AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SEMESTER 1 RESEARCH PAPER

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1 AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SEMESTER 1 RESEARCH PAPER Before you begin writing, the first thing you must do it decide on a topic you would like to research. Choose a topic that you are interested in. The body of the research paper will be 5-8 pages of 1.5 spaced text, normal margins, 12 point, Times New Roman font. The final draft should include a title page (no graphics or clip art), an outline, the body, and the works cited. You should include pagination, with your last name, in the upper right corner of each page. You may also include an appendix with images if they are helpful to your paper (optional). Each may take up no more than one half of a page and be printed two images on one side of the appendix and two on the back side of the appendix. The citation must come below the image. In addition, you may print pages front and back of pages to save paper. This will be due before you leave for winter break. I. RESEARCHING YOUR TOPIC: PRE-WORK Before you begin writing, the first thing you must do it decide on a topic. Choose a topic that is not so broad you can t cover it in your paper and not so detailed that you run out of things to say. Once you have your topic, you should work on coming up with questions about this topic. That will help you figure out what you are going to research. Once you have started, you will continue to find other questions to answer. At each stage either take notes directly or make a copy to take notes later. Always remember to name your source of information. Choose valid sources! II. RESEARCHING YOUR TOPIC : BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION You should only use credible websites (Example:.gov or.edu). Do not use Wikipedia as a source! Periodicals should be credible (NYTimes, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, National Geographic, etc.) The first thing you should do with each source is create a bibliography card. Record each source you use on a separate index card. Assign each bibliography card a code letter in the upper right hand corner. Begin with A, then B continuing through the alphabet. Here is an example what each card should look like. A Simpson, Homer. Doh! Mistakes of a Long Life. Springfield, WI: Viking, 1992, BIBLIOGRAPHY FORMATS - You should list all of your sources alphabetically on your Works Cited page. - If information is not available (such as does not exist), you should omit it. - All months except May, June and July are abbreviated. - If you need help with another type of source, ask Ms. Volesky or make an appointment with the writing center. 1. BOOKS Author(s). Book Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Year, Pages Used. 2. MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE Author(s). Title of Article. Magazine Title. Date of Publication: Pages. 0

2 3. INTERVIEWS FROM A BOOK, VIDEO OR MAGAZINE Person Interviewed. Interviewer. Title of Source. Additional Source Information. 4. INTERVIEWS YOU CONDUCT Person Interviewed, Type of Interview (personal or telephone). Date. 5. INTERNET SOURCES Author(s). Title of Article. Internet Publication. Date: Online. Method of Access. Date of Access. Available Internet Path. BIBLIOGRAPHY SAMPLES 1. A BOOK BY ONE AUTHOR Ashton, Jack. Teaching for Dummies. Greensboro, NC: Ragsdale, 2001, A BOOK BY TWO AUTHORS McFarland, Jack and Karen Walker. Larger than Life. New York: NBC Publishing 3. A BOOK BY THREE AUTHORS Snow, Crissy, Jack Tripper, and Janet Woods. A Guide to Independent Living. Chicago: Madison, 1980, A BOOK BY MORE THAN THREE AUTHORS Abdul, Paula, et al. Becoming an American Idol. Los Angeles: Fox, 2000, TWO BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR Wayne, Bruce. Comics: Hero and Villains. Memphis, TN: Robins, 1975, Making the Jump to Film. Metropolis, CA: Bat Publishing, 1988, EDITOR Bond, James, eds. The Greatest Spy Stories of All Time. 6 th ed. Boston: Smith, 1991, UNSIGNED MAGAZINE ARTICLE Interior Designing After TLC. Southern Living. Aug. 1999: DAILY NEWSPAPER Ragsdale Wins in Football. Greensboro New & Record. 12 Oct. 2001, D WEEKLY MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER Gates, Bill. How to Take Over the World in Five Easy Steps. Computers Weekly. 12 Mar. 1997: MONTHLY MAGAZINE Shui, Feng. Designing with an Asian Style. Interior Design. Apr. 1976: SIGNED PAMPHLET (treated like a book) Kevorkian, Jack. Doing the Deed. Chicago: Medical Ethics Council SIGNED ENCYCLOPEDIA Kirk, James T. Extraterrestrial Life. Encyclopedia Galactica ed., UNSIGNED ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE Rocks from the Sky. Almanac of Meteorology ed., INTERVIEWS FROM A BOOK, VIDEO, OR MAGAZINE Bush, George, Sr. Interview. Taking Your Child to Work. Videocassette. Dir. Tom Jones. Carousel Films,

