Product Research
Lesson Plan
Grading Rubric

In order to give your customers a thorough background of your product, you will provide a three page research paper on different aspects that are directly related to the production and delivery of the finished item to the public. Areas that will be addressed include, but not limited to the description of various products sole, environmental and social issues, and how the product will impact society as a whole.

• Include a title for your product research paper, centered and bold, on page 1.
  
• Include at least three side headings which start at the left margin and are bold. Consider using the following side headings or include at least five side headings of your own. Remember to format your side headings with the appropriate heading style.
  
  • Description of Products
    
  • Environmental/Social Issues
    
  • Product Ingredients/Natural or Synthetic
  • Product Comparison
  • Impact of Product on Society
    

Ideas to write about under each heading:

Description of Product:

Give a brief description of your product line. This will inform your potential customers what products you have in inventory and what they could use them for. You will want to add a persuasive piece within this section so customers will want to read more about your product line.

Environmental/Social Issues:

This component has come to light within the last decade. Customers want to know that you are not violating any moral standards, example, children are not working in factors ten hours a day for less than minimum wage. Another issue that can make or break a business is environmental issues. When manufacturing your product, are you polluting the air , soil, or water supply?

Product Ingredients:

Another component that consumers look at are what ingredients are used to put together your final product. Consumers favor natural ingredients over synthetic (man made). Depending on your product, natural might not be a choice. Be sure to research this component, and inform you customers right up front. While it is mandatory to include this information when purchasing products in retail stores, online businesses should also follow this requirement.

Product Comparison:

This is where you either make or break a business venture. Why should consumers choose to buy your product over someone else's? You will need to research other companies selling this product online and give an accountable description of why your product is better than your competitors. This is the piece of the research paper that includes a marketing strategy that will persuade potential customers to buy only your product. You could even include a slogan for your business here.

Impact of Product on Society:

What difference does you product have on society. Does it make your everyday chores easier? Does it bring about family values? Maybe your product enhances the flavor of food that reminds the consumer of mama's home cooking Give this sections great thought because this will be the wrap up of your product presentation.

Directions for Creating a Research Paper In Word

MLA Documentation Style

When writing papers, you should adhere to some style documentation. The research paper in this project follows the guidelines presented by the MLA. Here are some basic guidelines for formatting a paper in MLA style:

• Type your paper or write it on a computer and print it out on standard-sized paper (8.5 X 11 inches).
  
• Double-space your paper.
  
• Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
  
• Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin.
  
• Use either underlining or italics throughout your essay for highlighting the titles of longer works and providing emphasis.
  
• If you have any notes, include them on a page before your works cited page and format them the same way as your works cited list.
  
• While MLA style does not require a title page (instead your name and course information is located in a block at the the left margin beginning one inch from the top of the page), a title page will be included in this project.

Start Word:

• Start>Program>Microsoft Word.

Changing the Margins:

• Click File on the menu bar the then point to Page Setup.
• Click the Margins tab when the Page Setup dialog box first displays.
• Drag through the text in the Left text box to highlight 1.25". Type 1. Change the top, bottom, left, and right margins to 1 by following the same directions.
• Click the OK button.

Change to Page Layout View:

The default view for Word is Normal, which displays a page break as a row of dots. In Print Layout view, a page break displays as an actual break in a page.

• To change to the Print Layout view, click View and then Print Layout or click the Print Layout View button at the left side of the horizontal scroll bar just above the Drawing Toolbar (The Print Layout View button is the third button from the left side of the screen before the horizontal scroll bar.).

Create a Title Page

• The title page should have the title of the paper centered on the page. The student's name appears one double-space below the title. The institutional affiliation (name of the college or high-school for which the paper has been written) appears one double-space below student name. (If there is no institutional affiliation, the city and state or city and country of the author should be identified instead.) Include the instructor's name on the last line.

Double Space Title Page:

• Select all the text on your title page.
• Display the Paragraph dialog box by clicking on Format, then Paragraph. At the Paragraph dialog box, make sure the Indents and Spacing tab is selected, click the arrow under the spacing box, and then choose double.

Insert a Page Break After the Title Page:

You want to begin a new page, and Microsoft Word has a feature that will automatically return your cursor to a new page.

• Place your cursor just after the last keyed text in your document. In the example above, I would place the cursor behind the letter l in School.
• Click Insert, then select Break. At the Break dialog box, click the Page Break radio button.
• Click OK to close the Break dialog box. Notice that your cursor now appears on the next page.

Include An Abstract:

Page two is the Abstract for the paper. It is a brief (100-150 words) comprehensive summary of the research paper. The word Abstract is centered as the first line of type on this page. Type the abstract as a single paragraph in block format (i.e., without paragraph indentation). Notice the paragraph is not indented.

