The word culture means a way of life for a group of people. It includes the way that group thinks and acts, their systems, beliefs, and traditions. Culture shapes our identities and our communities. 

Cultural relevancy means being closely connected to culture in a way that acknowledges, honors, or influences it. 

Here are several writing process steps for a research paper:

1. Understand the research task.

2. Identify the research focus.

3. Craft the inquiry question.

4. Gather information.

5. Evaluate sources.

6. Construct an outline.

7. Organize sources.

8. Write a draft.

9. Revise and edit the draft.

10. Finalize the draft using the research checklist or rubric.

Two students are researching athletes and activism. Think about the characteristics of an effective research question. Let’s determine which question is an example and which is a nonexample of an effective inquiry question.

Student A:
How influential is Muhammad Ali?

Student B:​
How has Muhammad Ali influenced activism in sports?

Although both questions listed a specific disruptor, Student A’s question is very broad (covers too many subjectd. Student B’s research question is focused and indicates a clear purpose: to research and discover Ali’s influence on activism in sports. 

Think about your disruptor and consider the following questions:

• What type of system or structure did the disruptor impact?

• How did the disruptor disrupt the system or structure?

• What type of influence does this disruptor have globally?

• What connections does the disruptor have with you and your community?

• Currency: Is the information current or recent? When was the edition or website last updated?

• Relevance: Is the information relevant to your topic or research task?

• Authority: Where is the information published? Who is the author or publisher? Who are the researchers and their affiliations? Have they been cited in other works or sources?

• Accuracy: Where does the information come from and is it supported by evidence? Are all links working or linked to current or active information? Are facts or biased views presented?

• Purpose: Why was the information published? Was it to educate the audience, sell a service or product, or convince the audience of a certain perspective?

Your librarian or internet search engine may generate a long list of books and journal articles to include in your research. However, it is important to use credible books and journal articles.

It is best to use articles from journals published by professional standard organizations such as American Comparative Literature Association, Project Muse, and the American Bar Association. These journals can be found through academic libraries and academic databases. Some of these journals are free through a school account and others may charge a subscription fee.

Work with a librarian to find credible reference books to aid your information collection. Textbooks and encyclopedias (print or digital) are solid sources.

As you examine your sources, follow these steps:

• Summarize the source.

• Highlight the key details.​

• Synthesize the important parts that explore the keywords.

• Annotate information about the disruptor, his or her work, your community, and your culture.

As you examine your literary sources (books, poems, plays, movies, art, and so on), ask the following question: How does this source express the disruptor’s view of the world and his or her impact on others? 

Not sure what the difference is between Summarizing and Synthesizing? See these notes from English 9A! Or see below!

There are three key types of connections you can make when examining sources:

• Text-to-Self: Consider what you already know about the topic. Think about experiences that might be like what you are reading or discovering.

• Text-to-World: Note the similarities and differences of current events and the historical and social context presented in your research.

• Text-to-Text: Think about previous readings on your topic or about your disruptor. Notice similarities and differences between those readings and your sources.​

Combine like sources together and then position them logically as you write your paper. Your synthesized information will help you form and support a claim.

Consider these steps when synthesizing information from your sources:

• Read the text to get the gist and the claim the author is making.

• Read the text a second time and annotate the main ideas or reasons and evidence the author provides to support claims.

• Draw conclusions about the information presented and note connections.

• Repeat for each source.

Note that you can synthesize information found in one source, or information from multiple sources. 

• Speak clearly: As you share your claim and supporting evidence, be sure to speak clearly. Think carefully and speak concisely—say what you mean. Communicate slowly and deliberately. Be sure to maintain a respectful tone and appropriate volume.

• Listen actively: When other group members are sharing, make eye contact with the speaker and do not interrupt. Take notes to provide thorough feedback. This applies to receiving feedback as well.

• Respond appropriately: Follow the protocol and refer to the suggested items. Keep responses brief and evidence-based. Always maintain a respectful tone and appropriate volume.

A solid argument is built by making a clear claim and offering reliable evidence or support. However, some writers do not always use sound logic or reasoning to build a case. These kinds of arguments are said to contain faulty reasoning. 

• Johanan played on the swing set three times this week and fell each time. Her mom now believes that swing sets are unsafe.

Johanan played and fell off a swing set three times in a week. Because of this apparent pattern, her mother has now deemed all swing sets unsafe.

Her mom makes a claim based on a small number of occurrences and applies it to all swing sets. Her mom does not examine the swing set Johanan plays with for further proof. This type of faulty reasoning occurs when people rush to draw conclusions and don’t examine large bodies of evidence.

