Today we will continue work on your research paper – you are getting really close to finished! Please remember that to receive the best results (and the highest grade!) you should complete the steps in order. I will give you feedback on each step that is submitted. I recommend that you read the feedback before you complete the next step.
 
Research, Day 19
Today you will cite the sources of the information you included in what you wrote yesterday that actually came from the sources you read as you were doing your research. What you wrote yesterday likely included information that actually came from your sources. That is the most natural way to paraphrase information – since you were not looking at the sources when you wrote your paragraphs, the information was naturally translated into your own voice. BUT, even though it is in your own voice, it is NOT your information – you read it somewhere when you were doing your research. It is the intellectual property of someone else. You MUST cite that information.
 
Follow these steps:

1. Open and look at the “Paraphrasing Rev” ppt or pdf (in the Writing folder on the Google drive).
2. Read pages 64-69 in the Essay Guide and look at the example essay on pages 69-72.
3. Open your research paper file.
4. Add the citations to the information you naturally paraphrased in your paper (follow the models on page 68 of the Essay Guide!).
5. You will NOT submit this to Turnitin. You will continue with the next step in this same file.

 
Vocabulary
You have no vocabulary assignment other than adding vocabulary words to your essay.
If you are going to hand in the final vocabulary journal to raise your grade, due April 21, you should be working on the journal.
 
Notes
Contact: My normal online “office hours” will are from 10:30 until noon, Monday thru Thursday. If you have a question or concern, you may email me and I will get right back to you. If you email me outside of office hours, I WILL respond, but there might be a delay in the response since I do occasionally have to get out of this desk chair! 😊 If you need to speak with me, email me and we can set up a time to talk via phone or Zoom. You will need a password to access the Zoom meeting. I will give you the password when you set up the appointment.
 
Email: I have been corresponding with many of you via email, and I would like to make a request. When you email me, please sign your email (or at least make sure your first AND last name are both in your email address). I have received several unsigned emails that I wasn’t really sure who the sender was (Email doesn’t work like a text message – you need to tell me who you are rather than assuming I will know.). Who knows? I might have been answering questions for students who aren’t even mine! (I hope their teacher doesn’t mind! :-D).
 
Assignments: I will post the day’s assignments by 9:30 every morning.
 
Have a great day! Stay safe and healthy!
 

Today we will continue work on your research paper – you are getting really close to finished! Please remember that to receive the best results (and the highest grade!) you should complete the steps in order. I will give you feedback on each step that is submitted. I recommend that you read the feedback before you complete the next step.
 
Research, Day 18
Today you will add a conclusion to your paper. A conclusion is NOT just a summary. Read pages 62-64 of the essay guide and add an appropriate conclusion to your essay.
 
Follow these steps:

1. Open your research paper file.
2. Add a concluding paragraph to your essay.
3. You will NOT submit this to Turnitin. You will continue with the next step in this same file.

 
Vocabulary
You have no vocabulary assignment other than adding vocabulary words to your essay.
If you are going to hand in the final vocabulary journal to raise your grade, due April 21, you should be working on the journal.
 
Notes
Contact: My normal online “office hours” will are from 10:30 until noon, Monday thru Thursday. If you have a question or concern, you may email me and I will get right back to you. If you email me outside of office hours, I WILL respond, but there might be a delay in the response since I do occasionally have to get out of this desk chair! 😊 If you need to speak with me, email me and we can set up a time to talk via phone or Zoom. You will need a password to access the Zoom meeting. I will give you the password when you set up the appointment.
 
Email: I have been corresponding with many of you via email, and I would like to make a request. When you email me, please sign your email (or at least make sure your first AND last name are both in your email address). I have received several unsigned emails that I wasn’t really sure who the sender was (Email doesn’t work like a text message – you need to tell me who you are rather than assuming I will know.). Who knows? I might have been answering questions for students who aren’t even mine! (I hope their teacher doesn’t mind! :-D).
 
Assignments: I will post the day’s assignments by 9:30 every morning.
 
Have a great day! Stay safe and healthy!

If you submit work late, please email me so I will go in and grade it and you will receive credit. Unfortunately, Turnitin does not notify me when things are handed in late, so I have no way of knowing things have been turned in unless I physically go in and check, over and over and over. I want to get feedback to you so you can continue in the research process, so please let me know when you have handed in something late.

