern United States except for a small population

that remains in the Florida Everglades.

          The lions lingered on in the West, but in smaller and smaller numbers.  At least 66,665

lions were killed between 1907 and 1978 in Canada and the United States (Hansen, 58).  

As late as 1969, the country’s leading authority on the big cat, Maurice Hornocker, estimated

the United States population as fewer than 6,500 and probably dropping (Williams, 30). 

          Reappearance of the mountain lion

          In western states today, the mountain lion is no longer I danger of extinction.  In fact,

over the past thirty years, the population has rebounded dramatically.  In California, fish and

game officials estimate that since 1972 lion numbers have increased from 2,400 to at least

6,000 (“Lion” A21).

          Similar increases are occurring outside of California.  For instance, for nearly fifty years

mountain lions had virtually disappeared from YellowstoneNational Park, but today

Smith 3

lion sightings are increasingly common.  In 1992, Hornocker estimated that at least eighteen

adults were living in the park (59).  In the United States as a whole, some biologists estimate

that there are as many as 50,000 mountain lions, a dramatic increase over the 1969 estimate

of 6,500 (Williams, 30).  For the millions of Americans interested in the preservation of animal

species, this is good news, but unfortunately the increase has led to a number of violent encounters

between human and lion. 

          Increasing attacks on humans

          There is no doubt that more and more humans are being attacked.  Statistics compiled

by mountain lion researcher Paul Beier, confirms just how dramatically the attacks have

increased since the beginning of the century.

          Ray Rychnovsky reports that thirteen people have been killed and another fifty-seven

have been mauled by lions since 1890. “What’s most startling,” writes Rychnovsky, “is that

nearly three-quarters of the attacks have taken place in the last twenty-five years” (41).

          Particularly frightening are the attacks on children.  Kevin Hansen points out that children

have been “more vulnerable than adults, making up 64 percent of the victims” (74).  This is not

surprising, since children, being small and active, resemble the lion’s natural prey. 

          In conclusion, wildlife management would benefit both Californians and the California lions. 

Although some have argued that California needs fewer people, not fewer

Smith 4

lions, humans do have an obligation to protect themselves and their children, and the fears of

people in lion country are real.  As for the lions, they need to thrive in a natural habitat with

an adequate food supply.  “We simply cannot let nature take its course.”  Writes Terry Mansfield

of the Department of Fish and Game (qtd. In Perry B4).  In fact, not to take action in

California is a illogical as reintroducing the lions to Central Park and Boston Common,

places they once also roamed.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smith 5

 

 

California Wildlife Proction Coalition. California mountail Lion Page. 27 Mar, 1996, Sierra Club,

  

             24 Mar, 1998 http://www.sierraclub.org/chapters/ca/mountain-lion.

 

 

Hansen, Kevin.   Cougar: The American Lion.  Flagstaff: Northland, 1992.

 

 

Hornocker, Maurice G. “Learning to Live with Lions.”  National Geographic July 1992: 37-65. 

 

 

LionsAttacksPromptState to Respons.” New York Times 18 Oct. 1995, late ed.: A21.

 

 

“Mountain Lion Attacks on Humans.” Outdoor California, 21 Mar. 1996.  State of Claifornia,

       

            Dept. of Fish and Game.  24 Mar. 1998 http://www.dfg.ca.gov/lion/outdoor.lion.html.

 

 

“Proposition 197: Text of Proposed Law,” 1996 California Primary Election Server.  1996.

 

          California Secretary of State. 24 Mar. 1998 

 

          http://primary96.ss.ca.gov/e/ballot/197txt.html

 

 

Rychnovsky, Ray.  “Clawing into Controversy.” Outdoor Life Jan. 1995: 38-42. 

 

 

Williams, Ted. “The Lion’s Silent Return.” Audubon  Nov. 1994: 28-35.