3 15. INTERVIEWS YOU CONDUCTED Roberts, Julia. Telephone Interview. 12 Jan TELEVISION PROGRAM Polite Politics. Narr. Stone Phillips. Writ and prod. Craig Jackson. Dateline NBC. KNBC, Los Angeles. 14 May INTERNET SOURCES Clinton, Bill. Oxyclean and Me. Presidential Memoirs. (Jan. 2000): Online Internet. 14 Feb Available III. RESEARCHING YOUR TOPIC: NOTE-TAKING You will need to take notes, which you can use to write your paper. This handout will use the notecard method. If you use this method, each card should follow these rules Place the subject of all the information on your note card. Make sure only material about that subject appears on that note card. Place a capital letter that corresponds to the bibliographical source in the upper right hand corner. EACH CARD SHOULD BE ONLY ONE TOPIC AND ONE SOURCE. Next to the capital letter, place a number (starting at 1) to denote the number of note cards from that source. If you need another card for more information about that topic from that source label it b so if you have an A1 the second card would be A1b. Write on only the FRONT of the card. The back must be left blank so you don t lose any information. Each note should be taken one of two ways o If you copy the material directly from a source you MUST put it in quotes. Any directly copied material not in quotes is PLAGIARISM. o If you are paraphrasing, reword each sentence so it does not contain the same words as the first. You may paraphrase without quotes. o If you are summarizing, rewrite multiple sentences into one without using the same words. You may summarize without quotes. At either the end of each piece of information, include the page where you found that information. EXAMPLE: information in parentheses() is not needed on the card but is for you information. John Dalton (Topic is Atomic Theory) B4 - Dalton was British. p. 14 (paraphrase) - Dalton had four law stating atoms were different and unique by element. p. 17 (summarize) - Dalton s work revolutionized the field chemistry for decades p.19 (quotes) IV. WRITING YOUR PAPER: TITLE PAGES The title page should be using 12 point font and NO pictures. When formatting your title page you should include the following information: - Title (something that explains you paper) - By: your name - Class name, Block - Date 2

4 V. WRITING YOUR PAPER: THESIS STATEMENTS A thesis statement should be broad enough to allow for various details you will explain in your paper, yet specific enough to let the reader know what he/she is about to read. You want to introduce your topic, but allow for the reader to learn something by reading the paper. Think like a magician, you want to show off, but you shouldn t give always the trick. General rules of thumb for research papers: - What is the subject of your paper? - What is the purpose of the paper? What are you trying to explain? - What is the audience expecting? How much does you reader already know about the subject? - Does you thesis statement relate to the topics covered by the statements in your outline? Do you have the research to support those things mentioned in your thesis? If not, narrow the thesis. Put these together and you have an idea of what you need to create as a thesis statement. Try a few thesis statements before you decided on one. As you research you should be able to get a feel for your subject. Perfection is not reached in one try. If you need to, start over from scratch. VI. WRITING YOUR PAPER: OUTLINING The outline of your paper should represent only notes you have taken. A quick way to see if you have enough notes is by grouping the cards into related topics. Once you group this way, you can judge if there is sufficient information on the topic. If there is not enough information; you can combine topics, create a new topic, research more about that topic, or if you must, eliminate that topic from you paper. Atomic Theory 1. On the page, center the title of your paper. 2. Place you thesis statement between the title and the outline. 3. As you organize your information, remember, this is only an outline, you should not use sentences or highly specific information. Outline style: - Align different parts of your outline (Microsoft word does much of this for you) - Capitalize the first word of each section. - Do not use periods in your outline (you have no sentences). - If you have an A you must have a B. You must have at least two subtopics if you want to show subtopics. Thesis: The atomic theory was created in six steps that led up to the modern quantum atomic theory. I. Definition of atomic theory II. The work of the Greeks III. The work of John Dalton A. Why Dalton did his work B. What Dalton discovered C. Dalton s theories IV. The work of J.J. Thompson A. Thompson s work with the Cathode Ray B. Thompson s discovery of the electron C. The plum pudding model V. The work of Earnest Rutherford A. The gold foil experiment B. Rutherford s model of the atom VI. VII. The work of Niels Bohr The modern atomic theory A. The work of Schrodenger and Heisenburg B. The modern model 3

