Sample MLA Research Paper, Slides of English

Download Sample MLA Research Paper and more Slides English in PDF only on Docsity! 33 525MLA DOCUMENTATION FORM Sample MLA Research Paper The research paper on the following pages is an example of how a paper is put together following MLA guidelines. The title page and outline are not required for MLA papers, but if your instructor asks for one or both, use the models and guidelines that follow. Sample Title Page Center the title one-third down the page. Center identifying information— student, instructor, course, date— two-thirds of the way down. UN Sanctions and the Suffering of Iraq’s People Troy Holland Professor Rylaarsdam English 101H 17 April 2002 33.503-536/MLA.1 10/11/05 8:31 AM Page 525 33526 Documentation and Format Styles Double-space throughout. Use phrases or complete sentences consistently, as required. Set off the introduction and the conclusion. Sample Research-Paper Outline UN Sanctions and the Suffering of Iraq’s People Introduction—The UN imposed sanctions against Iraq in 1991, after Iraq invaded Kuwait. I. Ten years later, the sanctions have not brought about the desired results. A. The UN’s call for the destruction of weapons of mass destruction has not been heeded. B. A blockade of Iraqi exports has not been completely successful. C. A restriction on Iraqi imports has fallen short of its goal. II. Living conditions in Iraq have worsened since 1991. A. Iraq’s infrastructure has broken down. B. Half the water supply is undrinkable. C. The health care system is inadequate. D. Food is in short supply. III. The children have been most affected. A. Sickness and death have increased dramatically. B. Health care is minimal. IV. The UN is searching for solutions. A. An “oil-for-food” program was instituted in 1995. B. The quota on oil exports has been lifted. C. Experts are now debating “targeted” sanctions. D. The number of relief agencies allowed in Iraq may be increased. Conclusion—The present sanctions need to be revamped because they continue to hurt Iraq’s most vulnerable citizens without achieving their political goals. Center the title one inch from the top of the page. 33.503-536/MLA.1 10/11/05 8:31 AM Page 526 33 529MLA DOCUMENTATION FORM Holland 3 Hussein continues to follow his own agenda and protect his own power, the most vulnerable Iraqis suffer. Instead of forcing Hussein to comply with the disarmament, the economic sanctions have caused living conditions within Iraq to deteriorate sharply. Because of Gulf War damages, a lack of funds, a shortage of building materials, and Hussein’s own agenda, Iraq cannot rebuild; in fact, basic infrastructures have broken down. George Capaccio, an editor at Houghton Mifflin and a member of relief organizations such as Conscience International and the Middle East Council of Churches, traveled to Iraq in March 1997 to witness the conditions firsthand. He describes these problems: In rural areas only about 50 percent of the water is drinkable. This is due in large part to the fact that raw sewage continues to flow into the major rivers; chlorine for water purification is often in short supply; and the network of underground pipes has numerous breakages so that waste from sewage lines frequently flows into water lines. These conditions can be directly traced to the UN sanctions which make spare parts for water and sewage treatment plants hard to come by. (E-mail) Capaccio adds that problems within the health care system, agricultural sector, and electrical grid have also harmed living conditions for Iraqis. In other words, because the economic sanctions have restricted imports, the Iraqi people have not been able to rebuild after the war. And the inability to rebuild has caused basic services to break down. One of the most basic needs is food, and the economic sanctions have cut back Iraq’s access to food. Before the sanctions, Iraq imported up to 66 percent of its food; until 1990, Iraq spent an average of $2.5 billion on food imports each year (“United Nations”). But after the economic sanctions were put into place, Iraq could no longer import as much food as it needed. Instead, it has been forced to rely heavily on its own food production, which is limited because of the desert climate. As a result, Iraqis have lived with constant food shortages. The writer indicates a source’s credibility before quoting him. A quotation longer than four lines is introduced with a complete sentence and a colon, and indented ten spaces. The parenthetical citation is placed two spaces after the period at the end of set-off quotations. 