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 26th. 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