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Research Paper Checklist:

Revision and Editing:

I have an introduction and a conclusion that state my thesis/problem clearly and that clearly list the points to be discussed
how/why/solutions []

My body paragraphs have a clear topic sentence as the first or second sentence, and there is 1 idea per paragraph and at least 1 - 2
quotes or paraphrases in every paragraph. []

I dont begin any paragraphs with a quote. My ideas are always first[]

I dont end any paragraphs with a quote. I interpret the quote in my own words afterwards. []

Every quote or paraphrase has an in-text citation for the source (Ogden 23). []

I have read my paper SENTENCE-BY-SENTENCE to make sure each sentence is a complete sentence. (A Writers Reference, B-Tab,
Sentences) []

I have read my paper SENTENCE-BY-SENTENCE and have checked every single punctuation mark to make sure it is correct. []

I have read my paper out loud to myself to catch misspellings, typos, and incorrect usage of vocabulary words OR I have had someone
else read it to me while I follow along. []

The parts of my paper include (try to find where these are in your essay):
o

A section where Im describing the scope of the problem, as I see it []

A section where Im describing WHY or HOW its a problem []

A section where Im sharing or arguing possible solution(s) to the problem []

A section where Im acknowledging ideas from people who may disagree with me that there is a problem or that MY
solution is THE solution for that problem []

Criteria Check https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xocZsFMZIfQAps1oB92GgKn7jex7nZaE1exqLams3Zg/edit?

usp=sharing
Essay Length: My essay is a minimum of 5 full typed, double-spaced, 12-point font pages of composition, and a maximum of 7 full t
Typed, double-spaced, 12-point font pages of composition. []
o

Research Sources:

My essay includes at least 2 paraphrases or quotes from each of the following sources (7 minimum sources, 10
maximum sources)

1 book []

1 scholarly journal article []

1 media source (video, radio, etc.) []

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1 newspaper or magazine article []

1 personal interview (or a survey or questionnaire) that you conduct with someone about your topic
[]

Remaining sources of your choice -3 sources []

Works Cited Page:

My works cited page includes every source I quoted, parphrased, or referenced []

My works cited page looks like this one: http://dianahacker.com/pdfs/hacker-daly-mlawc.pdf []I have double-checked how to correctly cite each of my sources by looking
them up in the Writers Reference (or a similar handbook) and NOT just relying on
EasyBib or some other online citation program. Each of my sources is cited correctly,
down to the punctuation mark[]

Cover Letter: I have a cover letter in my essay that is a BUSINESS LETTER format (like
this: http://dianahacker.com/pdfs/Hacker-BusLtr-Block.pdf) addressed to a professional
person who may have the power to implement the solutions I argued for the problem I
addressed [[]]

ORIGIN of TOPIC: I have pasted on a separate sheet the paragraphs or freewrites from
where my original essay idea came from []

SOURCE CONTEXT: I have included a page with pasted-in pictures of actual pages or
paragraphs from where Ive taken my quotes and paraphrases for my paper[]

ORDER OF PAGES: My pages are all in a single document in the following order:

This checklist []

Origin of Essay Idea page []

Context of Research Sources page []

Business Letter Cover Letter []

Research Paper (5-7 pages of writing) []

Works Cited page []

Origin of Essay Idea The following excerpt is from my essay 2 assignment.

The revelation that I had reminds me of Saira Shah's pivotal event that she wrote about in
her story, when she realized that the 'belonging' that she was trying to obtain through marriage
wasn't what she truly wanted. She recounted the events leading to her realization and gave the

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reader a clear understanding of what was going on. This type of general narrative writing is
completely different from what I grew up reading in China. Over there, children are brought up
with historical novels and teachings that have been around for hundreds of years. Although such
reading was also inspiring for me as a Chinese learner, now as an English learner and reader, I
am more inspired by the self-reflection and contemporary thought provoking writings that freewilled Americans are able to promote. The fact that some random person named Jenee DesmondHarris actually sent cookies to Tupac's mother would never have been known unless she wrote
about it. It may not be some historical feat or societal changing event, but the event that she
wrote about was so important to her, that she was able to write about it and share it with others.
Growing up, I was inspired by traditional novels, such as Wu Cheng En's Journey to the
West and Lao Zi's Dao De Jing. The first taught me that Where there is true will, there is always
a way. The later taught me that The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Combined, these Chinese novels taught my adolescent self-many morals and gave me a passion
for learning. Yet as a contemporary English learner, I have been able to read many different kinds
of writings. Mary is right. Writing connects people from all over the world and allows them to
share on any aspect of thought or life. The idea is so surreal. We just need more people to debate
their opinions, give their point of views, and share themselves with the world. I like this new
world of contemporary reading and writing, and the ability to learn from anyone out there. I
think we should all challenge ourselves and share ourselves with the world by reading and
writing everything we can get our hands on.