FYI: Word has a built in word count feature. To check an entire document:

• Click Tools and then Word Count.
• The statistics on the entire document are listed in the Word Count dialog box.
• Click the Close Button.

To check a section of a document:

• Select the section of the document you want to check by holding down the left mouse and dragging over the words.
• Click Tools and then Word Count.
• The statistics on the section of the document are listed in the Word Count dialog box.
• Click the Close Button.

Insert a page break after the last word on the abstract page.

Body of Paper:

Page three is the beginning of the body of the paper. The title of the paper appears (centered) one double-space below the Short Title in the upper right hand corner of the page. You will format the Short Title later in this project so don't worry about it now. The first line of the body of the paper appears one double-space below the title. You will enter the first subheading here. Type your paper along with all five headings inserted like the first one shown below. Your paper should be three typed pages. Your title page, abstract, table of contents, and works cited pages are additional pages. The title page and abstract page appears before the body of the paper. The table of contents and works cited pages will be covered in depth later in the project.

Double Space Document:

Your page should already be formatted to double space. If for some reason it is not set to double spacing, follow the directions below:

• To double space the text, you must display the Paragraph dialog box. If you are beginning your report, open the box, or if your report is already typed, select all the text before opening the Paragraph dialog box.
  
• To display the Paragraph dialog box, click Format, and then Paragraph.
  At the Paragraph dialog box, make sure the Indents and Spacing tab is selected, click the arrow under the spacing box, and then choose double.
  
• To indent the first line of each paragraph in the rest of the document, press the Tab key at the beginning of each paragraph.

Check for Page Breaks:

Check page breaks in the document and adjust them if needed. To check for page breaks, you will need to change to the Print Layout view. The default view for Word is Normal, which displays a page break as a row of dots. In Print Layout view, a page break displays as an actual break in a page.

• You need to be in Print Layout View to check page breaks.

• If you have an orphan line, a line in a paragraph by itself on a different page, you should keep the paragraph together. To keep a paragraph together, you can instruct Word not to insert a page break within a paragraph. To instruct Word not to insert a page break within a paragraph, display the Paragraph dialog box (Format>Paragraph) with the Line and Page Breaks tab selected, and the click Keep line together. The same steps can be used to keep a group of consecutive paragraphs together. To do this, select the paragraphs first, display the Paragraph dialog box, and then click Keep lines together.

Table of Contents with Page Numbers:

A table of contents appears at the beginning of a book, manuscript, or report and contains headings and subheadings with page numbers. A table of contents can be created by applying heading styles to text to be included in the table of contents. When creating a table of contents, there are two steps involved:

• Apply the appropriate styles to the text that will be included in the table of contents.
  • With the inserting point positioned at beginning of the abstract of the paper, just before the word Abstract, press the Enter key once. (This adds room for the table of contents you will be inserting later). Your table of contents will appear just after the title page and before your abstract.
  • Position the insertion point on any character in the words Abstract (which appears on page 2). Click the down-point triangle on the right of the Style button on the Formatting toolbar and then click Heading 1.
  • Position the insertion point on any character in your title (which appears of page 3). Click the down-pointing triangle on the right of the Style button on the Formatting toolbar and then click Heading 1.

• Position the insertion point on any character in your fist subheading, click the down pointing triangle to the right of the Style button on the Formatting Toolbar, and then click Heading 2.
• Apply the Heading 2 style to the rest of your subheadings.
• Position the insertion point immediately left of the word abstract still located on page 2 and then insert a section break by completing the following steps:
  • Click Insert and then Break.
  • At the Break dialog box, click Next page.
  • Click OK or press Enter. The Abstract should now appear on page 3.
• Add a short title and page number as a header on all pages except the title page and table of contents:
  • Click View and then Header and Footer.
  • At the header pane, align the text to the right by clicking the align right button on the formatting toolbar.
  • Key the name of your short title, and press the space bar.
  • Click the page setup button on the Header and Footer toolbar.

  

  • This opens the page setup dialog box. Make sure Different fist page is checked. Section start should be New page and Apply to This point forward as shown below:

  

• With the insertion point just before the word Abstract, insert page numbering and change the beginning number to 1 by completing the following steps:
  • Click Insert and then Page Numbers.
  • At the Page Numbers dialog box, make sure Top of page is selected, the alignment is set to right, and uncheck the Show number on first page as shown below:

  

  • Click the Format button at the bottom right side of the Page Numbers dialog box.
  • At the Page Number Format dialog box, click Start at. (This inserts 1 in the start at text box, shown below.)

