My paper for research class.

How to Succeed in Research Class

Rebekah was sitting in her research class on a bright Tuesday morning. It was beautiful outside today, and she longed to just sit out under the sunshine, but she was stuck in research class. She knew she needed to listen to her teacher and pay attention in class; she needed to learn how to write her research papers correctly, but it was so difficult to focus when she did not know what to do or what she needed to help herself pay attention. Rebekah sat at her desk and thought about what she could do to succeed in her research class.

          The teacher, Mr. Muntz, was standing at the front of the class holding a stack of books. He announced to the students that he was passing out their handy-dandy MLA Format book. This book would save them so much time and effort; this book would be the handbook to survive this class. Rebekah made note of this on a piece of paper from her pocket: "Keep MLA Format book handy." Mr. Muntz went on this spiel about how he does not want to see papers full of slang, commonly used words or words we obviously don't know the meaning of. "Other must haves: dictionary and thesaurus," was written in underneath the last note.

  SNAP! Rebekah's pencil broke suddenly. "Aww...," she whispered under her breath as she fumbled through her backpack. There were papers, papers, papers everywhere but no pencil in sight! "Note to self, especially since I can't write this down: Keep pens and pencils handy! Oh, and another thing, get notebooks and keep loose papers in folders." Drew was sitting in the chair next to her and noticed her dilemma. He leaned over and asked Rebekah if she needed a new pencil. "Yes, please," Rebekah shyly answered. Drew just shook his head, laughed cordially and handed her a couple of pencils for, "Just in case." Rebekah knew she needed to have some way of organizing her school supplies. She couldn't get through this class with broken pencils and random scraps of paper.

            As Rebekah was scrambling to find a pencil, her desk was strewn with all the junk that formerly made up the inside of her backpack. In the mess, she spotted her library card. "Oh. It's expired," she said to herself sadly. She would need to have her library card renewed soon, because she knew that research papers need information, and even though, Rebekah knew a lot of information, she didn't know everything there is to know in the world. That sort of information would have to be found within the pages of books located in the local library, easily accessed with the possession of a valid library card. Rebekah slipped her expired library card into her pocket. 

            Mr. Muntz’s hand slammed down on Frank’s desk across the room. Poor Frank shot up from his slumber. Rebekah spotted drool dripping from his mouth. “Frank. Have you been paying attention to anything I’ve been saying?” Mr. Muntz sternly asked Frank. Frank looked up at Mr. Muntz and humbly said, “Yes, sir. I have. You told the class to write a short story that’s due at the end of class today. I wrote mine about a fifteen-year old boy who recently lost his parents. I finished ten minutes ago, and I decided to rest a little, because I was up so late last night working on vocabulary for your English class.” Mr. Muntz stood there completely frozen. “Though you exhibited symptoms of apathy and laziness, Frank, you have embodied the three main characteristics I expect from each of you in this class! You listened to my instructions, followed them with flying colors, and finished the job until it was done! Bravo!”

            The bell rang jolting Rebekah’s research class out of their little interruption. Rebekah frantically finished writing down her thoughts of exactly what she needed to be successful in her research class.