Today we will continue work on your research paper – you are getting really close to finished! Please remember that to receive the best results (and the highest grade!) you should complete the steps in order.
 
Research, Day 17
Today you will type your baseline research paper. At this point, it is okay if each paragraph has only the topic sentence and 2 to 3 additional sentences. Follow these steps:

1. Open your research paper file.
2. Put away all of your notes and articles (do NOT look at them while you complete this next step!).
3. You already have the topic sentences for your paragraph (look at your feedback and make sure you haven’t received feedback that indicates you need to fix/change something!).
4. Type your body paragraphs (WITHOUT LOOKING AT YOUR SOURCES!!).
5. Just type. You have the topic sentences to tell you what point you are trying to make in each paragraph – that is all you need. Just type your paper. Say what you want to say. Make the points that you want to make. Don’t worry about quoting or citing anything at this point. Just say what you want to say. If you remember that there is a particularly vivid detail or statistic that you want to use, DON’T LOOK IT UP. If you don’t remember the actual number, just use the # sign in place of the number – you will look it up later. Read pages 53-61 in the Essay Guide for direction and examples.
6. You will NOT submit this to Turnitin. You will continue with the next step in this same file.
   

 
Vocabulary
Check Vocab 12 CTS. 
 
Notes
Contact: My normal online “office hours” will are from 10:30 until noon, Monday thru Thursday. If you have a question or concern, you may email me and I will get right back to you. If you email me outside of office hours, I WILL respond, but there might be a delay in the response since I do occasionally have to get out of this desk chair! 😊 If you need to speak with me, email me and we can set up a time to talk via phone or ZOOM.
 
Email: I have been corresponding with many of you via email, and I would like to make a request. When you email me, please sign your email (or at least make sure your first AND last name are both in your email address). I have received several unsigned emails that I wasn’t really sure who the sender was (Email doesn’t work like a text message – you need to tell me who you are rather than assuming I will know.). Who knows? I might have been answering questions for students who aren’t even mine! (I hope their teacher doesn’t mind! :-D).
 
Assignments: I will post the day’s assignments by 9:30 every morning.
 
Have a great day! Stay safe and healthy!
 

Welcome back! I hope you all had a restful Spring Break and are ready to get back into research and finish your paper – you are getting really close to finished! Please remember that to receive the best results (and the highest grade!) you should complete the steps in order.
 
Research, Day 16
Today will be all about feedback and revision. When I go into Turnitin, I can see whether or not you have looked at the feedback I have provided, and what I am seeing is disturbing. Many of you are NOT looking at the feedback I have given you on assignments. Why would you not look at something that could help you improve your grade in the future?
 
Providing feedback in this digital platform is NOT easy, and it takes me hours, but I do it because I want to HELP YOU. In this research paper process, every step builds on the steps before it with the final grade counting the most of all. I provide feedback along the way because I want you to fix all the things that will deduct points from your essay grade and make the highest grade possible on the final paper. This only works if you actually LOOK AT THE FEEDBACK!!! The final essay grade is the grade that will be used to replace earlier essay grades, so you want it to be as high as possible!
 
On the Annotated Bibliography, I provided detailed feedback on MLA format AND your bibliographic citation. PAY ATTENTION TO THE ERRORS ON THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION (the first part of the Annotated Bibliography, where you documented the source). You will be required to create a Works Cited page as the last page of your research paper, and the bibliographic citations on the Works Cited page must be formatted correctly. Look at the feedback I have given you about the errors you made so you DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES AGAIN.
 
Many of you have not yet submitted the Introduction and Topic Sentences (Sentence Outline) that was due April 3 (Why not????? I was going to use Spring Break to give you important feedback!!). So…getting that Sentence Outline handed in (“Research Paper: Revision 1”) is your FIRST priority today.
 