5 VII. WRITING YOUR PAPER: Works Cited Page Using MLA format, the bibliography is included as a works cited page at the end of your paper. You should only include sources that you actually use to write your paper. Alphabetize entries by the first word in the citation (usually the author s last name). Each entry should be written like the examples in the earlier pages. For each entry, begin at the left margin. Each additional line of the entry should be indented 5 spaces. Place a period at the end of each entry. Single space within each entry and double space between entries. If you cite two works by the same author, use the format in the previous pages. Alphabetize them by title. Works Cited Bond, James, eds. The Greatest Spy Stories of All Time. 6 th ed. Boston: Smith, 1991, 124. Gates, Bill. How to Take Over the World in Five Easy Steps. Computers Weekly. 12 Mar. 1997: Interior Designing After TLC. Southern Living. Aug. 1999: 44. Ragsdale Wins in Football. Greensboro New & Record. 12 Oct. 2001, D- 6. Wayne, Bruce. Comics: Hero and Villains. Memphis, TN: Robins, 1975, Making the Jump to Film. Metropolis, CA: Bat Publishing, 1988, VIII. WRITING YOUR PAPER: DOCUMENTATION The format of your research paper requires you to document where you find your information. Ragsdale uses a method based on the MLA documentation method. The Modern Languages Association (MLA) is an accepted style for most universities and colleges. There are other acceptable formats to write research paper and you should check with the person assigning the paper. The MLA research paper uses a method called internal documentation to give credit to sources. International documentation makes notes within the paper to show where information was found. IX. INTERNAL DOCUMENTATION: BASICS The purpose of internal documentation is to document a source briefly, clearly, and accurately. Each paragraph should have at least one parenthetical documentation. A parenthetical documentation should be used anytime you start a new paragraph, or change sources. 1. Citing most work Cite the author s last name and the page number of the source in parentheses. The period at the end of the sentence is after the last parenthesis. Example: Dalton was born in Great Britain (Jones 34). Example: Dalton created four laws describing the property of the atom (Jones 34-35). 4

6 2. Citing work after using the authors name in the text If you use the author s name in the text of a sentence you do not need to put the name in the parenthesis, only the page number. Example: Bob Jones believes that Dalton s work on the atomic theory revolutionized chemistry (24). 3. Citing one work by an author of two or more works If your list contains an author with two works; place a comma after the author s last name, add a shortened version of the title, add a comma, and supply the pages. Example: Thompson proved that cathode rays were negatively charged particles (Smith, Atoms, 220). 4. Citing one work by an author who has the same last name as another author in your list of works cited If your list of sources contains two authors with the same last name, add the author s first initial. Example: The modern theory involves many uncertainties (B. Bunny 41). 5. Citing a multi-volume work If you are citing one volume of a multi-volume work, you should indicate the specific volume you used. Example: The blue light has a high frequency than red (Blots 2: 233). 6. Citing a work with no author If a work contains no author or editor, use the first word (or words in needed) of your bibliography for that work (usually the first word of the title). Words like A, An, and The are not counted in the first words. Example: The average neutrons in carbon is 12 (Theory 233). 7. Citing a work of only one page If a work in only one page, it does not require you to include a page number since it could only be from one page. Example: Dalton used his knowledge of chemistry to create his law of multiple proportions (Williams). 8. Citing different pages from one source When citing from a single source, you only need to include page numbers after you have cited the name in the first citation of the paragraph until you change sources. Example: Bohr was able to compare the emission spectrum and absorption spectrum of hydrogen and found similarities (Rogers 34). The missing linesin the absorption spectrum was the same as the lines left in the emission spectrum (40). X. INTERNAL DOCUMENTATION: QUOTING Deciding what you want to quote is important. Only quote passages which are well written or contain unique information which you cannot rephrase. 1. Quotes of less than four lines Introduce the quote with an appropriate comment followed by a comma. OR State the quote, ending with a comma then add information. OR Incorporate the quote into the sentence. Example: According to Morrison, Dalton states, All atoms are unique and indivisible (45). 5

