Mythology Research Paper English 1

What You Must Create

• You must create a research paper that uses at least three (3) sources.
• MLA documentation must be used and you must have a "Works Cited" page.
• The body of your paper must be at least three (3) pages long.
• You must create at least three (3) source cards and hand them in on the required due date.
• You must create at least ten (10) note cards from sources and hand them in on the required due date.

English 1 Mythology Research Paper

Colorado Standard 1.c - Analyze main idea and supporting details in a variety of text and genre.

Colorado Standard 4.a - Identify an author’s purpose and the text’s historical/cultural context from information presented in the text.

Colorado Standard 2.b.2 - Organize writing so that it has an engaging introduction, development of ideas, and purposeful conclusion.

Colorado Standard 3.a - Edit for conventional grammar.

You will find and read several stories from Greek mythology.  You will print out the stories and determine your topic.  Then you will show your understanding of the material that you have read by writing a research paper that presents a thesis and supports it by specific quotes, paraphrasing, parenthetical citations, and works cited entries. 

Please follow these steps in order to complete the entire process:

1.      Find and print out three stories, characters, or places that have something in common. For example, you may select three heroic figures that had great achievements, or perhaps have tragedies happen to them.  Whomever you select, be sure that you have enough support material to show how or what they did or what happened to make them significant in mythology.

 

2.      My three choices: 1._____________________________

                              2._____________________________

                              3. _____________________________

 

What do they have in common? List them here:

                              1._____________________________

                              2._____________________________

                              3. _____________________________

3.      When you look at these common items, construct a rough thesis that will tie in the three choices. For example: _____________, _______________, and __________________are famous for their _________________________________ because of ____________________________________.

4.      Now, find three specific examples that you can cite directly from your printouts. You must exactly quote two examples, and paraphrase the third.

Example #1:________________________________is significant because______________________________________________.

             Quote #1- Author’s name or short form of title ___________________________

             Quote #2 - Author’s name or short form of title ___________________________

              Paraphrase - Author’s name or short form of title _________________________

Example #2:________________________________is significant because_____________________________________________.

             Quote #1- Author’s name or short form of title ___________________________

             Quote #2 - Author’s name or short form of title ___________________________

              Paraphrase - Author’s name or short form of title _________________________

Example #3:________________________________is significant because_____________________________________________.

Quote #1- Author’s name or short form of title ___________________________

             Quote #2 - Author’s name or short form of title ___________________________

              Paraphrase - Author’s name or short form of title _________________________

4. Introductory Paragraph

First sentence: General hook/interest catcher

Second: Is the lead in. It is similar to the topic sentence and states more background information.

Third: Introduce title and author and narrows the general statement you made in the topic and lead in sentences.

Fourth: First idea/example. This is a cause/effect statement. This idea becomes the topic sentence for the first body paragraph.

Fifth: Second idea example. This is a cause/effect statement. This idea becomes the topic sentence for the second body paragraph.

Sixth: The third (and strongest) idea/example. This is a cause/effect statement. This idea becomes the topic sentence for the third body paragraph.

Seventh: The THESIS statement.

Begin this sentence with: As a result/Nevertheless/ Therefore

Example: As a result, ______, _____, and _______ are notable in literary history for their___________________________________________________.

5. The Body

Write the three body paragraphs. Each paragraph should have at least 11 sentences. When you quote, insert the quote naturally. Do not quote an entire sentence. When you quote or paraphrase, still give credit to where you found the information.

Example of inserting quote:  According to one famous Greek myth, Jason was “the son of the lawful king of Iolcus” (“Jason”).   Note: The quotation marks inside the parentheses show that this source has no known author and is therefore a title, not a last name.

 

Look at how the quote is part of a student’s sentence.  This is called “weaving in a quote.” If you need to change a verb tense to have it all make sense, put the corrected form in brackets ([  ]). Always put a comma before the quote.

Example of paraphrasing: Jason was the son of King Iolcus (“Jason”). Here just the fact is used, not the direct words of another author, so no quotation marks are used except in the parenthetical citation.

Follow this format for each body paragraph:

  -     Transition sentence

-         Idea #1

-         Quote #1

-         Discussion of Quote #1

-         Idea #2

-         Quote #2

-         Discussion of Quote #2

        Idea #3

-         Paraphrase

-         Discussion of paraphrase

-         Summarization sentence that has a word or clue to “bridge” to first sentence of next paragraph.

6. The Conclusion

First sentence: Transition sentence: Restate your thesis.

Next three sentences: Restate points in examples. Bring down the ideas in reverse order (third, second, first)

Last: Final sentence(s): Lesson or message. How does this relate to society or the world?

Ta Da! You are finished with your rough draft. Now, edit very carefully. Check the rubric below to make sure that you are presenting your best work possible for the best grade possible. Write your final draft. Your final draft must be typed and submitted to www.turnitin.com. Your title should be capitalized correctly and be appropriate for your research paper topic.

How You Will Be Graded

Score out of 100 = _____ X 10 = _____________ OUT OF 1000 POINTS!

Adapted from http://teacherweb.com/CA/EstanciaHigh/MarianDickey/BFessay-process.doc