Once I get your Sentence Outline, I will give you specific feedback about whether you are ready to move to the next step of the paper or whether you need to revise your Sentence Outline before you move on – remember, my goal is for you to get a good grade on the final paper! If you got a grade of 100, you are good to go to the next step, which will be posted tomorrow. If you got a passing grade but not 100, that means you need to adjust something, but once you get that item adjusted, you may move on to the next step. If you got less than a passing grade on the Sentence Outline, STOP! DO NOT PROCEED UNTIL YOU HAVE REVISED AND RE-SUBMITTED YOUR SENTENCE OUTLINE in the “Research Paper: Revision 2” slot. I will get revision feedback to you as quickly as possible so you can move forward.
 
To View Feedback:

1. Log in to Turnitin.
2. Select your class.
3. Find the assignment and look all the way to the right. To the right of the Submit button, click on the View button. This button will pull your paper up and allow you to view the feedback from me. You will see blue boxes in the paper itself AND you will see my Text Comments to you in a panel on the right.

 
Your assignment for today is to view the feedback I’ve provided to you so far and make notes to yourself about things you need to fix going forward. If you need to revise your Sentence Outline, revise it (and submit it to “Research Paper: Revision 2”)!
 
Research Paper Rubric Activity 5 Answers
Here are the answers to the Friday Rubric Activity. Please read the answers carefully and read the suggested pages in the Essay Guide.

1. What WC (Works Cited) problem will toss your grade into the LOWEST LANGUAGE/CONVENTIONS grade category? A MAJOR problem for your Works Cited page is if the entries on the Works Cited page fail to match the sources you have cited in your paper. Every source that you have cited in your paper, whether in context or in parenthetical citations, must have an accompanying bibliographic citation on the Works Cited page AND there should be NO entries on the Works Cited page that have NOT been cited in the paper – the citations must match EXACTLY.
2. What will happen to your ANALYSIS grade if you have “NO quoted evidence”? While it is true that MOST of your evidence will be paraphrased (more on this later), you MUST quote SOME of the evidence for your paper to be truly effective. If you fail to quote any evidence in your paper, you will receive a failing grade for your ANALYSIS. The whole point of the research paper is to prove, through the words and ideas of scholars, that your opinion on your subject is correct.

 
Vocabulary
Finish Vocab 12 CTS.
 
Notes
Contact: My normal online “office hours” will are from 10:30 until noon, Monday thru Thursday. If you have a question or concern, you may either email me or tune into the live office hours on ZOOM. I have posted the ZOOM access ID code to the “On the Web” page of our class web site so you don’t have to scroll down to the March 16 blog entry to get the access code (though you may want to look at the blog entry if you need directions for downloading the app). If you email me outside of office hours, I WILL respond, but there might be a delay in the response since I do occasionally have to get out of this desk chair! 😊
 
Email: I have been corresponding with many of you via email, and I would like to make a request. When you email me, please sign your email (or at least make sure your first AND last name are both in your email address). I have received several unsigned emails that I wasn’t really sure who the sender was (Email doesn’t work like a text message – you need to tell me who you are rather than assuming I will know.). Who knows? I might have been answering questions for students who aren’t even mine! (I hope their teacher doesn’t mind! :-D).
 
Assignments: I will post the day’s assignments by 9:30 every morning.
 
Have a great day! Stay safe and healthy!
 

Enjoy your week off! This is a great time to get caught up if you are a bit behind in your assignments! It is also a great time to get ahead.
 
If you want to begin work on the next step on your research paper, follow these steps:

1. Open your research paper file.
2. Put away all of your notes and articles (do NOT look at them while you complete this next step!).
3. You already have the topic sentences for your paragraph (look at your feedback and make sure you haven’t received feedback that indicates you need to fix/change something!).
4. Type your body paragraphs (WITHOUT LOOKING AT YOUR SOURCES!!).
5. Just type. You have the topic sentences to tell you what point you are trying to make in each paragraph – that is all you need. Just type your paper. Say what you want to say. Make the points that you want to make. Don’t worry about quoting or citing anything at this point. Just say what you want to say. If you remember that there is a particularly vivid detail or statistic that you want to use, DON’T LOOK IT UP. If you don’t remember the actual number, just use the # sign in place of the number – you will look it up later. Read pages 53-61 in the Essay Guide for direction and examples.

 

I sent an email with detailed information about how the digital learning can help you improve your grade. If you didn't get the email, please email me and I will sent it to you.