Source Context
A. The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell, The Freedom
Writers (1999)
B. The Impact of Language Barrier & Cultural Differences on Restaurant
Experiences: A Grounded Theory Approach
http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1175&context=gradconf_hospitality

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C. 2012 (2009)

D. NPR Media Website

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/06/13/413968033/esperanto-isnot-dead-can-the-universal-language-make-a-comeback

E. Interview With Chris

Itll take a lot of power, a lot of people, and a lot of security to protect everyone because information will be risky and personal.
Potential risks is that free open expression of ideas limits certain governments power over people and can cause riots or changes in culture. It can
cause huge political problems.
A lot of governments will want to ban it, because the internet is censored by individual countries all over the world.
Making something like this happen is going to require people in the countries to have to run it and put themselves on the line to have the website
up because the government might want to prevent it and block it. It will need a communal effort worldwide to keep it going.

It may include sensitive information that may be damaging to others, companies, governments

The idea of free and open speech and being able to communicate with each other is something that we should be heading towards. Even Googles mission is to make the worlds information
universally accessible.

Having all of this text in so many langauges available in this form will allow people to be together and benefit from it. It will improve language technology and natural language processing
logarithms through which sources like google translate uses to learn from.

Youll need to intelligently identify and classify the texts.

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Create questions for the type of text so that it can be properly categorized by the site.

Youll need to ban commercial promotion and make sure that people arent trying to benefit financially from it because everything is going to be public domain.

Open and free speech is would be supported by the EFF (electronic frontier foundation). Peoples information cannot be sold or changed and is available freely.

Every country would want to own it and have a stake in it. The text could be misused and abused so the website needs policed to make sure that information is not altered.

You want to protect the people who are on it too, so that the governments dont spy on them. The communication has to be encrypted and the security needs to be protected from governments.

F. Why the World Cant

http://www.quora.com/Why-cant-the-world-have-a-universal-language

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Heres Why the World
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-there-wont-be-a-universal-language2014-7?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed
%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29&utm_content=FaceBook

Google Translate
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30812277

Translation Tech
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29985865

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June 21, 2015

United Nations
760 United Nations Plaza
New York City,
New York 10017

To whom it may concern,

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First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to read my research essay. I am a student at
Pasadena City College studying Film and Television Production. A major problem that I
experienced, along with many other students, is the culture shock I had when coming in to the
United States. I would love to have you look into my research essay to find out the exact
situation Im talking about and how I propose to solve it.

As I mentioned earlier, culture shock is what many students, including immigrated students, and
international students experience. People with different backgrounds and cultures, especially find
it wearisome when adapting to American culture. My research topic is based on connection and
how to bridge the barriers people face amongst each other, and I believe that the United Nations
has the power to grant my proposal of the creation and secure support of a Worldwide Forum.

I have taken the time researching and finding issue as well as possible solutions to the issues. I
also interviewed Christopher Spack, who works for an important tech company in the Silicon
Valley, and he gave me great insight into what technological issues my idea could involve. My
World Forum proposal is a proposal to connect the people of the world through writing and
learning where they can share anything. At the same time, the readers and writers who access the
site will be able to view any writing from any other country, translated into their own language.
For example, a Chinese person may post a diary entry about schools and an American will be
able to see it automatically translated without flaws or discrepancies.

Once again, thank you again for taking the time to read my research essay. I will be waiting for a
response from you, and will be more than happy to interview with you if there are any questions
or concerns.

Sincerely,

PAI LIU
Pai Liu
Pasadena City College
Student

Enc.