  

• The number 1 should now appear after your short title.
• Click OK or press Enter to close the Page Number Format dialog box.
• At the page Numbers dialog box, click OK or press Enter.
• Compile and insert a table of contents at the beginning of the document on the new page.
  • Position the insertion point on the blank page the appears after the title page.
  • Turn on the bold, key TABLE OF CONTENTS centered, and then turn off bold.
  • Press the Enter key once and then change the paragraph alignment back to left.
  • Click Insert the then Index and Tables.
  • At the Index and Tables dialog box, click the Table of Contents tab.
  • At the Index and Tables dialog box with the Table of Contents tab selected, click the down-pointing triangle at the right side of the Formats list box, and then click Formal at the drop-down list.
  • Click OK or press Enter.
• Position the insertion point on any character in the title TABLE OF CONTENTS, and then apply the Heading 1 style.
• Insert page numbering in the Table of Contents page by completing the following steps:
  • Click Insert and then Page Numbers.
  • At the Page Numbers dialog box, click the Format button.
  • At the Page Number Format dialog box, click the down-pointing triangle at the right side of the Number format text box, and then click i, ii, iii, ... at the drop-down list.
  • Click Start at. (This inserts i in the Start at text box.)
  • Chick OK or press Enter to close the Page Number Format dialog box.
  • At the Page Numbers dialog box, click OK or press Enter.

Creating an Alphabetical Works Cited Page:

Works cited page is a bibliographical list of works you reference directly in your paper. Your sources will actually be Internet sites and will be cited a little different than citing from a book, magazine, journal, or newspaper. The list is placed on a separate page with the title, Works Cited, entered one inch from the top margin. The works are to be alphabetized by the the author's last name or, if the work has no author, by the work's title. The fist line of each entry begins at the left margin; subsequent lines of the same entry are indented one-half inch from the left margin.

The first step in creating the works cited page is to force a page break so the works cited display on a separate page.

• Insert Manual Page Break:
  • With the insertion point at the end of the research paper, press the ENTER key. Then press the CTRL + ENTER keys (CTRL + ENTER are the two shortcut keys that instruct Word to insert a manual page break immediately above the insertion point and position the insertion point immediately below the manual page break
• Center the Title of the Works Cited Page:
  • Click the center alignment button on the Formatting toolbar.
  • Type Works Cited as the title.
  • Press the Enter key.
  • Because your fingers are on the keyboard, press the CTRL + L keys to left-align the paragraph mark.
• Enter your works cited following the format below:

  • Citing Internet Personal or Home Page:

    Last name of author, first name. Name of page or home page. Date of latest revision.

    Date of access Web address.

    Example:

    Capley, Suzanne. Jane Austen's Works. 1 Sept. 2000. 4 Sept. 2000

    http://members.aol.com/suze.htm

• Create a Hanging Indent:

  On the works cited page, the first line of each entry begins at the left margin. Subsequent lines in the paragraph are indented one-half inch from the left margin. In essence, the first line hangs to the left of the rest of the paragraph; thus, this type of paragraph formatting is called a hanging indent.

  One method of creating a hanging indent is to use the horizontal ruler. The Hanging Indent marker is the bottom triangle at the 0" mark on the ruler shown below:

• With the insertion point in the paragraph to format (the first name listed in your works cite list).
• Point to the Hanging Indent marker on the ruler and while holding down the left mouse button, drag the marker to the .5" mark on the ruler.

• Create a hyperlink in your works cited list:

  In Word, you can create a hyperlink simply by typing the address of the file of Web page to which you want to jump and then pressing the SPACEBAR or the ENTER key. Your web address in your works cited lists need to display a hyperlink. Your web address should already be displayed as a hyperlink If it does not display as a hyperlink, follow the steps below:

  • Highlight the web address in the works cite list.
  • Click Insert>Hyperlink.
  • Type the URL address in the Type the file or web page name text box.

Sorting Paragraphs:

As stated above, your works site list need to appear in alphabetical order by author's last name. With Word, you can arrange paragraphs in alphabetic, numeric, or date order based on the first character in each paragraph. Ordering characters in this manner is called sorting. Arrange the works cited paragraphs in alphabetic order as stated below:

• Select all the works cited paragraphs by pointing to the left of the first paragraph and dragging down.
• Click Table on the menu bar and then point to Sort.
• Click Sort. Make sure Text is selected for Type and the Ascending radio button is selected.
• Click OK to close the Sort dialog box.
• Click OK to close the Table dialog box.
• Click outside of the selection to remove the highlight.

• Save your document and name it Product Research.
• Proofread and spell check you document. Have you teacher check it over, then print it out for your portfolio. Make sure you have your teacher fill in your grade for this project on you Grading Rubric.