7 Example: All atoms are unique and indivisible, is Morrison s concept of Dalton s work (45). Example: Morrison tells us that Dalton calls all atoms unique and indivisible (45). 2. Quotes of more than four lines Longer quotes should be introduced by a sentence and a colon. Sometimes phrases such as as follows or in the following may be used. The quote should be indented five spaces. Double space above and below the passage. Example: Jim Morrison examples the importance of Dalton s Laws as follows: Dalton s work created a scientific background for all the theories about the concept of the atom. Before Dalton proved that the world must be made of small indivisible particles, the idea of atoms was only an idea. No one was able to prove that matter was made of particle as all (210). 3. Removing parts of a quote When quoting you may need to remove unnecessary material. You can omit material by use of an ellipsis ( ) Example: Morrison shows all matter is composed of elements which are small atoms all containing the same number of protons (33). Becomes: Morrison shows all matter is composed of elements all containing the same number of protons (33). XI. WRITING YOUR PAPER: REWORDING Summarizing and paraphrasing restate the wording of a passage. It is the most effective way to record information. When you reword, do NOT omit major points or add your own opinions. Summarizing: Summarizing is when you condense lengthy material down to a shorter passage. When you summarize you may not use specific terms of the author without credit (quotes). Example: Before: Dalton s atomic theory had four parts. First, matter is made of small particles called atoms. Elements are atoms of a single kind. Third, compounds are made up of multiple atoms. And fourth, atoms remain constant. After: Dalton created four law about atoms saying they make up matter and are divided by element. Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing restates text of a shorter passage. Example: Before: J.J. Thompson was born on December 18, 1856 in the England. After: In 1856, Thompson was born in England. XII. WRITING YOUR PAPER: PLAGIARISM PLAGIARISM: USING SOMEONE ELSE S IDEAS OR WORDS WITHOUT GIVING PROPER CREDIT OR GIVING NO CREDIT TO THE WRITER OF THE ORIGINAL WORK. Plagiarism, whether intentional or unintentional, is a serious offense. Study the following example to understand how plagiarism can be avoided. Original Version: Transportation did not stop crime in England or even slow it down. The criminal class was not eliminated by transportation, and could not be, because transportation did not deal with the causes of crime. 6

8 -excerpted from Robert Hughes The Fatal Shore Version A: Transportation did not stop crime in England or even slow it down. Criminals were not eliminated by transportation because transportation did not deal with the causes of crime. This passage is plagiarism because the writer fails to credit Hughes for the idea and words. There must be quotations and internal documentation Version B: Robert Hughes points out that transportation did not stop crime in England or even slow it down. Criminals were not eliminated by transportation because transportation did not deal with the causes of crime (168). This passage is plagiarism because the writer has copied the original but has supplied no quotation marks Version C: Hughes argues that transporting criminals from England to Australia did not stop crime The criminal class was not eliminated by transportation, and could not be, because transportation did not deal with the causes of crime (168). This passage is a satisfactory way of handling the material since it uses both quotation marks and internal documentation. XIII. WRITING YOUR PAPER: FINAL DRAFT Title Page Outline Page Title By (your name) Class, Period Date Title Thesis: I II A B III IV V (etc) 7

9 Written pages Continued Last Name Continued Last Name Bibliography Page Works Cited

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