Research Paper Workshop The “Do’s and Don’ts” for your Paper Due Wednesday, October 26th

Read the Directions The paper is due Wednesday, October 26 th. Follow the simple directions on the research paper handout (this alone will take you far). Do your research. Do not wait until the night before or the last 48 hours to complete the paper. Refer back to these slides when are you putting your paper together. Remember, I will be glad to look at your paper if you want to give it to me early (two classes or more in advance)

General Points The body of the paper should be 5-7 pages (this does NOT include your title page and reference page). You MUST have a minimum of five scholarly sources. Your reference page must be done in APA format. If you fail to submit a reference page or fail to cite references, you will receive a ZERO. Don’t FORGET to include your opinion/analysis page (people have in the past and if you forget, points will be deducted from your paper).

How your paper should look A simple title page – you can be creative with the title itself The body of your paper (intro, conclusion, etc.) Opinion/Analysis page Reference page in APA format Abstracts & Table of Contents pages are NOT necessary. Nor is a fancy binder or folder for the paper. Use default font size, type and margins!!!

More tips Do not use personal pronouns (I, me, we, etc.) Do not use your opinion. This is an unbiased research paper. Save your opinion for the opinion/analysis part. Do not use contractions (wasn’t, shouldn’t, can’t – instead use was not, should not, and so on). Do not rely too heavily on direct quotes. One or two direct quotes is OK, but try to paraphrase and put the quotes into your own words, then follow with the appropriate citation.

Grading This is the breakdown of how the paper will be graded: Content – 50/100 Grammar/Spelling/Structure – 20/100 References/Citations – 20/100 Opinion/Analysis Page – 10/100