This type of faulty reasoning is based on attacking the character or circumstance of someone who disagrees with the author. These personal attacks might distract the reader from noticing the author’s weak case or lack of thorough support for his or her claim.

A slippery slope argument rejects a course of action because the author insists that the action will lead to a chain reaction resulting in undesirable outcomes. This supposed progression of events is based on little or no evidence. Think back to Chris. He thought that if he allowed his sister to borrow his comic books, he would soon have to share his allowance and, ultimately, have no money to buy a car. None of these events or hypotheticals are based on evidence. Authors use this thinking to instill fear in readers. 

In addition to fault reasoning, authors can weaken their credibility and reliability through omission.

Omission involves intentionally leaving out important facts that do not align with the author’s point of view. Authors may manipulate data and contexts to bolster their claims and mislead readers. To avoid using these sources, it is important to conduct research by reading a large collection of sources.

Here’s an example of omission:
An author says that recess, like instructional class time, should be reduced from 30 minutes to 15 minutes. He backs his position with a piece of scientific research. However the author chooses to leave out that the research only studied instructional class time and was not directly related to recess times.

A draft is the first version of a work, to be revised and improved later into its final version. Drafting is the process of planning and creating the draft.

An outline serves as a guide to organize your ideas and plan your paper. Every outline includes the following:

• Introduction: This opening paragraph is your first opportunity to draw your audience in. It must include a hook, context, and your claim.

• Body Paragraphs: Each body paragraph will have a main point or reason that supports your claim. Each point must be supported by evidence from your sources. In the body of your paper, be sure to plan for your counterargument and refutation also supported with evidence from your sources.

• Conclusion: In your final paragraph, summarize your main points and leave your reader with deeper insight into why your disruptor is important.

Introduction:

Hook- Quote by Nelson Mandela

Context- Explain the type of leader he was and the why he has a global presence

Claim- Nelson Mandela and his anti-oppression leadership has greatly influenced the LGBTQ community’s fight against discrimination.

Body Paragraph 1: Mandela pushed legislation in South Africa to prevent discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community. Use legislature source and interview information.

Body Paragraph 2: Contrast Mandela’ s legislation in South Africa to that of other African countries and America to highlight importance of his leadership. Use legislature source and new article source.

Body Paragraph 3: Mandela participated in activism to help the LGBTQ community outside of leadership. Use book source and interview source.

Body Paragraph 4: Present counter argument claiming Mandela had ulterior motives. Refute with language from one of his speeches.

Conclusion: Sum up all main points and make an insightful statement about what can be learned from Mandela and how he fought for LGBTQ rights.

Be supportive
Each paragraph presents a main point in the topic sentence that builds off the claim. An effective paragraph supports and develops the claim.

Be Strong
For a paragraph to be effective, it must present strong evidence that supports the main point or the topic sentence. This support must be relevant and come from reliable sources.

Be Coherent
An effective paragraph must make sense within the argument and present ideas that develop the claim. Together all paragraphs flow from one point to the next making the argument clear and credible.

This is evidence based on sound reason and facts. Writers will present data or facts that can be verified.

Example:

Lamar is writing about the effect of social media on activism. He wants to make the case that social media can encourage more people to be activists by shedding light on current issues. Here is an excerpt from his essay with logical evidence.

In a recent study, it was noted that more than 3.5 billion people use social media. Over 60 percent of the world’s population are online and based on latest trends, over half of the world’s total population will have access to and use social media by the end of 2020. As people gain more access to social media, they will more than likely be exposed to many prominent issues that plague society. As they see these issues via news stories, threads, and other posts, they will also notice how people form movements to combat these issues via activism.

As you write your research paper, consider the different ways to embed evidence and information from your sources by:

• Summarizing: Restate the main ideas and key details from sources.

• Paraphrasing: Express the meaning of information or someone’s words from a source in your own words. Think of paraphrasing as reframing with your own voice without losing the meaning of the original content.

• Quoting: Directly state or copy someone else’s words or content from a source.

It is important to note that no matter how you chose to embed evidence, you must provide in-text citations.

Citations prevent a writer from plagiarizing information and help a writer maintain credibility.

Below you will find an example text from a sample essay. The paragraph will show how citing your sources works in writing.

During his presidency Mandela stood by his belief that everyone should be treated equally and as a result passed laws that ensured this. In 1996, two years after the official end of Apartheid and Mandela's election as president, the new constitution of South Africa included provisions that outlawed the discrimination of LGBTQ South Africans (aclu.org). Apartheid South Africa oppressed many people beyond the borders of race and Mandela ensured that in a post-Apartheid era no one should have be oppressed. By ensuring these provisions, Mandela not only demonstrated that he was a genuine leader but set the tone for a lot of other countries to revamp their laws to end LGBTQ discrimination.

