Informational Research Essay
This assignment will challenge you in the areas of choosing atopic, narrowing it down, finding decent, unbiased research, writing an extended formal essay, including citations within your writing as well as creating a reference page, and polishing your work after you have completed the rough draft. This is the major assignment for the class. Doing well will prepare you for future research papers regardless of major or focus.
General Essay Requirements:
• MLA format as prescribed in OWL at Purdue Website
• Typed, Times New Roman font, 12pt., double-spaced, 1” margins
• Proper grammar, spelling, and paragraphing (no personal pronouns)
• Title based on topic (not essay genre)
Specific Essay Requirements:
• 4 full pages (23 lines per page) of text minimum plus works cited (MLA style)*
• Thesis statement in introduction
• 4 database sources minimum (no Google, Wiki-anything, dictionaries, etc.)*
• MLA style parenthetical citations throughout essay*
• Works Cited citations MUST match parenthetical citations*
• Conclusion must restate thesis statement
Getting started:
• Consult:
• World Book Online
Username- chs
password- knights
https://www.worldbookonline.com/?subacct=%3Cacct_num%3E%22%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22https://www.worldbookonline.com%20/images/worldbook_web.gif%22%20alt=%22World%20Book%20Web%22%20border=%220%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E
• Jstor
Username- creeksidehs
Password- flknights
https://www.jstor.org/
• Eric
https://eric.ed.gov/?
• History.com
https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/victorian-era-timeline
• Do preliminary research to learn about topic
• Create a 3-point thesis statement based upon research items
• Use PEEL format to create your body paragraphs and include citations
Revision:
• Make sure each body paragraph supports a point in your thesis (in order)
• Envelope your research in style using PEEL format
• Create a hook and clincher that is appropriate for your topic
• Check for errors
• Search for ways to communicate your event more effectively
• Consider peer review comments
* This essay and these items are at particular risk for plagiarism. Be sure you are aware of all formatting rules including proper documentation and paraphrasing and summarizing. Plagiarism will result in a 0 for the assignment.
Choosing a topic:
You must choose an informational topic that relates to our study of British Literature. Your topic should also be one that can be easily researched by school databases.
Possible topics:
1. Advances in medicine during the 1800’s. What were some of the latest techniques and discoveries?
2. Scarlet fever. What is it? How is it treated? What was its status during the 1800’s?
3. Lake poets and the Romantic movement in British Literature.
4. An investigation of the Coleridge-Wordsworth relationship.
5. 18th and early 19th century British bookmaking and publishing.
6. Bipolar disease and Romantic writers
7. The plight of women in 18th and 19th century Britain
8. Robert Louis Stevenson
9. Queen Victoria’s contributions
10. Victorian fashion
11. Poverty and child labor during the Victorian Era
12. Jack the Ripper
13. Differences in education among social classes in the Victorian Era
14. The Crimean War
15. The Irish Potato Famine
16. The Great Exhibition (1851)
17. Florence Nightingale
18. Working conditions in the Victorian Era and their results in England
19. The plight of orphans in Victorian Era society
20. The role of love in a Victorian Era marriage
