COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL RESEARCH HANDBOOK

WRITING THE PAPER- THE MAIN BODY

We all want a beautiful body. Your paper is no different. But your paper wants more than just to LOOK good; it wants to BE good. A healthy paper needs depth and coherence. As was mentioned before, a longer paper is really just several essays tied together coherently. Here are some tips and steps to follow for writing the main part of the paper.

1. First, if you have properly labeled your note cards as to which part of the outline they connect with, simply put all the note cards for each section of the outline together. Each section of the outline should have some note cards. If one doesn't, you may have to get more notes.
2. Re-read you outline carefully. Know what each section is trying to prove, and keep that in mind.
3. Begin writing, using as many of your own thoughts as possible. Every time you use a note card, write the name of the source and the page number at the end of the sentence before the period, like this:
   Some psychologists believe that it can be predicted with great accuracy which five year-olds will later commit crimes (Carkner 34).
   Note: This will be discussed also with the chapter on citing works, but you should know that not every fact that you take down as notes needs to be cited (given credit to the source). COMMON KNOWLEDGE information need not be credited. What is common knowledge information? It is anything that would appear in three or more sources. Typical common knowledge information would be events in newspapers, for example the Kennedy assassination. Much scientific knowledge is common knowledge; for examples, the composition of a molecule, or the skeleton of a mammoth. COMMON KNOWLEDGE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR OWN KNOWLEDGE OF A FACT OR IDEA. If you are not sure if a fact is common knowledge, ask your teacher or librariarian. Thus, many of your note cards, it is possible, will not have to be cited, as in the above example about five year-olds where a citation was necessary because it was NOT common knowledge.

4. As you write, try to include a mix of quotations (see chapter on quotations) so that you don't overuse one kind. It is good style to have AT LEAST 50% OF ALL QUOTATIONS OF THE INDIRECT KIND. Indirect quotes, remember, are quotes in which you put the words of the passage into your OWN words.

5. Avoid putting just one quote after another, ESPECIALLY DIRECT QUOTES. Never put direct quotes back-to-back. Use as much common knowledge material as you can so that on a typical page you don't have too many quotes.
6. 6. USE YOUR OUTLINE! Your outline, along with your thesis, will guide you through the paper. If you have solid headings in your outline, use them for transitions (connecting sentences and phrases) between sections of the paper.
7. Double check. Make sure ALL information that you have borrowed is CITED. Once again,citing information is giving credit to the source.
8. As this is a rough draft, write as quickly as you can, and worry about sentence structure and spelling for later.
9. Make sure each paragraph has a TOPIC SENTENCE that will be developed.
10. Blend material from your notes into your own sentences.
11. If you get stuck on a section, go on to another one and come back to the problem later. .
12. USE TRANSITIONS! Transitions, you will remember, are words and phrases which CONNECT parts of the paper to each other. Sometimes they are as simple (but important) as the word 'this' or the phrase 'on the other hand.' THE IMPORTANCE OF USING TRANSITIONS WELL CANNOT BE OVERSTATED. They are what holds the paper together, in a sense. Many of your transitions will grow out of your outline. Be careful of using the SAME transitions over and over ("Another problem…" "Another problem…")
13. We know you will claim it's the 'ONLY WAY I CAN WORK,' but avoid working on the paper with Limp Bizkit (substitute your own choice here) blaring in your ears. Trust us. We at the Institute have done research on this. You are wrong.

The exerpt begins in the middle of a paragraph:

…It's assumed that parents who care for their children in a loving, responsive manner tend to have children who are securely attached to them and who develop good self-esteem. Parents who read to their children typically have children to perform well in school. Genes do create obstacles, but if parents are dedicated and persistent, their child can overcome them, allowing the child to reach his full potential (Splayer 53).

In addition, the theory of nurture includes experience and relationships outside of the home. These are the experiences and relationships that can hurt or help a parent. For example,a death of friend can make one depressed and lonely. Nurturists believe that if a child has a good parent(s), he will be able to overcome this tragedy, although it may leave permanent damage. On the other hand, if the child had bad parents, it may assumed that the child will have trouble getting over the death and this will hinder his development even more. Therefore,outside experiences and relationships are believed to contribute to one's personality, but is there any solid evidence to back it up? Actually, a number of studies and experiments have been conducted that seem to support the theory of 'nurture.'

John B Watson performed many such experiments for the behaviorists, a group that believes personality develops through rewards and punishments. Behavior could be conditioned by certain experiences (Carmichael 91). Watson was a firm advocate of conditioned behavior, believing a parent has the power to create attributes in a child if he uses the right strategy. One experiment he performed to prove his hypothesis involved a boy named Albert and a rabbit. Every time the rabbit was placed in contact with Albert, Watson would make a loud noise with a bell. As a result, the boy would shriek and jump away from the rabbit because he was startled by the noise. This same procedure was repeated hundreds of times. Eventually, when Watson would place the rabbit in front of the boy, the boy would shriek out of fright without the ringing of the bell. Thus, Watson had produced conditioned fear of rabbits in Albert. Albert continued to have this fear throughout his adulthood (Harris 6). Although this has been labeled an unethical experiment, it is important in that it shows that the environment can create, or at least reinforce, certain traits.

Experiments in behaviorism weren't the only types of studies used to prove the nurture theory. In fact, studies on infant and child temperament have revealed the most crucial evidence for nurture theories. For two decades, a psychologist, Steve Suomi, analyzed twelve of his monkeys. In one study, generations of monkeys were selectively bred for particular traits and then closely monitored in different settings. For instance, Suomi bred a baby monkey to be nervous. He then had an older, bold, but easy-going monkey rear him. She acted as a mother figure. Suomi observed that "the youngster not only developed her ways but even her low norepinephrine chemistry" (qtd. in Gallagher 136). Thus, the baby monkey's behavior changed due to her relationship with her 'foster' mother.

Another study on infant temperament was performed by Jerome Kagan, a psychologist at Harvard University….