1. "and in the end..." the beatles

You began the research process taking small steps, and as you read and thought and wrote more and more, it (likely) picked up speed. Not all research projects require you to go through all of the steps. Short papers, for example, might be managed in one sitting with you juggling notes in your head without producing an outline.

The goal here was not to prove beyond doubt your position (after all, these are just theories). If you ended up believing the conspiracy theory you researched or not, that's fine. I hope that you found it, at least, interesting to see things from a non-traditional point of view. There were really two goals to this assignment:

  1. to show that you could develop an expanded, reasoned argument using concrete evidence
  2. to show that you could demonstrate all of the steps associated with a research paper
If you know the basic process, you can apply it to nearly any research situation that comes up in college, in the work world, even in daily life (when you are doing research on what car to buy, for example).

2. final checklist

Yes, this repeats what is already written on the Writing Assignment page for the Research Paper, but it's a lot to keep straight; I don't want anyone to lost points for forgetting to turn in some required element of the research project.

Of course central to the project is the essay itself, but that's not all; here's a list of what's needed (note: you may submit it as attached Word documents, or you may bring/send me a hardcopy; that will be explained below):

Where's my paper?

Remember that I keep your research projects. I will be sending you general comments via e-mail, so if you would like a copy of your own paper and all of the sources, etc., then you must make a separate copy for your own records.

What do you do with them?

Well, it's a great hedge against plagiarism by other students who might get their hands on your paper and try to turn it in as their own work (that would be silly when I have the original to compare it to).

I also like a sample of your work in case, some day down the road, you call for a recommendation. I'll have something concrete to refer to in the recommendation.

3. some samples

Now, if you would like to see a few samples; I've included some below. Note that they are all partial files (the first page of the outline, a couple of annotated sources, etc.), but they are complete enough to give you the idea of what you need to be submitting.

4. how to submit your work

If you are going to submit a hardcopy of your project to me (which does have advantages; it's much easier to photocopy or print out your sources and annotate/highlight them than it is to highlight e-documents), put all of the required elements (above) into a manila envelope, and drop it off at my office (NEAH 273, feel free to shove it under my office door if I'm not there when you drop it off). If you'd like to mail the envelope containing your project to me, put appropriate postage on it, and send it to

John Corbally, Communications Division
Los Angeles Harbor College
1111 Figueroa Place
Wilmington, CA 90744

If you'd prefer to e-mail your project, you will want to save everything as Word (.doc or .rtf) documents (just as you would with any essay you submit) and attach the following three files to an e-mail sent to me (be sure your e-mail has your name and mentions that it is the English 101 research paper: