Home - ENGLISH 1302 - Alfaro-Composition II

Assignment

Ms. Alfaro's English 1302 class will be writing a research paper. Students will choose an essay topic based on one of the following themes.

Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Competition Theme
African Americans in Texas: Past and Present. Essays should focus on individuals or groups who are not well-known figures but who have made significant contributions to African American History or culture in Texas. Students should look first to their local communities for possible essay topics.

Latino History Essay Competition Theme
Historical and cultural legacies of Latinos in Texas history. Essays should focus on a prominent or relatively unknown Latino individual, organization or movement in Texas history. How has the subject of the essay significantly influenced today's Latino communities?

For this particular assignment, you will want to gather authoritative information from a variety of sources. The hardest part of the assignment will be choosing your topic. Once you have selected your topic, you will want to gather information from books, journal articles, and authoritative websites. The tabs at the top of this guide will provide information and links to these resources.

Steps to a research essay

Overview of Essay Writing

BASIC Essay Format
Regular Questions vs. Research Questions
Steps for Developing a Research Question
The steps for developing a research question, listed below, help you organize your thoughts.

Step 1: Pick a topic (or consider the one assigned to you).

Step 2: Write a narrower/smaller topic that is related to the first.

Step 3: List some potential questions that could logically be asked in relation to the narrow topic.

Step 4: Pick the question that you are most interested in.

Step 5: Change that question you’re interested in so that it is more focused.
Information Disorder
In depth look at the trend of sharing misinformation and the public mistaking it for truth is truly an issue today. Check out this article about the TYPES on Information Disorders that harm our world.
Search Strategy Worksheet
This resources helps to focus your topic so you can better research related issues or information to your chosen topic.