Objective: You will revise a draft of a research essay.
Writing a Research Essay: When you write a research essay, you must follow the writing process as laid out below. It goes prewrite, draft, revise, edit, and publish.
Prewriting involves selecting a narrow, focused research topic, finding useful and reliable sources, conducting research, compiling notes, and finally creating an outline of the main points you will address in your essay.
Drafting involves synthesizing the information gathered during research and structuring it into an essay that is five paragraphs in length and includes a three-point thesis statement, mixes your original ideas with citations pulled from research, and presents your findings in a clear and coherent way.
Revising involves reading back through your draft—usually multiple times, or even aloud—and reworking it for style, tone, and voice. You should also be sure to add transitions to ensure that your essay flows logically from one point to the next.
Editing involves poring through your essay with an eye towards spelling, sentence structure, and other conventions. Just as when revising, it is helpful to read your essay aloud or even ask a friend to read it, as this makes it easier to catch mistakes than simply reading the essay in your head.
Publishing is the final step of the process. In academic settings, this usually involves printing a final, polished copy of your edited and revised essay and submitting it to your teacher.
For this assignment, you are to use a research draft you have already composed to finish the writing process. Edit and revise your draft, making sure that it contains all the necessary components listed below. If you do not already have a draft composed, you will have to go through the writing process by selecting a topic, conducting research, composing a draft, and editing and revising before submitting your publishable copy.
You may select any topic for research, as long as it is related to this course and academically appropriate. You may also use one of the following topics to get started:
the influence of John Locke’s writings on revolutionary movements
Beowulf as an example of the hero’s quest
the lasting impact of Jane Austen’s work
the use of irony in one of Shakespeare’s tragedies
the nature of relationships in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
Your final, polished essay must:
be five paragraphs in length.
contain a minimum of five sentences per paragraph.
address a narrow, focused research topic.
include a three-point thesis statement that previews the main ideas of the essay.
contain a mix of original ideas and information from research.
include at least one citation in each body paragraph.
include a Works Cited page that properly uses MLA format and contains at least three sources.
use proper spelling, grammar, and sentence structure.
Rubric is Attached!