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Level 1

Mini-Research #2

Process:

• Re-Write Mini-Research 1
• Three changes need made:
  1. Add a second quoted source
  2. Create better lead-ins to the two quotes
  3. Remove Pus words.

The Skeletal Structure

• Each of the numbers below is its own paragraph.
• You'll use this structure throughout the entire course.

1. Introduction
2. Scope/Summary
3. Literature review
4. Theory
5. Analysis ¹
6. Analysis ²
7. Conclusion

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1. Add a second quote

• Add a quote to either Analysis paragraph.
• Use any article (that has an author's name) that can help you discuss the paragraph's main point.
• Add that source to the Works Cited so you have only the two quoted sources in the Works Cited.
• You can use Purdue's Online Writing Lab (Owl) or my color-coded abridged version on Inverseintuition.org:
  • OWL
  • InverseIntuition.org
• If you use a citation maker, or any other source than the two listed above, and the citation does not match one of the two sources above, the citation is incorrect.
• If I mark something wrong on your Works Cited, but you think it is correct, your only defense is to show me how you followed a page on OWL or on InverseIntuition.org

The point of the quoted sources

• This is not essay writing
• Sources are used to ADD other voices to the research paper
• Sources in research are not to help you prove your point.

Stop Whining!

• To my ears, essays whine...a lot! As if they are pleading for someone to listen.
• In research, we--
  • present the research: Scope, Lit Review, Theory.
  • present the findings: Analysis ¹ and Analysis ²
  • use quoted sources: to connect the research to other people's research.

Write like an A**hole!

• In research, we state then defend.
• Speaking like that, makes you an A**hole.
• All of life teaches us to soft sell
  1. Interest/Excite the person
  2. Appeal to their passions, logic, and sense of credibility
  3. Build up your main point
  4. Arrive at the conclusion you want the reader to arrive at.
• Those 4 items DO NOT belong in Research writing

2. Set-up quotes correctly

• There are many ways of integrating quotes in a paper.
• We are using one way, and only one way, the whole term.
• Lead-in sentence: "quote."
  • The Lead-in sentence must read as a Full Sentence AS IF the colon is a period.

Example of setting up quote:

• A full sentence giving the first word, usually the author's name, from the works cited citation, and maybe the article name, and the general idea of the quote that will follow: "the actual word-for-word quote" (page number).
• Alan Crowe in his article "Doggy Friends" suggests that when dogs first meet, they should do so in a place new to both of them: "Introduce the dogs in a neutral location that is unfamiliar to both dogs, such as a park" (12).

(Name page number)

• Typically, you have seen, or used, a name and page number after a quote, like this:
  • "Blahty-blah blah" (Smith 103).
• Since we are stating the author's names IN the lead-in sentence, the only information at the end should be the page number, if you have one.

3. Remove pus

• You may only use two of the following in this assignment.
• Not two of each, but a total of two from the whole list.
• You must highlight your use of those one or two pus words with yellow highlighter in Word; if they are not highlighted, they are counted as excessive pus use.
  1. be
  2. is
  3. am
  4. are
  5. was
  6. were
  7. been
  • These first seven are the "to-be" verbs and cause many errors
  8. it
  9. thing and things
  • Numbers 8 and 9 create an ambiguity that never should occur in a paper.
  10. get
  11. gets
  12. got
  13. gots
  14. goes
  • People use these last four as an easy fall back from not using the first nine. Also, they sound unprofessional, and one aim of an education is to professionalize, which in this class means helping you form a bilingualism of both your everyday-speak and your ability to use a professional language.

  The Penalty

  • For most assignments after mini research 1, even one pus word is an automatic redo.

  Avoid the word Becomes

  • Be careful of the word becomes such as in the following example:
  • Every day becomes a different challenge.
  • The word becomes means "something morphs or grows into something elses," such as a boy becoming (morphing into) a man or a caterpillar becoming (morphing into) a butterfly.
  • Here the word is awkward because days do not morph into a different challenge. A day may have, during its course, a different challenge, or the whole day may seem challenging.
  • If a DAY could morph into a DIFFERENT CHALLENGE, we would no longer need the term "day," and instead we could say Different Challenge:
  1. Every day different challenge, I wake up and go to work
  2. Unless clouds hang in the sly, the sun comes up every day different challenge.

  Ways to fix Pus words

  • To easily fix pus, begin the sentence with the last part of the sentence.
  • Everyday is a different challenge.
  • Different challenges rise every day.
  • Different challenges confront us everyday.
  • Different challenges enter our lives daily.

  WARNING: Pus can hide under the skin/paper

  • A sentence is infected with a "hidden pus" if one of my peers' quickest fixes of your sentence is to add pus;
  • "hidden pus" counts as if you had written the pus.
  • Beware of contractions, such as isn't, they're, and she's, etc.

  Why not use those words?

  • You can learn more about why not to use to-be verbs by googling "e-prime" or "e-priming."
  • I, however, deny the use of those words to force you to consider every word you use.

  Wrapping it up

  • Double check that the Works Cited is correct
  • In Word, use ctrl+f to open the find box then search each pus word.
  • Quoted sources can use pus; you cannot.
  • Highlight up to twopus words you are choosing to use
  • Check formatting of the entire paper.
  • Assignment name: LastnameMiniResearch2.docx
  • Submit via email.