Our current focus is on the research process. The research paper process is designed in a step-by-step fashion, meaning that you will get the best results (and the highest grade!) if you complete the steps in order. If for some reason you get behind, you need to backtrack to where you left off in the process and start from there – do NOT skip any steps! If you skip any steps, your research paper (and your grade! ☹) are likely to suffer.
 
Please note that the daily assignments are separated into a Research section and a Vocabulary section. I also add additional notes to the end of the day’s assignments. Be sure to read and complete all sections! All assignments are due by 11:59 PM to Turnitin.com. If you are having difficulty meeting this deadline, you need to discuss your situation with me individually and I will help you come up with a solution.
 
Here’s what you need to do to complete the Day 15 Research assignment:
Today, you will continue building your research paper.

1. Open your research paper file.
2. Find your list of topics and decide which topics you will discuss in order to prove your claim.
3. Today, you will turn the topics that you plan to discuss into topic sentences that identify the topic of each body paragraph and link to your claim statement.
4. Read pages 46-53 of the Essay Guide for information about the topic sentences, organization of your argument, warrants and counterclaims.

 
A Note about Length
Your paper MAY or MAY NOT have three body paragraphs. Your paper should have however many body paragraphs are right for YOUR paper – there is NO one-size-fits-all essay formula. I’m going to be grading on the quality of your argument, so you need to discuss as many topics as it takes to convince me that your claim is correct. One person may need to discuss only two major topics; another person may need to discuss five. Look at your topic list for the answer. Consider the counterclaim(s) – you MUST address the counterclaim(s) that are appropriate for your topic. You may or may not want to specifically state your warrant (it may just be understood). Do whatever is right for YOUR topic and claim.
 

1. Using your topics and the guidelines in the Essay Guide, create the topic sentences for each of the body paragraphs of your paper. Make sure each topic sentence introduces the topic for the individual body paragraph AND has a clear connection to the claim (see a labeled example on page 124 of the Essay Guide).
2. Underline each topic sentence.
3. SAVE your research paper onto your computer so you don’t lose your progress!
4. Submit your paper (that contains your introduction and your topic sentences) to the “Research Paper: Revision 1” assignment.

 
Research Paper Rubric Activity 5

1. Find your handout titled “Research Paper Rubric * British Literature *” or go to the Google drive Writing folder and download “Research paper rubric SP20.”
2. Go to Turnitin, click on the Discussions tab, and answer the following questions about the research paper (the answers are found on the rubric) in the Research Paper Rubric 5 discussion.
   1. What WC (Works Cited) problem will toss your grade into the LOWEST LANGUAGE/CONVENTIONS grade category? Hint: look for the bolded items.
   2. What will happen to your ANALYSIS grade if you have “NO quoted evidence”? While it is true that MOST of your evidence will be paraphrased (more on this later), you MUST quote SOME of the evidence for your paper to be truly effective.

 
Vocabulary
Check your answers to Vocab 12 Syn/Ant, and begin Vocab 12 CTS.
 
Notes
Contact: My normal online “office hours” will are from 10:30 until noon, Monday thru Friday. If you have a question or concern, you may either email me or tune into the live office hours on ZOOM. I posted information Monday on how to access the live session. Scroll down to read that information. I also posted the ZOOM access ID code to the “On the Web” page of our class web site so you don’t have to scroll down every day to get the access code. If you email me outside of office hours, I WILL respond, but there might be a delay in the response since I do occasionally have to get out of this desk chair! 😊
 
Email: I have been corresponding with many of you via email, and I would like to make a request. When you email me, please sign your email (or at least make sure your first AND last name are both in your email address). I have received several unsigned emails that I wasn’t really sure who the sender was (Email doesn’t work like a text message – you need to tell me who you are rather than assuming I will know.). Who knows? I might have been answering questions for students who aren’t even mine! (I hope their teacher doesn’t mind! :-D).
 
Assignments: I will post the day’s assignments by 9:30 every morning.
 
Have a great day! Stay safe and healthy!
 

Our current focus is on the research process. The research paper process is designed in a step-by-step fashion, meaning that you will get the best results (and the highest grade!) if you complete the steps in order. If for some reason you get behind, you need to backtrack to where you left off in the process and start from there – do NOT skip any steps! If you skip any steps, your research paper (and your grade! ☹) are likely to suffer.
 
