April Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I'm awful. I know. I had so many projects that I kind of left this one until the last minute. I've never written a research paper before, as this is my first year at University. I'm currently reading up on how to do my referencing, however, I was wondering if anyone has any tips for me? In general about the paper. I'm super nervous about it. I'm writing about Empathy. That's my topic. Why it's necessary, and how it's taught and ect. Also! If anyone knows any great sites with information on said topic, that'd be great. I've been searching through sites and come up with nothing too fantastic yet. Most of it's coming out of my head but I need to do research for referencing. Mostly, I think I'm just stressed about this and looking for advice on how to buckle down and get it down. I have over 12 hours to get it done, buuuut... (I didn't procrastinate on purpose! I swear. I just did work in other classes that was worth more first.) QUESTION. Although there are certain individuals who don’t feel empathy for others, as a whole, empathy is necessary for humans to have meaningful, lasting relations and it’s necessary for us to thrive as a species. This is my thesis statement for my paper. Does this make sense? I feel like it's choppy but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out a better way to word this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domsim Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Ahh I've been there!! Luckily on holidays now so all my papers are done for the year :) But as for advice on referencing, do you know what style you have to do it in? Harvard, APA or something else? Also, for finding papers on empathy (are you doing psychology by the way?), does your university have an online library? Because journal articles are really useful for psychology experiments and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadey Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 At my university we use the Harvard Referencing Guide, but it depends because all university's have something different. The HRG is fairly easier to reference with, though I still struggle. I had to an essay in nursing on empathy and I used a search engine called Summon which has hundreds of thousands of journal articles on the topics and they range from basic knowledge to thesis smart written. Tips for referencing would be, once you know what referencing guide your using, make sure you know the differences between websites because there is so many different ways to reference a website depending on how it's written (i.e. government website, fact sheet, etc). I've just spent a whole year trying to perfect my referencing because it's such a huge chunk of my marks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Are you limited to using concepts on your syllabus and from the class, or are you to go and find pretty much whatever you want from anywhere? Did you get specifics on the essay form, length, prompts, etc? Aristotle writes some interesting things in Poetics regarding how Tragedy as a genre affects empathy and human condition. Though it's more of a critical text, you may find some interesting stuff in there. What subject are you in? The subject/department usually dictates which reference system you use. Depending on whether your school subscribes, the JSTORE database has articles on almost everything. And they're all peer-reviewed journals, if that influences what you can choose. Most of the profs here either specify or at least prefer if you use peer-reviewed material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Xandria Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Ooooh! Very interesting topic. Some things you may consider looking up is how a lack of empathy can trigger violence in sociopaths. So obviously it's very important to have empathy. It's also key in relationships, so it does play a huge roles in our lives and in society. This is a nice blog I came across but I doubt it could be used as a solid reference. It's an interesting read though and may give you some good ideas - http://withoutempathy.blogspot.com/2006/01/sociopaths-who-live-among-us.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Ahh I've been there!! Luckily on holidays now so all my papers are done for the year :) But as for advice on referencing, do you know what style you have to do it in? Harvard, APA or something else? Also, for finding papers on empathy (are you doing psychology by the way?), does your university have an online library? Because journal articles are really useful for psychology experiments and such. It's actually for English class. All my classes use Harvard aside from my English class. I'm using MLA. Which is easy enough. This normally wouldn't be a problem but there's a strike going on so I can't get into the University right now but the paper is still due. Go figure. XP Ooooh! Very interesting topic. Some things you may consider looking up is how a lack of empathy can trigger violence in sociopaths. So obviously it's very important to have empathy. It's also key in relationships, so it does play a huge roles in our lives and in society. This is a nice blog I came across but I doubt it could be used as a solid reference. It's an interesting read though and may give you some good ideas - http://withoutempath...e-among-us.html That's a good point. That would be a great point to make in why Empathy is necessary. As that's the point I'm arguing. It's necessary. Are you limited to using concepts on your syllabus and from the class, or are you to go and find pretty much whatever you want from anywhere? Did you get specifics on the essay form, length, prompts, etc? Aristotle writes some interesting things in Poetics regarding how Tragedy as a genre affects empathy and human condition. Though it's more of a critical text, you may find some interesting stuff in there. What subject are you in? The subject/department usually dictates which reference system you use. Depending on whether your school subscribes, the JSTORE database has articles on almost everything. And they're all peer-reviewed journals, if that influences what you can choose. Most of the profs here either specify or at least prefer if you use peer-reviewed material. I'm just doing English. We had to choose from a variety of topics. Mine is Empathy and then "explain why it' snecessary, and how it's taught." So that's pretty much my basis for this. At my university we use the Harvard Referencing Guide, but it depends because all university's have something different. The HRG is fairly easier to reference with, though I still struggle. I had to an essay in nursing on empathy and I used a search engine called Summon which has hundreds of thousands of journal articles on the topics and they range from basic knowledge to thesis smart written. Tips for referencing would be, once you know what referencing guide your using, make sure you know the differences between websites because there is so many different ways to reference a website depending on how it's written (i.e. government website, fact sheet, etc). I've just spent a whole year trying to perfect my referencing because it's such a huge chunk of my marks! Referencing can be so confusing. I don't understand why one little error whether it be tabbing, or italics can cause an automatic fail. I think just as long as it's clear where the source is, but meh... XP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadey Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Referencing can be so confusing. I don't understand why one little error whether it be tabbing, or italics can cause an automatic fail. I think just as long as it's clear where the source is, but meh... XP I completely agree, but they are so finicky about it! I think if the person marking can get to the resource with no trouble and check that it's legit and you haven't plagarised then it should be a tick for referencing. Grrrr, only frustrating thing about university! