Purdue OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide
John Stark Style Guide
November 17 - Character for Research Chosen
November 19 - Works cited of three credible sources and CARE sheets due. This is a formative assessment.
November 21 - Twenty-five (25) notecards with subtopics due. Remember: a good notecard only has one idea on it. You can have more than 25 notecards. This is a formative assessment.
Research more over the weekend if needed. Use online databases!
November 24 - Writing thesis statement in class. This is a formative assessment.
December 5 - First draft due. This draft muyst be word processed, have a works cited page and be submitted with CARE sheets for websites. The paper will not be accepted without these. This is a formative assessment.
Your final draft will be due one week after Ms Kirschbaum returns your first draft to you.
Overview:
You are to write a research paper about one, illustrated main character from comic and/or graphic novel history. This can be a superhero or a more comedic character. The character must be the protagonist of a comic series. Your character cannot be one who was only a cartoon character.
Your paper must use three credible sources, have internal documentation, and a works cited page done according to the John Stark Style sheet or the MLA Guide to Writing Research Papers. Of your three sources not all can be web pages. If you choose to use a web page, you must fill out a CARE sheet for your website and you must conduct an Alexa search on each web page to verify its credibility.
Your thesis statement should explain the character's significance to or impact on popular culture.
An important note regarding Plagiarism:
Plagairism is taking someon's words or ideas with out proper citation. If you paraphrase (put something in your own words), you must still document where the ideas come from or else you are guildt of plagiarism. Plagiarism on the first or final draft will result in a grade of zero and the student will have to pick a ;new topic and start the paper again (including the process of submitting a new thesis and notecards, etc.). This second paper can earn no more than a grade of 70.
Grabber, Tie-in and Thesis Statement - One paragraph
Notecard subtopic: character creation.Explain how and why the character was created. Who created the character and why? When was the character first published and in what type of publication? This section should be one paragraph
Notecard subtopic: Description Describe the character. What are the characters values and beliefs? Why does the character have these values and beliefs? What does he/she look like? What special abilities or powers does the character have? Who are their pertinent friends and family members? What is the character’s mission in life? This section should be one to two paragraphs
Notecard subtopic: Changes How has the character changed over the years if he/she has, and why did these changes occur? This section should be 1-? paragraphs, depending on how many changes the character has undergone. You should write one paragraph for each change.
Notecard subtopic: Golden Age In what decade or time period was the character most popular and why was this character so popular at this time? This section is one paragraph.
Notecard subtopic: Controversies Discuss any controversies the characters have faced or caused. This should be 1- ? paragraphs depending on how many controversies the character has faced. Write one paragraph for each controversy.
Notecard subtopic: Lasting impact/Legacy Conclusion- what is the character’s legacy? What lasting impact has the character made or what is the character’s legacy?
Read until you understand.
Close the book or website and
summarize in your own words!
Take notes and record keywords.
Passages which are paraphrased still need to be cited as a source!
Remember - a bibliography is not a list of URLs. Use Noodle Tools to properly format your citations.
With a Noodle Tools account, once you create bibliographies you can easily organize your research with note cards, outline your papers, and integrate with Google docs.
Users will log in via one of the following:
The first and final drafts will not be accepted until all parts of the research paper writing process are completed adequately.
