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Graded Writing Assignment Writing Skills: A Research Project If you need to do so, refer back to the graded writing assignment, Writing Skills: A Personal Narrative, to review the essential parts of an essay, as well as the steps of the writing process and assistance with grammar and mechanics. By the end of this assignment, you should be ready to submit your essay for grading. When you complete this assignment, you’ll be able to ■ Identify and effectively use the first-person point of view in conjunction with research ■ Use research to enhance ideas and opinions ■ Use resources to improve grammar and mechanics ■ Write a research paper without plagiarizing ■ Construct a personal research paper using MLA format Preview This assignment is intended to assist you in composing a personal research project, fulfilling the requirements for the second writing assignment in your Written Communication course. The assignment outlines your options for the project and describes what’s involved in completion of each option. It redefines the first-person point of view (which you mastered in completion of your first writing assignment in this course) and why it’s necessary. Finally, the assignment offers several different ideas for inclusion. iii 1 WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROJECT? 1 YOUR OPTIONS 2 Option 1: Personal Take on Current Issues Option 2: Planning a Career 2 3 WHY USE THE FIRST-PERSON POINT OF VIEW? 3 REVIEW: AVOIDING PLAGIARISM 4 ESSENTIALS: FORMATTING YOUR ESSAY 5 SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER BEFORE SUBMITTING 7 SUMMARY 8 GRADING RUBRIC 9 SAMPLE PAPER 10 Contents WRITING SKILLS: A RESEARCH PROJECT v Writing Skills: A Research Project For your second and final writing assignment in this course, you’re being asked to construct a variation of a personal essay, which can also be referred to as a research project. The essay that you produce must be based on a combination of personal experience(s) and research, it must be told primarily from the first-person point of view, and it must meet the given length requirement of 500 to 1,500 words. The essay that you write should be a direct response to one of the two prompts offered. It should offer your ideas and opinions and use research as support. This essay, much like the personal narrative, will be directed toward a general and unfamiliar audience—people who don’t know you personally. Your finished product should be completely original and contain research only as support for your established ideas. You should not rely on the results of your research to create your essay, but to support ideas of your own. This will help to ensure that your finished project is unique, credible, and ethical. WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROJECT? A research project is exactly what its name implies: a project (in this case an essay) that utilizes research for support. In a very basic sense, all essays are personal, in that it’s impossible to avoid a personal opinion, even in the most objective writing; however, the research project must combine personal opinion with research to produce supported arguments and opinions. 1 While the author doesn’t need to hide his personal opinion, he must be sure to use appropriate and accurate research to support his or her ideas. Unlike the personal narrative, the research project requires more than the thoughts, feelings, ideas, and personal input of the author. The essay that you create should clearly state your ideas and opinions, and show the reasoning behind your opinions, as well as identify the ideas you’ve located to back your opinions through research. These ideas will work together to ultimately show your learned expertise and your authority to write on your chosen topic.