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Pai Liu
Professor Ogden
English 1A
June 21, 2015

My Proposal: Connecting the World

What could the world and all of mankind truly benefit from? During my second essay, I
realized how inspired I was by self-reflection and other types of contemporary thought writing.
These types of writing are not necessarily important to history or society, but being able to read
about other peoples thoughts and lives is a type of learning on its own. I believe that not being
able to access this type of learning to its full potential is a problem. In essay two, I wrote that
writing connects people from all over the world and allows them to share on any aspect of

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thought or life. We just need more people to debate their opinions, give their point of views, and
share themselves with the world. Thus, my proposal to correct the problem of not being able to
learn from others, is to create an online world forum through which any person, from any
country, can read and write about anything and everything. Being that it would be a worldwide
connection between all walks of life, culture, language, religion, etc., I believe that the United
Nations should be in charge of promoting and monitoring it.
Basically, what Im proposing is an international online forum through which all
languages and subjects are allowed. There are currently many online sites that allow for writers
to create accounts and post writing, but what Im suggesting is to make a universal forum that
properly translates writings to each users language, so that any writing can be read by any
reader. This will allow every person in the world to be able to open up to one another, learn from
all types of people, religion, and culture, by getting information directly from the source. The
forum will have categories for types of writings, subjects of writings, allow the writer to have
optional responses, allow anonymous postings, and protect the readers & writers identity. Such a
vast forum could have spam, translation, or security issues, but with technology advancing
constantly, Im sure that where this is a will, theres a way, and problems can be overcome with
proper foresight. The benefit of being able to connect people throughout the world is bringing
social understanding to all walks of life and creates peace. Who better to promote peace and
acceptance than the United Nations, which exists to placate countries and facilitate peace
worldwide? If mankind can properly learn from one another, then maybe World War III doesnt
have to happen in the future, and maybe the world can truly come together during times of need
such as natural disasters. People often fear what they dont understand, and peoples greatest
enemy is other people; thus, if we can bridge understanding, then there would be no need for

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fear. Making this connection throughout the world may solve issues between warring countries
and prevent people from being blinded by media, propaganda, prejudices, hate, etc.
Maybe the prevention of World War III is a bit grand of an idea, but I believe that the lack
of connection between people is hindering mankind. The technology for connecting the worlds
information through the internet already exists; we just need to make the next step toward
connecting people. The problem of not being able to properly learn from each other is holding us
back from understanding whats truly going on in the world and this lack of connection is
allowing people to believe that being closed off and sheltered from everyone else is okay. This is
ignorance. For example, when the Ebola outbreak happened in Africa, the United States media
didnt start mentioning it until long after its major spread started and people had already started
dying rapidly. People were only slightly alerted because of its possible transmission to the US
through airline traffic; other than this, the death toll and need for help wasnt widely announced,
leaving the masses in ignorance of what was truly going on and how it was affecting people. If
people in Africa had the ability to internationally post information about what was going on, on
the battlefront with the disease, then maybe the rest of the world might have been able to care
more. This is but one example in which the problem of world needing proper communication can
be seen, but through this, the general idea can be understood as to why there is a need for the
world forum that I am proposing. People dont have to write about only problems that they may
be facing: they can write diaries, philosophical wonderings, dreams, religious thoughts, feelings,
stories (fiction or non-fiction), etc. There truly is no limit to the human imagination, thus there is
no limit to the type of text that people from all over the world can write about. If someone can
think of writing something, then someone else out there will definitely be willing to read it. Are

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there problems that could arise with the creation and control of the forum? Sure, but the positive
aspects far outweigh the hardships that could arise from the creation of the world forum.
Weighing the Pros
Learning about other people in the world will change peoples individual views and allow
them to understand or sympathize with others. Learning from others and understanding their
differences is exactly what The Freedom Writers Diary is all about. This novel is an example of
how people can overcome their differences and view each other as individuals and equals. The
book teaches, No matter what race we are, what ethnic background, sexual orientation, or what
views we may have, we are all human. Unfortunately, not all humans see it that way (Gruwell,
40). All humans are the same, and all of us should have the ability to share our lives with others
through writing. With the world forum, people can learn from others who are from all spheres of
life. People have too many prejudices, Gruwell wrote, Dont let the actions of a few determine
the way you feel about an entire group. Remember, not all Germans were Nazis (Gruwell, 48).
Most people are so prejudiced and ignorant today, that we are unable to see past the negative
information that weve heard. Both adults and children need to properly understand the world,
because if they grow up holding on to such terrible feelings, it could lead to another war
sometime in the future when the fate of the country is in their hands (Gruwell, 3). With the
world forum, we can move past the negative aspects of other races, cultures, religions, etcetera,
and understand each other directly from one another.
The world coming together is what will happen if we work together towards
understanding. In the movie 2012, disasters were happening all over the world, and people were
coming together and helping one another to survive. The survival of mankind took precedence
over race or class, because nothing else mattered. When the time came to choose who to save,

