Research Papers A.K.A. “Impending Doom”
I will be introducing the research paper format and topic options very soon. I know that you have opinions regarding the process. Keeping in mind that this kind of paper will be required in many of your college classes, what would you like to see done differently in the research paper process? Explain a good or bad experience you had with some aspect of researching, writing, or developing a research paper. Leave out the names to protect the innocent. Also, remember that rants such as “Don’t make it about literature!” and “Make it short” are not really valid or realistic. This is senior English. Talk about your questions, thoughts, or ideas regarding this assignment before finding out the logistics of it.
In regards to the research paper there are a few things that would be extremely helpful. First of all, although I know the paper will be a literary analysis, it would be really great if the range of topics was a wide one in which we could actually find something that interests us to write about. In 10th grade my research paper was a topic I selected and I found that writing went much easier when I was writing about something I was really interested in. Also, it really helps if we have periodic deadlines leading up to the big deadline. This pushes me to get things done in a timely matter, rather than putting them off until the end.
The only experiences with research papers have been bad. The reason for this is because we have never been able to write about anything really interesting or relevent to our lives. I think that we should be able to pick our own topic to research because the writing would be much more real. People would put a lot more thought and time into a paper that they care about as opposed to a paper that they HAVE to write.
It has always frustrated me when a teacher assigns a research paper that has many choices of a book or subject of your choice. A certain environement of earth, an issue of earth, or a literature book. When choosing a certain issue it seems interesting, but then you find out that there is no information on the subject out there. Its difficult to only realise afterwards that this should not even be on the list. For the most part I have had good experiences with research papers though, and even though they are difficult to just sit down and do it does educate me on subjects though. The only other concern I have though is a definite form of citations and note card standard before the big research begins. It has happened way to many times that I have had a system going only to find out that it is totally wrong.
The only good experience I have had are in 10th and 11th grade. I don’t have a feeling that this one is going to be very good. I really enjoyed the topics that I had and got somewhat passionate about explaining them. So please for your super seniors sake please give us something good to write about because you just gave us like a hundred words to define… IN WRITING
I have had good and not so good papers during my time at MBHS. However i think that when a teacher is open for questions and goes over the process helps alot. I would like if my teacher would go over what she expects as far as reasearching an English novel. I am not looking forward to writing this paper, but i think that it will turn out well.
I think the research paper last year was the worst because our teacher was not of much help. She couldn’t grade very fast so we would turn in a prewriting assignment and not be able to see what she thought about it before writing the next part of it. It would help out alot if you could grade quickly and make sure we get back our prewriting in time to correct ourselves.
I have had good experiences with the research paper writing process in both my tenth and eleventh grade English classes. I think the most beneficial thing is having different things due on different dates that requires you as the writer to get it done piece by piece and then all you have to do is compile it before you complete the paper. I think it is a good motivator to have to turn some things in along the way so that the paper gets developed ahead of time. I also think that a wide range of topics is very helpful because it is significantly easier to write a paper that is really a personal topic of interest. Notecard methods are a third helpful thing that I was instructed to use in previous English classes.
I think we should have more library and laptop time for the research paper. Last year I didnt have enough class time to do the majority of the work, so I still had a ton of work to do at home. Also, my teacher was a really slow grader. She made us give her our brainstorming sheet, then made us turn in our paper before she had made any suggestions. She gave me back my brainstorming sheet that had a lot of suggestions, which I couldnt make because I had already turned in my paper.
I am not really looking forward to this research paper because in the past I have never been relayed exactly what the topic is. It is very helpful if a teacher does checks throughout the process. This way we know if we are behind we find out soon rather than when the final paper is done. I think if we do this type of process, our grades will be better even though it will be more frustrating for some people. My teacher last year did checks on everything we did and I felt that it significantly helped my grade. My teacher and I were able to fix my paper before it was too late.
Research papers have to be the one thing that no one looks forward to. It seems that all the other teachers overload us with homework during the paper. This year it would be nice if we could spend alot of independant time to go over what we will be doing. If we could spread out the paper, it would be alot easier for us.
I had some pleasent experiences with my research papers in the past two years. In 10th grade, my teacher basically told us that we could write about any subject we wanted to as long as it was appropriate. I liked this a lot because I got to decide what I wanted to research and therefore I actually wanted to write about the subject. Last year, my teacher gave us a choice of writers from a list to research about and write a paper based on their literary works. This was also successful for me because, once again, I basically got to choose what I wanted to research. The topics may have been more specififc, but the paper was still good. I think for our 12th grade research essay, we should choose our topics based on your specifications.
I think the research paper should have several choices to what you can write about. If I am able to pick what I am writting about then I will do so much better than if it was just assigned. I have never had a problem with the research paper because my English teachers have been on top of the ball. The only thing is I would like for you to read my paper before I turn it in. Besides that, I think I will be fine.
I am a little apprehensive about the research paper assignment, but that is probably because it always is a big struggle for me to get it started. However, I do think that research papers come easily with a lot of preparation. In my previous classes, it has helped to have a separate folder for all of my research paper materials, and keeping note cards with outlined sources is extremely helpful. I think the key to writing a good research paper is organization and knowledge of the topic and position the writer is taking. I do hope that the topics for our research papers are somewhat interesting; if they are not, they will be very difficult to write about.