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 I completely agree, but they are so finicky about it! I think if the person marking can get to the resource with no trouble and check that it's legit and you haven't plagarised then it should be a tick for referencing. Grrrr, only frustrating thing about university! I agreed. I forgot to use italics on something and I had to re-do the whole project with a different topic. Frustrating indeed. My main problem with this paper is all my sources are short articles. He said we need to have a few long articles to reference. Le bleh. XP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadey Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I agreed. I forgot to use italics on something and I had to re-do the whole project with a different topic. Frustrating indeed. My main problem with this paper is all my sources are short articles. He said we need to have a few long articles to reference. Le bleh. XP Sometimes that's where you have to just go with the flow of what you want to write and hope that the marker isn't going to check up on your resources. Sometimes I write the whole essay and then when I get to the end of it, notice that I don't have enough resources, so I just find some articles with headings that relate to the topic and add them in. It's worked for me for the last year hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Sometimes that's where you have to just go with the flow of what you want to write and hope that the marker isn't going to check up on your resources. Sometimes I write the whole essay and then when I get to the end of it, notice that I don't have enough resources, so I just find some articles with headings that relate to the topic and add them in. It's worked for me for the last year hehe That's true. I have to hope that he can't possibly go and check every one from over 100 students. XP I'll just make sure there's no way it can look like I plagiarized and i'll be fine. It's frustrating, because that's not something I'd ever do on purpose. But I get why it needs to be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Xandria Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Best of luck to you! I know how stressfull these papers can be when you get stuck. So keep your cool and take frequent breaks to stretch, etc and you should be fine. :) Google is your best friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Best of luck to you! I know how stressfull these papers can be when you get stuck. So keep your cool and take frequent breaks to stretch, etc and you should be fine. :) Google is your best friend. I actually had a thought that was a great deal of relief. Someone asked if this was for Psychology and while it's not, I DO have my psychology text books which will make great references and have great information. This thread and its replies have been very helpful. THank you everyone! QUESTION. Although there are certain individuals who don’t feel empathy for others, as a whole, empathy is necessary for humans to have meaningful, lasting relations and it’s necessary for us to thrive as a species. This is my thesis statement for my paper. Does this make sense? I feel like it's choppy but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out a better way to word this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Warblers Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Do you know that your teacher would rarely check your reference? So just pick an article / book (best is the paper one) with the relevant name and that's it. Put a couple of quotes / footnotes / citation in the paragraph. Put a "seemingly legit" reference page at the end & you would be fine. This helps me get through my 4 years in University Your thesis statement needs to have a stronger impact on the mind. So, make it a little bit shorter & more affirmative. This post has been edited by a member of staff (Spritzie) because of a violation of the forum rules. Please don't double post. If you would like to add something, use the 'Edit' button. Please check your user inbox to see if you have been contacted regarding this incident, then review our rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Your thesis statement needs to have a stronger impact on the mind. So, make it a little bit shorter & more affirmative. After examining the book that we were given for a Canadian Writer's guide, essay thesis are supposed to be short, but my thesis statement is actually shorter than the suggest length. Any advice on how to make it more affirmative however? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Xandria Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 After examining the book that we were given for a Canadian Writer's guide, essay thesis are supposed to be short, but my thesis statement is actually shorter than the suggest length. Any advice on how to make it more affirmative however? Well, I actually found your thesis statement nice. It sets the tone for the rest of the paper well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozzie Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I would remove the comma after "as a whole", since for me it confuses the rest of the sentence. Other than that, the statement looks fine. c: As for referencing, you need to first find out what type of referencing your university wants you to use; we cn't really help you with how to reference if we don't know what type of referencing you're to be using, since each type (Havard, Vancouver, etc) are all quite different from one another. As for where you get your resource material, I wouldn't just look at websites. Go to the library, get books, journals, even audio tapes or videos; television programmes etcetera. The more variety that you include, the more marks you'll get for where you compile your research from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Agh! I'm 1,000 words short and no matter what I do I cannot lengthen this anymore. DX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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