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those in charge were being picky, but even a Chinese woman stuck her head out for a white
family, Take them, take all of them. We are all humans and we should not fight during this time.
No matter what kind of nationalities they have, take them. The dire circumstances meant that
people were forced to help one another, but that should also be applied to during times of peace.
The connecting of people and learning from others will bring about understanding, and my world
forum proposal will enable the world to move in that direction. The world should be able to
come together naturally and spread peace instead of opposition.
Many years ago, others tried to unite the world by creating a universal language that is
easy to learn and understand. This language is called Esperanto and its creation was an attempt to
solve the problem of the void that language barriers create between people and cultures. Like this
world forum proposal, the creators of the Esperanto language wanted to break the language
barrier by using both European and Asian origins for the language base. Over time it has become
popular enough so that adults have raised their children with this language at home. Sieg, a
writer and researcher of Esperanto, mentioned how significant the language barrier is and how it
can create many misunderstandings (Sieg, Esperanto is Not Dead). Yet the attempt to use
Esperanto as a barrier breaker is still on the rise, and it is a great phlight that coincides with how
I also want the world to be connected through the World Forum. Sieg said, We just need to get
together better, and maybe Esperanto is one of the ways we can do it (Sieg, Esperanto is Not
Dead). I feel exactly the same, that maybe with the world forum, the world will be able to
come together, regardless of language barriers.
A key to the creation of the world forum will be the use of technology to translate any
languages writing to the readers individual language when they access the forum, and another
key to it is the protection of the readers or writers who access it. According to Ettlinger, a writer

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and researcher, it's estimated that there were approximately 10,000 languages spoken only a
couple of hundred years ago. . . Colonialism and statism have led to a decline in the number of
languages from its peak of 10,000 to about 6,000 today. (Ettlinger, Here's Why The World Can
Never Have One Universal Language). Although there are as many as 6,000 languages, the
majority of populations speak the base language of their country and then maybe a branch of
language that is inherited from their culture. So long as technology keeps advancing, my idea of
auto-translation for the text on this website is possible. Another key aside from the autotranslation, is the issue of having a high level of security built into the forums design that will
protect the identities of the readers and writer. This can be done through the proper encryption of
the site through its host, who I believe should be the United Nations because they should be able
to protect people even from their own countries if political issues occur for the writers. Although
the need for this technologies may pose a problems, there are methods to fixing these issues, as
well as other issues that may arise from the creation of this world forum.
Weighing the Cons
Such a vast forum could have complications such as spam, translation issues, or security
problems, but with technology advancing constantly, Im sure that where this is a will, there is a
way, and these problems can be overcome with proper foresight. During my interview with
Chris Spack, a computer engineer from the Silicon Valley, his first response about my proposal
was that there are already a ton of social media websites that have already been created (Spack).
Let me clarify, this is not meant to be a social networking site, but a forum through which people
from all over the world come to read and write only. He said that to make this world forum work,
Itll take a lot of power, a lot of people, and a lot of security to protect everyone because
information will be risky and personal. Potential risks is that free open expression of ideas limits

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certain governments power over people and can cause riots or changes in culture. It can cause
huge political problems. The risks of writing could bring about political risks and governmental
factors that may want to police the free speech. A lot of governments will want to ban it,
because the internet is censored by individual countries all over the world. The United Nations
could enact security measures for the site that will not let even governments be able to censor or
withhold citizens from being able to access the world forum.
The greatest issue that will occur will be about languages because there are so many
languages in the world, the language barriers between people is one of the greatest risks for the
World Forum, but if done correctly, it will also be the greatest advantage if the barrier can be
overcome. Simply put, with the right technology, the world forum will be able to instantly
translate any writing to the readers native language. Not being able to understand another
language can frustrate people and lead to misunderstanding (Thomas, Why Cant the World Have
a Universal Language). This is exactly what the site is made for: overcoming the differences that
different peoples may have by learning directly from one another. Even in the business world,
studies on intercultural services argue that customers adjust their service evaluation standards
and tend to be more understanding in intercultural service encounters (Thomas, Why Cant the
World Have a Universal Language). This just shows that people are able to be understanding of
one another in person and can understand the cultural or language differences. Language and
culture is what sets people apart, but it also gives them their individuality; and this individuality
is what people will be able to learn from by accessing the world forum. Thomas wrote that, As
long as humans aspire to have their own distinct identities and form different groups, the same
aspirations that drive them to wave different flags, root for different teams, listen to different
music and have different cultures, they'll continue to have different languages. (T. Thomas, Why