I would like the students to pick the topics. I would also like this research paper to be easy. I remember in 11th grade English a teacher recommended a poet for me to do my research paper on and she said there was a lot of sources about his works. So I picked this poet for my project and sadly realised that she lied. There were little to no sources regarding his work, so I had to struggle to write a good paper. I hope we break down parts of the research paper into sections and have deadlines for them so we won’t be forced to procrastinate. Anyways make it easy.
I hated once when we were required to use research and source cards. Obviously, it is important to collect the citations and information for sources, but to make us do index cards written in a precise way is obsurd. You can’t even write enough information on the card. I understand that there are formats that the paper must be written in, but i hate having a graded format for the research that i do. But, honestly, research papers stink anyways so it’s really not that big of a deal.
Research papers have gotten easier over the past three years, but they are still very difficult to write. My least favorite part about the research paper is writing notecards because it does not help me at all. I am able to sift through information without using notecards, and I can incorporate it into my paper. I like having a variety of topics to choose from so that I can write about something that is interesting to me. One topic would limit our creative ability and our interest in writing the paper.
I think this would work out best if the students got to pick from a variety of topics for the research paper. I don’t really like making note cards because it doesn’t seem to help me that much. Research papers are tedious and hard because of all the steps that go into it, but everyone seems to always get by them without major problems. The big concern I have is finding a topic that I can get into and be interested in. I did well last year on it and I plan to do well again.
For the most part, the research paper process was easy in 10th and 11th grade. I was given adequate information and references. I hope there is a wide range of topics so that what I am writing about can be something I am interested in. The notecards always seem to be a big help even though they are not the most efficient way to get information. I also hope we have deadlines throughout the process so that I do not procrastinate.
I think that the research paper should be based on a broad range of ideas. I really do not enjoy writing about literature. I would prefer writing something about a world issue that we face today. I enjoy learning about these topics because I can actually relate to them. I have trouble discussing literature because I usually make wrong assumptions about topics. I hope that this paper will be my best research paper of all my years in high school. I know that it will be a challenge, but it will help me in the long run.
So far research papers have never been good experiences. The worst part about the papers is the fact that there are never any very relevant or very interesting topics to choose from. Another reason the papers have never been very good is because some of my past teachers did not ever have any time to meet with them and make sure that the paper we are writing is headed on the right track. Also please don’t make us do the notecards with all of the different topics. Those never help, all I ever ended up doing was writing random facts on the cards so I could get to the correct number needed.
To be honest, i really do not mind research papers. they give you easy points as long as you put in the effort. My only beef with research papers is the note cards and sources. Granted that is where the “research” aspect of the paper comes from. i would love to have more time to work on the paper than the cards. To me, the paper is the most important aspect of the whole”research paper” learning process.
Research paper, in my opinion, are death. They take so much time to do all that reasearch, editing, and re-writing over and over again. The only good thing about them is that we get about a month to work on them, but the kick to that, is that most people wait to the last week to start (including me!). I think that we should get class time/library time to work on the research papers. Also I think that if we could chose our topic, the paper would be easier for everyone to write. Writing on a certain topic is hard! 10th grade’s research paper I did well on, because we got to chose our topic!
There are not a lot of things that could make the research paper experience enjoyable. I think the hardest part of the research paper is truly understanding the topic or idea of what you want to right about. Not many of us like what we are going to write about becasue it is does fit our interest. So along with having to write a paper, it is a research paper that I could not get into because I am not interested in it. Do I understand though that it has to be about English literature because that is what this class is but if there was someway to make where we could write about anything that interested us, I think teachers would see better papers because students would be more interested in researching these ideas.
One thing about research papers is the topic. I think it would be a much more enjoyable experience (at least not miserable) if we could have a wide range of topics from which to choose. Being able to spend so much time on a paper would be much better if it were a topic in which were are truly interested. I major thing about research papers that is definitely needed is class time for the research. One thing that bothers me about all papers is a page minimum. I prefer page suggestions because with research papers I find myself throwing in informations to add bulk.
The hardest part about a research paper is gathering the correct information containing to the topic. I usually have a good bit of information, but can rarely use any of it. It might have to do with the topic in itself and me not knowing exactly what it pertains to. Maybe if the topics weren’t as foreign to me as they were in the past, it would help me understand what exactly i am trying to research in the first place. Class time helps me a bunch because you would be able to steer me in the right direction
The research paper process in 10th and 11th grade was not bad for me. I think that the paper will be easier if we have several topics to choose from. Also, it helps me when we turn things in througout the process because it prevents me from procrastinating. It would also make the research process easier if we have a lot of time in the library to do research.
I really think the hardest thing about the whole research paper process is deciding what your topic really wants you to do. I think we should have a wide range of topics so that there will be a few that could intrest us. Along with it being a wider range, some guidence on exactly what we were being asked would be appreciated. Also, time in class is greatly appreciated. Since the research paper is such a huge chunk of our grade, it obviously requires alot of time. There are many of us that play a spring sport and or do other activities during the 3rd nine weeks so time in class is awesome. I know it is not realistic for us to have laptops everyday and on days when we don’t, be able to be in the library. But time when we could would be great, and generally most people actually do work on class work days during research paper time!