Hints, Tips, and Suggestions for your Term Paper

DEADLINE 11:59pm Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, November 20

ANNOUNCEMENT

I do not consider WIKIPEDIA to be a good reference. Sometimes it is a good place to find good references (check out the reference list at the end of the wikipedia page), but I do not plan on accepting ANY bibliographical reference from Wikipedia.

Citation Help

See the link to the Library's Plagiarism website if you have any questions as to what is considered plagiarism and how to cite properly here

What I expect to see:
In the paper

Author(s) (year) say quote.
-or-
Quote. (Author(s), year)

Examples

Smith and Jones (1984) argue that the migration of termites in Antarctica is responsible for the Ebola epidemic in Russia.
-OR-
Recent studies show that termite migration in Antarctica has caused the recent outbreak of Ebola. (Smith and Jones, 1984)

If you have sources with more than 2 authors, your citation in the paper should list the first author's name, and add "et al."

Example:

Smith et al. (1984) argue that the migration of termites in Antarctica is responsible for the Ebola epidemic in Russia.


In your Bibliography
Author(s), Year, Article Title, Journal/Book Title, Journal/Book Volume, page number(s)

Example

Smith, B., Jones, C., 1984, Termite Migration as the Cause of Ebola Epidemics, Journal of PseudoMedicine, Volume 25, Pgs 329-345


How I will grade your papers:

Mechanics

(5 points) Adequately long paper
(10 Points) Minimum of 3 good references (NOT WIKIPEDIA!!!)
(10 points) Citations to your references should be in the paper!! (and quotes shouldn't be there just to occupy space, they should help to reinforce your ideas)
(10 points) Grammar (a few spelling or punctuation errors are fine, I want sentences that make sense!)

Content

(30 points) Detailed summary of your topic (people, places, times, ideas, changes, etc!)
(30 points) Key Ideas in your topic (someone should be able to skim your paper and be able to identify these, describe and emphasize them well!)
(5 points) What are your thoughts on the topic? why?


If you are having a hard time figuring out how to address any of these points, come talk to me! Since I am grading these, I can give you some direction toward what I am looking for!

Rene expects these papers will be about 5 pages in length, single spaced. (Regular font size = 12 point). Don't bother to mess around with the margins, I will check. I expect at least 4 pages will be the minimum you will need to develop your ideas. If you are having a hard time filling this much space, you either haven't got as much information as you should, or you are not being detailed enough, so come talk to me!!