6 7 33.503-536/MLA.1 10/11/05 8:31 AM Page 529 33530 Documentation and Format Styles Holland 4 Who has suffered most from these food shortages and the breakdown in basic services? The children. The economic sanctions have affected children more severely than other Iraqis because their young bodies break down more easily under the added strains. These strains lead to both serious sickness and death. Denis Halliday, the former UN Humanitarian Coordinator to Iraq, argues that “sanctions are both directly and indirectly killing approximately six or seven thousand Iraqi children per month” (77), whereas Iraq suffered 40,000 casualties during the war. Some studies claim that 237,000 Iraqi children, ages five and younger, have died as a result of economic sanctions (Gordon 388). At the lowest estimate, the economic sanctions have caused almost six times more Iraqi deaths than the Gulf War. This statistic is strong evidence that the sanctions need to be rethought. Instead of encouraging Saddam Hussein to comply with UN resolutions, the economic sanctions have caused what Halliday has called “genocide” (qtd. in Wood). Iraqi children have been suffering and dying for two main reasons: malnutrition and poor health care. Hussein’s policies have made it hard for parents to provide for their children, but sanctions make the job even tougher by restricting imports. The United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, whose purpose is to protect children’s rights, found that in 1997 up to 32 percent of the children, ages five and under, were malnourished. This number had increased 75 percent from 1991 (“Nearly One Million Children”). So not only have deaths among children risen sharply since 1991, but the percentage of malnourished children has risen sharply as well. In addition, most Iraqis have little or no access to health care. Hospitals have had to deal with shortages of water and power, and often what water they do have is unclean. In his visit to Iraq, Capaccio witnessed these shortages, and he remarks that the hospitals in Iraq are in deplorable shape. Many heating and cooling systems do not work, and flies travel freely through the hospitals, spreading more disease. Medical equipment is scarce, including ambulances and diagnostic equipment, and much of what doctors do have is obsolete. Medicines for diseases such as leukemia, typhoid, and cholera are not available unless they are bought on A quotation by an authoritative source (mentioned in the text) is integrated. The citation indicates that the source was quoted in another source. The citation lists the title because no author is given. The writer summarizes a source accurately and fairly. 8 9 10 33.503-536/MLA.1 10/11/05 8:32 AM Page 530 33 531MLA DOCUMENTATION FORM Holland 5 the black market (E-mail). These conditions are a sharp turnaround from the health care system before the sanctions. The United Nations reports that before 1991, Iraq had a health care system that covered 97 percent of the urban population and 78 percent of the rural population. Iraq also had a welfare system that supported orphans, disabled children, and poor families (“United Nations”). The Iraqi people no longer receive quality health care because of the UN economic sanctions and Saddam Hussein’s refusal to comply with UN resolutions. Iraq’s people are not responsible for Saddam Hussein’s aggression, but they have been forced to suffer under the economic sanctions. In fact, many people believe that the suffering of innocent civilians makes economic sanctions illegal under the just-war doctrine. David Cortright, a researcher for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, explains that according to the just-war doctrine, warring countries cannot target vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, women, and children. Cortright goes on to argue that “[i]f decision makers in war are bound by the moral criteria of the just-war doctrine, those imposing economic sanctions must be similarly bound by such constraints. The principle of civilian immunity applies no less in the imposition of economic sanctions than in the conduct of war” (Cortright and Lopez 740). In the same way, others argue that economic sanctions place Iraq under a siege that harms civilians much more than it harms the military (Gordon 391). The economic sanctions cripple the most vulnerable people in Iraq while doing little to force Saddam Hussein to follow the United Nations’ resolutions. The sanctions must be changed both to relieve people’s suffering and to keep Hussein from developing weapons of mass destruction. Because of pressure from humanitarian groups, the United Nations has been searching for many years for a solution to the suffering. In 1995, the UN convinced Hussein to accept a temporary solution called the “food for oil program” (“Iraqi Oil Exports”). Under this program, Iraq was allowed to sell a certain amount of oil, and the money from these sales went into an account controlled by the United Nations. The UN then used that money to pay war debts and to allow Iraq to buy food and medicine A quotation is used because of its power and authority. A change from upper- case in the original to lowercase is shown with brackets. The writer summarizes the central argument he has been making. Attempts to solve the problem are explored. 11 12 33.503-536/MLA.1 10/11/05 8:32 AM Page 531