Research Portfolio

Purpose Throughout the course, various assignments have given students the opportunity to sharpen writing, active reading, critical thinking, and researching skills. Now students can fully demonstrate their abilities in these areas. Instructions Use the materials in the Research Portfolio as the basis for the research paper. While shaping the preliminary research paper into a final draft, think about capturing the reader’s interest. Use examples from the sources that not only support the thesis but also make the paper both persuasive and engaging. Use the outline worksheet to plan your paper. Submit the completed worksheet with your research paper assignment. Sources Students should use a minimum of 6 sources, but no more than eight. Students are encouraged to use various types of sources — for instance, three books, three journal articles, one newspaper article, and one website. Most of the sources should come from the research portfolio, although students may include sources not included in the research portfolio. Any additional sources must be added to the works cited page. In addition, remember that each source cited should have a works cited entry, and each works cited entry should refer to a source cited in the paper. Therefore, if students cite eight different sources in the paper, they should have eight sources listed in the works cited. One helpful way to ensure that students do not overlook any cited sources is to keep a list as they write. Students can use this list to create the works cited page. Maintaining an accurate list of sources is especially important to finalize the draft. Sources may have been added or deleted from the paper during revisions, and those sources must be added or deleted from the works cited. Format and Length The paper must be formatted according to MLA style. The length of the final research paper should be between five to six pages, double-spaced; cover pages and works cited pages are not included in the final page count.