Winding Up Research, Getting Ready To Write

So, if things have been going well, you've gone from having virtually no clue about your project topic to being pretty knowledgable about many different possible causes of your conflict.  You have picked a cause, and you have tried to find out everything you can about it.  Your teacher had you start by reading reference materials such as online or print encyclopedias, textbooks, etc.  Over time, you moved away from those general types of sources to better and more specific sources such as books, articles from magazines and newspapers, video/audio recordings, and database or web page articles.  These sources provided more specific information, but also had a potential to be unreliable, outdated, or bias (taking a side).  Hopefully you have been citing every source you look at in MLA format on your Bibliography Sheet.

Now is the tough part.  You should, at this point, be looking for Primary Source Quotes.  A Primary Source Quote is something that was said or written by people that were either participants or observers of the event you are talking about.  Since you are doing a paper on the causes of your conflict, you need to make sure your Primary Sources are from that time period, and had first hand knowledge and experiences about what you are referring to.  Just because they lived during a time period, does not mean that they are experts on the subject!  For example, if someone were to ask you about September 11, 2001 because you were living then, you would not be a very good source-- you were only about 4, 5, or 6 years old!  Use the ACAPS form your teacher should have provided you (or something similar) to analyze your quotes to make sure they are accurate and trustworthy. 

When you begin the writing process in your English class, you should have enough information for the paper, including 3 Primary Source Quotes, as well as 6 other quotes, facts or statistics.  You should also have a preliminary thesis written.  As you write, you may have to adjust the way you word your thesis to fit the evidence you have, too.  Remember, every sentence in your essay should serve one purpose only:  prove that your thesis is true!