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ENG 112: College Composition II (Hughes-LO)

Research tips for your term paper! Direct comments and questions to eselander@nvcc.edu.

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Making Connections

In class you've learned about using credible evidence to support your argument. Do you have an opinion (or thesis) about a topic? Great! You can believe something is true, but you won't convince your readers to believe it too, unless you can back up your opinion with facts. As you read or skim through the articles and books that you find, make sure you know whether the information you find is credible. Use the acronym SIFT to remember the process:

  • STOP. Before you read more than a few sentences of an article, a book, or even a social media post: take a moment and find out if you know where the information comes from. Decide whether this source will be worth your time.

  • INVESTIGATE the source. Figure out the expertise and the agenda of the source you're looking at. Is the author an expert on the topic? Does the publisher work for a company that wants you to buy its product? Decide whether you can trust the source.

  • FIND trusted coverage. Find another source that makes a similar claim. It's best if you can find multiple sources. One person can make any claim they want to make; if multiple media outlets, multiple universities, or multiple experts agree on a claim, it's more likely to work as credible evidence for your argument.

  • TRACE to the original context. Social media has made it easy for anyone to make a claim and include "evidence" in the form of a video or screenshot. If you want to include this type of evidence to bolster your argument, you need to view it in its original context first. For example, if you see a video posted online of footage from fighting in Ukraine--even on a reputable news site--and want to use it in a research paper (or even just share it online with friends), find the original source of the video first. Is it from 2022... 2014... or another time entirely? Ask your librarian for help if you're not sure how to start.

 

SIFT infographic

 

Image source: SIFT: The Four Moves by Mike Caulfield.

Term Paper Assignment

General Format and Topic

  • The paper MUST be 6 pages in length, NOT counting the works cited page. Additionally, photos, charts, graphs, etc. do not contribute to this page count.
  • The topic can be one of the following general categories (note there are a number of cross-over topics)
    • Equality & Equity – Equality and equity in society, education, employment, healthcare, etc.
    • Immigration – Documented and Undocumented immigrants, responsibility of the host, care on arrival, etc.
    • Civil Rights – Historical path to today, prominent leaders, civility and violence, etc.
    • Governing Policy – Law, Government, Policing, Protection, Fair and Consistent, etc.
    • Culture – Cultural Mix, welcoming or hesitant, language, religion, customs, dress, etc.
  • The paper must be typed / word processed and written in 12-point Times New Roman or Calibri font with double-spaced lines.
  • The paper's margins MUST be 1" top and bottom, and 1.25" left and right. There should NOT be any extra spaces between paragraphs or after titled points in the work.
  • The format for the essay, including ALL in-text and works cited citations, MUST be in the currently accepted MLA format.

Sources

You MUST use a minimum of FOUR different sources for your research. Those sources can be books or scholarly / refereed articles from the databases available through the VCCS Library System. Google searches do not typically yield sources suitable to academic writing; however, you may use one internet source outside of the books and databases, provided that it can be vetted for accuracy in the information that you find.