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In the video cast below, you’ll see a student writer exploring her research paper assignment as the first step in her research writing process.
Using the sample assignment you see presented in this video cast, you’ll be taken through the entire research and writing process with a video cast for each step as you progress through the Research area of the Excelsior OWL. Each time you see the student sample, you’ll be asked to do the same step with your own research assignment.
This area of the Excelsior University Online Writing Lab takes you through the process of writing a paper using sources. To show you how you might approach each step of the research writing process, I am going to take you through each of the steps with my own research paper assignment.
I will begin by sharing my formal assignment sheet, which you can see here. You will then see a series of video casts, one for each step, as I develop my own research paper.
Following each video, you will be asked to then take your turn with that step of the process using your own assignment.
I will begin our journey with my assignment sheet here. Before I begin writing, I am going to highlight a few key components for me to consider. I see I get to choose my topic based on my major. I am an education major, so I will want to choose a topic related to education. That certainly gives me a lot of flexibility.
I must choose some kind of issue, so that forces me to narrow a little bit. I will need to think about some kind of controversial issue related to education. I see my paper should be thesis based, 4-6 pages long, and I need five sources.
My audience has been identified as academic, so that is something I will need to keep in mind.
I see I am supposed to support my claims and address counter claims. That is definitely where my source material will help me. And I get to choose MLA or APA format. I will be using APA format for my paper, since that is what I have used in my education classes.
This is my assignment, and the requirements I will keep in mind as I begin my process.