Transcript Research Paper notes

Writing Workshop
Reporting Historical Research
Feature Menu
Assignment
Prewriting
Choose and Narrow a Topic
Ask Research Questions
Find Answers to Research Questions
Record and Organize Information
Analyze Your Information
Write a Thesis Statement
Develop an Outline
Documenting Sources
Practice and Apply
Reporting Historical Research
Assignment: Write a 1,500-word report
investigating a historical event that intrigues you.
What interesting historical fact or event can you
remember about the place where you live? Is this
a true fact or event? How can you find out?
Verifying historical facts and events is the job of a
historical researcher. Being a historical researcher
is a bit like being a detective—except that no one
goes to jail.
[End of Section]
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Choose and Narrow a Topic
What do I need to consider when choosing a
historical event to research?
• What historical event do I find interesting?
the American Civil War
• Can I find a variety of sources?
Yes. It is an important historical event that has been
widely documented from varying points of view.
• Can I cover the Civil War in 1,500 words?
No
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Choose and Narrow a Topic
How can I narrow down my topic?
Do some preliminary research on the Civil War.
• events
Gettysburg
fall of Atlanta
Gettysburg too broad;
Atlanta’s fall too narrow
• armaments
Minié ball
machine gun
• people
Grant
Sherman
Lee
both topics too narrow
Grant and Lee too broad;
Sherman’s March to the
Sea, a good topic
[End of Section]
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Ask Research Questions
State your research questions clearly in order to
focus your search for sources.
• Who was William Tecumseh Sherman, and
what occurred on his March to the Sea?
Sherman was a Union general. His troops
destroyed Southern railways, industries,
crops, and livestock.
• When and where did this event
take place?
From November to December of 1864, troops
marched from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia.
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Ask Research Questions
• Why did General Sherman use such a
destructive strategy?
Sherman believed that in order to
win the war, the Union had to
strike at the South’s economic
resources.
• How did Sherman change
the Union army’s tactics
during the Civil War?
Sherman called for total war—the destruction of the
South’s army and the South’s economy.
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Ask Research Questions
• How was Sherman’s March
portrayed at the time it
occurred?
From the Union perspective, it was a
strategy that would help bring the war
to an end. The people in the South
felt as if they were “going to be wiped
off the earth.”
• How is Sherman’s March
portrayed now?
a strategy that left deep and bitter
scars on the nation’s psyche
[End of Section]
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Find Answers to Research Questions
Choose a balance of primary sources and
secondary sources.
• Primary source—firsthand, original information
letters
autobiographies
speeches
works of literature and art
historical documents
interviews created by someone who
participated in or witnessed the event
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Find Answers to Research Questions
Choose a balance of primary sources and
secondary sources.
• Secondary source—information derived from
or about primary sources
reference books
documentaries
history books
biographies
interviews with historians
Sherman’s March:
A Documentary
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Find Answers to Research Questions
Identify each source as either primary
or secondary.
a lecture about
Sherman’s March given
by a professor
_________
a play based on the
journal of one of
Sherman’s soldiers
_________
the diaries of a woman
living in Atlanta during
Sherman’s March
_________
a portrait of Sherman
_________
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Find Answers to Research Questions
Don’t assume that all sources are reliable.
• Reliable sources are usually published by
major universities and well-known publishing
companies. Watch for bias, faulty or selective
memory, and emotional argument in primary
and secondary sources.
• Internet sources are usually reliable if they
are produced by an educational, government,
or professional institution.
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Find Answers to Research Questions
Make sure your sources cover all relevant
perspectives.
General Sherman
Northerners
Southerners
Sherman’s March
Sherman’s troops
Southern slaves
Covering many perspectives helps prevent bias in
your research essay.
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Find Answers to Research Questions
Here are some sources that could be used to
answer research questions about Sherman’s March
to the Sea:
Primary sources: General Sherman’s memoirs, drawings
and photographs of the destroyed cities, firsthand
accounts in journals and letters
Secondary sources: books by historians on Sherman’s
March, documentaries about the destruction of the South,
interview with Civil War historian at local college
See your textbook for a chart showing all information
sources available to you.
[End of Section]
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Record and Organize Information
Write complete and accurate information about
all the sources you consult.
• Use a separate notecard or
computer file for each source.
• Describe the information.
• Estimate the value of the source.
• Record publishing information
exactly as you want it in your
Works Cited list. (See your
textbook for specific examples.)
[End of Section]
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Analyze Your Information
Use the 4R test to analyze and evaluate your
sources of information.
• Is the source relevant?
• Is the source reliable?
• Is the source recent or
up-to-date?
• Is the source
representative of a valid
point of view?
[End of Section]
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Write a Thesis Statement
So, what’s your point? Write a thesis statement in
which you state your topic and your general
conclusion about it.
Northerners, General Sherman,
Southerners, and slaves had
powerful reasons for their different
perspectives on Sherman’s March,
and the historical record supports
them all.
[End of Section]
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Develop an Outline
An outline will ensure that your ideas flow in a
logical progression and have adequate support.
I.
Introduction
A. Overview of research
B. Thesis statement
II. The view from the North
A. Military importance
1. Grant’s chief of staff’s view
2. Newspapers’ views
a. New York Times
b. Atlanta Tribune
B. Conduct of troops
Basic rules for outlining
major divisions of
your paper
secondary divisions
supporting examples
specific details
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Develop an Outline
If the draft for your research paper isn’t
working, you may need to rework the outline. Ask
yourself these questions:
• Does each major topic support your thesis
statement?
• Are the major topics in a logical order?
• Are the secondary points in a logical order, and
do they support the major points?
[End of Section]
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Documenting Sources
Documenting a paper means identifying the
sources you use in your paper. Documentation
ensures that you do not plagiarize, or take as your
own, someone else’s work. Plagiarizing is a form
of cheating.
how to
document
sources
See the guidelines in your textbook.
what to
document
The following exercise will help you
decide what to document.
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Documenting Sources
What items should I document?
YES
NO
“If [Southerners] raise a howl against my
barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is
war, and not popularity-seeking.”
Document each direct quotation.
YES
NO
Sherman’s determination matched General
Grant’s.
Document any original theory or opinion that is
not your own, even if not directly quoted.
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Documenting Sources
What items should I document?
YES
NO
YES
NO
According to a research study, one out of four
respondents felt . . .
Document data from surveys, research studies,
and interviews.
During the march, twenty-four of Sherman’s
officers were wounded.
Document unusual, little-known facts or
questionable “facts.”
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Documenting Sources
What items should I document?
YES
NO
William Tecumseh Sherman was a general in the
Union army who led a march through Georgia
during the Civil War.
You do not need to document information that
appears in several sources or in standard
reference books, such as the fact stated above.
When in doubt, document.
[End of Section]
Reporting Historical Research
Prewriting: Practice and Apply
Plan your historical research paper.
Remember that accurate records of your research
will make writing and documenting your report
easier.
[End of Section]
The End