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can't the world have a universal language?). All these differences are what make people so amazing,
and with the proper language technology, they can all be connected to the world forum. Current
technology for language translation is already widely used; According to Google, more than
500 million people use its version every month to make more than one billion translations per
day. (Rawlinson, Google Translate 'turns interpreter' with voice function). The best part about
this world forum is that because of the high amount of different language traffic it will receive,
the language technology will constantly become more advanced as it learns from the writing it is
translating.
Please Make the World Forum a Reality
After reading through all this information, I think you can now understand my idea of
what the world forum will do for the world. It will break language and culture barriers and
connect all of humanity together. My examples may be meager and not properly expressive for
my passion on this matter, but I truly believe that this will correct the problem of not being able
to understand one another. As people, we can truly benefit from learning from one another and be
able to freely write and share ourselves with the world. The proper security and translation
technology that would support the world forum will be able to protect peoples identities and
freedom of speech. We will not only be able to understand and connect to one another, but we
will also be able to create peace against prejudices and bridge those odd gaps that languages
cause between people. Dont you think that mankind deserves the chance to make this a reality?
We need to be able to create peace before catastrophe happens in the future. We shouldnt have
to fear one another, because true understanding can clear the air and allow us to coexist with
happiness. So please, I implore you to think over my idea, as farfetched as it may seem, and give

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it a chance to change the world. United Nations, please support my idea, expand on it, and delve
into the depths of what it could do, and give it a chance.

Works Cited
Ettlinger, Marc. "Here's Why The World Can Never Have One Universal Language." Business
Insider: n. pag. Business Insider. Web. 18 June 2015.
Gruwell, Erin. The Freedom Writers Diary. New York: Broadway Books, 2009. Print.
Rawlinson, Kevin. "Google Translate 'Turns Interpreter' with Voice Function." BBC News 14 Jan.
2015: n. pag. BBC News. Web. 18 June 2015.

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Sieg, Stina. Esperanto Is Not Dead: Can The Universal Language Make A Comeback? National
Public Radio. N.p., 13 June 2015. Web. 18 June 2015.
<http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?
action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=413968033&m=414239807>.
Spack, Christopher. Personal interview. 18 June 2015.
Thomas, Daniel. "Translation Tech Helps Firms Talk Business round the World." BBC News 14
Nov. 2014: n. pag. Web. 18 June 2015.
Thomas, Terry, et al. "Why can't the world have a universal language?" Quora. N.p., n.d. Web.
18 June 2015. <http://www.quora.com/Why-cant-the-world-have-a-universal-language>.
2012. Dir. Roland Emmerich. Columbia Pictures, 2009. Film.

Extra Credit: Revision Letter from Madeline (Maddie) Liu

June 21, 2015

Pai Liu
234 Saint Francis Street #3G
San Gabriel CA-91776

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Dear Kevin:
Hi Kevin, after reading your research paper, I would like to start of with saying you have a very
interesting choice of title for your essay. I think your title really sums up and gives people the
basic idea of what your essay would be about. I really like how you came up with the idea of
writing about the truth and meaningful ideas of writing. The fact how you have idea of proposing
an international online forum though which all languages are allow is something very big to talk
about. I understand what you are going through, because I believe we have similar background.
The things I would suggest you to change would be to try and add more information about how
language is created, maybe give it a background idea, or background fact about it. It would be
great to also add a personal experience of your own in your introduction paragraph to really
show your readers why did you choose this topic. However, I still really enjoyed your research
paper, it is a very well thought and very well organized paper, the structure of your paragraphs
are all coherent and very follow through.
Sincerely,
MADELINE LIU (Signature)
Madeline Liu
Group Buddy
Enc.