Please note that the daily assignments are separated into a Research section and a Vocabulary section. I also add additional notes to the end of the day’s assignments. Be sure to read and complete all sections! All assignments are due by 11:59 PM to Turnitin.com. If you are having difficulty meeting this deadline, you need to discuss your situation with me individually and I will help you come up with a solution.
 
Here’s what you need to do to complete the Day 14 Research assignment:
Today, you will begin building your research paper.

1. First, go to the Google drive -> Writing -> Videos and watch the video titled Building the Research Paper.
2. If you have already saved the MLA Format Template Essay to your computer name “Yourlastname Research Paper,” open that file. At this point, all it has in it is your claim statement. You may skip to step 7.
3. If you have not yet started using the template, go to the Writing folder on the Google drive and open “MLA Format Template Essay.”
4. Save the MLA format template to your computer, titled “Yourlastname Research Paper.”
5. Change the running header to reflect YOUR last name and update the four-line heading with YOUR information.
6. Change the title placeholder to the title of your research paper (you can change this later if you feel the need to.
7. As the first line of your research paper, type your claim statement.

 
Claim Statement Revision
If the topics you found in your research don’t really support the claim you initially created, you have two choices: 1) do more research and find notes that actually DO support your claim, or 2) revise your claim to match the notes you found. Option #2 is definitely easier and less time consuming – it is the option I would choose.
 
Some of you STILL have not looked at the feedback you received on the first claim statement and submitted a revision. THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM!!! If you try to build a research paper around a claim statement that does not work, you are destined to received a poor grade on the research paper. DO NOT take another step until your claim statement has been approved! If you submit your revision RIGHT NOW, I will try to get your approval to you by noon tomorrow so you can continue with Friday’s work.
 

1. Put your cursor in front of the first (indented) word of your claim statement and type or copy and paste the paragraph you wrote yesterday with the background information and justification of your topic. If you put this information in front of your claim statement, your claim statement will become the LAST sentence of this paragraph. This paragraph is your introduction. YOUR CLAIM STATEMENT SHOULD ALWAYS BE THE LAST SENTENCE OF YOUR INTRODUCTION. Is your introduction perfect at this point? No, probably not. However, you now have something to work with.
2. Read pages 42-45 of the Essay Guide about introductions and fix the introduction until you are happy with it.
3. I would suggest that you try to merge at least 2 of the required 10 vocabulary words into your introduction. You may use words from ANY of the vocabulary units. Make sure you bold AND underline the vocabulary words so they stand out.
4. Underline your claim statement (IT SHOULD BE THE LAST SENTENCE).
5. SAVE your research paper onto your computer so you don’t lose your introduction!

 
Research Paper Rubric Activity 4 Answers
Here are the answers to the Rubric Activity. Please read the answers carefully and read the suggested pages in the Essay Guide.

1. What types of errors can pull your LANGUAGE/CONVENTIONS score down to only half credit (or LOWER)? Errors in tense (verbs), agreement (subject/verb or pronoun/antecedent), 1st/2nd person (pronouns), contr. (contractions), abbrev. (abbreviations), MLA format, WC (Works Cited) errors. These are all items that are associated with MLA format and getting your essay in an appropriate formality for scholarly writing. You have received lots of feedback on your previous essays about your formality. Look at your feedback and don’t repeat your earlier errors.
2. The LIMITED description for ANALYSIS says that if you fail to “integrate” your quotations that your grade will take a significant deduction. How do you “integrate” your quotations to avoid problems? You integrate your quotations by using appropriate, substantive lead-ins and commentary following a quotation that explains how the quotation supports the point you are trying to make.

 
Vocabulary
Check your answers to Vocab 12 CTRW, and complete Vocab 12 Syn/Ant.
 