• Here a student uses logical evidence to explain that because of the legislature passed under Mandela’s leadership, he was an advocate for the LGBTQ community. Notice how they summarize the key details from this source.

• According to the Citing Sources: Quick MLA Style Guide, when a writing is citing an internet source without an author, the writer should use a shortened version of the source’s URL.

• Hook your reader: Your opening sentence sets the tone for the entire paper, so don’t rush your hook. A hook can be a statistic, a quotation, a brief anecdote or an insightful question. Avoid generalizations and generic definitions.

• Contextualize your topic: Provide your reader with the background information they need to understand your topic and argument. This context might include setting social context, sharing historical information, or defining unfamiliar relevant terminology.

• State your claim and purpose: Clearly state your claim and establish your purpose. Your claim statement lets your reader know exactly what the essay will be about and what your position on the topic is.

• Reflect and revise: After writing your introduction, step back and reread it to ensure that it is interesting and informative. Make changes as nee

• Reconsider your claim
  Check to ensure that you have clearly expressed your claim as it drives the focus of your paper. Make sure the wording makes the claim clear and debatable.

• Reorganize your ideas
  Think about the purpose of your argument and your audience. Consider how the arrangement or organization of your ideas will have a lasting impact on your readers.

Examine your current organizational pattern. Consider arranging ideas in a stronger pattern to ensure clarity and strength.

Review each paragraph to ensure that each topic sentence contains a clear main point.

Revise as needed to help your reader move logically from one idea to the next throughout your argument.

• Review your evidence
  Review your evidence and ensure that it comes from trustworthy sources.

Make sure that your evidence directly supports the main points and your claim. Remove any evidence that is not relevant to your claim.

During this stage, you can replace or add evidence as needed to develop ideas and claims to strengthen your argument.

Be sure to cite all sources and use your MLA Style Guide as a reference.

• Refine Grammatical & Mechanical (how things work and fit together) elements
  As you review your draft, check for grammar, usage, and mechanics. Notice errors in spelling, punctuation, diction, and sentence structure.

Be sure to have a variety of sentences: simple, complex, and compound. Combine clauses and phrases to create effective sentences. Varied, well-structured sentences will improve clarity.

Revise diction to ensure you are writing in a formal style. It is important to use a formal style when writing academic papers. This also helps establish your credibility as a researcher.

Active voice focuses on the subject, or doer, performing the action in a sentence. Active voice also uses action verbs. Writing in active voice helps readers grasp the main ideas easily, which builds clarity in your paper. Here is an example:

The class instructor responds to student emails within 24 hours.

In this sentence, we clearly understand that the subject, the class instructor, is the doing the action, responds to student emails.

Passive voice focuses on the object receiving the doer’s action in a sentence. These sentences make the object the subject of the sentence. Sometimes sentences written in passive voice are wordier and more difficult to understand. Here is an example:

Student emails are responded to by the class instructor within 24 hours.

In this sentence, the subject of the sentence, emails, is receiving the action and not doing it

A phrase is a group of words that acts as a single part of speech. 

• noun phrase: a group of words that includes the noun and all its modifiers. 

The young, agile boy sprained his ankle performing a backflip.  

• verb phrase: a group of words that includes a verb and all its modifiers. 

My pet Husky has been howling all night.  

• adjectival phrase: a group of words that describes a noun or pronoun; answers the questions which one, what kind, how many, how much, and whose. 

The omelet with the mushrooms and olives is mine.  

• adverbial phrase: a group of words that describes a verb, adjective, or adverb; answers the questions where, when, why, how, and to what extent. 

My best friend lives at the end of Bedford Lane. 

• prepositional phrase: begins with a preposition and ends with the object of the preposition; can function as both an adjective and an adverb. 

The lady in the tie dye jacket is my mother. (adjectival)
My cat chased the iguana up the tree. (adverbial)  

• infinitive phrase: begins with the word to and a verb; can function as a noun, adjective, or adverb. 

Danisha wants to graduate college with a high GPA. (noun)
The only way to become better at singing is practice. (adjectival)
I am training to compete in a triathlon. (adverbial)  

• participial phrase: begins with a past or present participle; functions as an adjective. 

Edward spotted his pet bulldog lying in the shade.
Framed by the moonlight, my father’s grey locks looked like a silver waterfall. 

For more tips and tricks about Phrases or Clauses, click here to open the "Phrases and Clauses" worksheet.