Notes
Contact: My normal online “office hours” will are from 10:30 until noon, Monday thru Friday. If you have a question or concern, you may either email me or tune into the live office hours on ZOOM. I posted information Monday on how to access the live session. Scroll down to read that information. I also posted the ZOOM access ID code to the “On the Web” page of our class web site so you don’t have to scroll down every day to get the access code. If you email me outside of office hours, I WILL respond, but there might be a delay in the response since I do occasionally have to get out of this desk chair! 😊
 
Email: I have been corresponding with many of you via email, and I would like to make a request. When you email me, please sign your email (or at least make sure your first AND last name are both in your email address). I have received several unsigned emails that I wasn’t really sure who the sender was (Email doesn’t work like a text message – you need to tell me who you are rather than assuming I will know.). Who knows? I might have been answering questions for students who aren’t even mine! (I hope their teacher doesn’t mind! :-D).
 
Assignments: I will post the day’s assignments by 9:30 every morning.
 
Have a great day! Stay safe and healthy!
 

Our current focus is on the research process. The research paper process is designed in a step-by-step fashion, meaning that you will get the best results (and the highest grade!) if you complete the steps in order. If for some reason you get behind, you need to backtrack to where you left off in the process and start from there – do NOT skip any steps! If you skip any steps, your research paper (and your grade! ☹) are likely to suffer.
 
Please note that the daily assignments are separated into a Research section and a Vocabulary section. I also add additional notes to the end of the day’s assignments. Be sure to read and complete all sections! All assignments are due by 11:59 PM to Turnitin.com. If you are having difficulty meeting this deadline, you need to discuss your situation with me individually and I will help you come up with a solution.
 
Here’s what you need to do to complete the Day 13 Research assignment:
Today, you will write and submit a paragraph that gives background on your topic and identifies why the topic is relevant and important.
 
Starting today, you will begin submitting each piece of your research-paper-related writing to an assignment titled simply “Research Paper.” The paragraph you are writing today will be submitted to the first “Research Paper” assignment. We have to do it this way because if we don’t, Turnitin will say that every piece of your research paper is plagiarized. What you will see tomorrow is an assignment titled “Research Paper: Revision 1,” just like you can see “Claim Statement, Revision 1” and “Claim Statement, Revision 2.” At each step, I will tell you which “Revision” to use (It would be nice if Turnitin would allow me to name them something different, but it won’t, so we’ll have to do it this way).
 
So…bottom line…today you will write ONE paragraph that gives background on your topic and establishes its validity as a topic and submit it to the assignment titled “Research Paper.”
 
Research Paper Rubric Activity 4

1. Find your handout titled “Research Paper Rubric * British Literature *” or go to the Google drive Writing folder and download “Research paper rubric SP20.”
2. Go to Turnitin, click on the Discussions tab, and answer the following questions about the research paper (the answers are found on the rubric) in the Research Paper Rubric 4 discussion.
   1. What types of errors can pull your LANGUAGE/CONVENTIONS score down to only half credit (or LOWER)? Hint: look for the bolded items.
   2. The LIMITED description for ANALYSIS says that if you fail to “integrate” your quotations that your grade will take a significant deduction. How do you “integrate” your quotations to avoid problems?

 
Vocabulary
Hand in Vocab Journal #5 (Mar. 16-27), check your answers to Vocab 11 CTS, and complete Vocab 12 CTRW.
 
Notes
Contact: My normal online “office hours” will are from 10:30 until noon, Monday thru Friday; however, today (Wednesday) they will be adjusted due to an appointment. Today, I will be online 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM and again from 1:00 PM until 2:00 PM. If you have a question or concern, you may either email me or tune into the live office hours on ZOOM. I posted information Monday on how to access the live session. Scroll down to read that information. I also posted the ZOOM access ID code to the “On the Web” page of our class web site so you don’t have to scroll down every day to get the access code. If you email me outside of office hours, I WILL respond, but there might be a delay in the response since I do occasionally have to get out of this desk chair! 😊
 
Email: I have been corresponding with many of you via email, and I would like to make a request. When you email me, please sign your email (or at least make sure your first AND last name are both in your email address). I have received several unsigned emails that I wasn’t really sure who the sender was (Email doesn’t work like a text message – you need to tell me who you are rather than assuming I will know.). Who knows? I might have been answering questions for students who aren’t even mine! (I hope their teacher doesn’t mind! :-D).
 
Assignments: I will post the day’s assignments by 9:30 every morning.
 
Have a great day! Stay safe and healthy!