Requirements for this paper:
Now that you have spent nearly an entire semester researching one subject, it is time to write a culminating paper.
Your goal in this final research paper is to explore a complicated, multifaceted, sophisticated idea about your research topic that you developed from your research question, the Journal Article Analysis, and Annotated Bibliography. The topic of your final paper will be a response to the research question you developed early in the semester. In your final paper, you will develop a thesis or central idea and present a logical, argument that is supported by scholarly research.
At least one part of your paper needs to address the use or analysis of quantitative research, or statistics, as it relates to some aspect of your topic. There are different ways to do this. You might include a graph or table that illustrates how statistics relate to some aspect of your topic, or you might include a paragraph or two that discusses some research expressed numerically. Be sure that you critically examine the statistics and discuss how reliable the source is and whether or not you consider the statistics to be valid. Use what you have learned from reading the assignments on the statistics Website to help you with this.
Audience: College students and your professor. You may also direct this paper toward a specific audience, such as a legislator or organization, if that is applicable. If you do this, please indicate the intended audience at the top of your paper.
Purpose: you will present a researched argument that contains a clear thesis statement that you support with reasons and evidence. Your argument will be a response to the research question you developed on your research topic.
Point of View and Verb Tense: Academic writing is objective and written in third-person point of view. If you have a personal story to relate that will support your thesis, you may use first-person point of view for that.
MLA papers are written in the present tense. See Ch. 10 of your text.
Format:
Follow 2016 MLA format unless you have received permission to write your paper using APA format. Use standard MLA formatting with no title page.
See Ch. 15 if you are writing in APA format.
Thesis Statement: Underline the thesis so that I can find it easily.
Documentation:
Use at least seven scholarly sources for this paper, and at least four sources should be from peer-reviewed journals, scholarly books, or scholarly and/or government Websites. Other sources may include documentaries, interviews that you have conducted, published interviews, and articles from credible publications. You may include any of the sources we have used in this class as part of this mix. Do not use opinion-based sources to count toward the seven sources.
Cite encyclopedias and dictionaries if you use them. However, the use of these kinds of sources does not count toward the minimum number of scholarly sources.
Do not use Wikipedia as a source for an academic paper.
If the sources you analyzed in your Journal Article Analysis and your Annotated Bibliography are sources that still support your final paper, use those. However, after analysis in the above assignments, it might be possible that you decide that any one of these sources would not work for your final paper. It’s up to you. The majority of your sources should be primary sources, and your emphasis must be on scholarly sources.
You will need to use direct quotes and references that support specific points you make in your text. As a general rule, each page of the body of your essay should contain at least two quotes. Quotes should support specific points that you make in the text.
Create a Works Cited page using 2016 MLA style (or APA style, if you have previously spoken to me about this). Use in-text citations for all quotes, paraphrases, and summaries of sources.
Proofreading and Editing: This paper must be a polished paper that demonstrates your skills in academic research and writing, and it should be free of errors in grammar, punctuation, syntax, and MLA formatting. Follow the guidelines in Ch. 13 for revising, proofreading, formatting, and editing your final draft. This paper does not need a title page.
Detailed Instructions for the Academic Research Paper:
After you have done research, taken and organized notes, evaluated your audience, and established the tone, or voice, you will use, you are ready to write the first draft of your argument.
Steps to Organizing Your Paper:
Review the chapter on drafting a research paper in Writing Research Papers
Do some brainstorming
Practice freewriting on your topic, and
Find a focus for your argument
Plan the general structure you will use before you start writing
Create an outline
You will likely have a great deal of complex material.
Introduction, Body, and Conclusion
Writing the Introduction:
The introduction needs to:
Make both the subject of your argument and your position on the subject clear
Include relevant background information to put your topic in context for your readers
Define any important or key terms here. Do not assume that your reader defines terms the same way you do.
Provide a review of the literature on your topic. Discuss what academic sources are currently saying about your topic (see the lecture in the learning module regarding literature reviews).
You may briefly explain why the issue is controversial and significant.
Your introduction will be several paragraphs long for a detailed paper such as this.
Thesis: Your thesis sentence needs to be the last sentence in your introduction. Review the sections in your text on writing thesis statements. Also, review the lecture on “Thesis Statements for Argument Papers” in the learning module for the final research paper. The thesis statement must state your claim and the points you will use to develop the claim.
A thesis statement is just that, a statement; it is not a question, not a statement of purpose (in this paper I will discuss …), and not a fact.
Underline the thesis so that I can find it easily.
Writing the Body: (some suggestions)
Explain the nature of the issue. You may summarize various viewpoints to indicate that you understand the ideas of others and have researched the topic thoroughly. You could also include any personal experience that is relevant.
Following the organizational plan that you developed in your Sentence Outline, and introduce evidence to support your thesis statement and your argument.
Support your thesis with credible, scholarly sources: usually this is the longest and most substantive section. Support includes:
compelling reasons and evidence
facts
statistics
data
statements by authorities
illustrative examples
personal anecdotes
Consider your tone. What is the best tone to take in order to persuade your audience to at least consider your ideas? Avoid a dogmatic, preachy, or whiny tone. Strive for an objective academic tone. An objective tone will establish common ground between you and your intended readers.
In addition, consider opposing points of view and explain why your argument is valid in light of opposing ideas.
Sometimes writers refute the opposing points—they anticipate objections and answer them in advance. In a refutation, a writer raises a potential objection to his or her position and tries to show why it does not undermine the basic argument. Sometimes writers simply acknowledge opposing points but show that these viewpoints do not outweigh the evidence they have offered.
Conclusion:
Summarize the main argument. Some ways to close:
Sum up the evidence presented, restate your position, and close with the strongest piece of evidence
Make a specific proposal for instituting a reform or taking a recommended course of action
Make a plea for considering a point of view that may have been previously ignored or rejected with a fair or full evaluation
Urge a new definition—or a broader or narrower definition—for a controversial term
For more on writing arguments, follow the links on your homepage under “Writing Websites.”
Rhetorical Strategy:
Refer to Writing Research Papers, Ch. 1, for a review of different rhetorical strategies you can use to advance your ideas.
Write in the proper tense and point of view. See Ch. 10 for more about this. Use third-person point of view. If you write about a personal experience, you may use first-person point of view in that particular section.
NOTE:
While this paper builds on your previous papers, do not simply reorganize data or paragraphs from previous papers in the course for this paper. You need to produce a solid academic paper. While you can use information from previous papers, you must write a new paper that presents a well-researched argument. Copying entire sections of the Journal Article Analysis or Annotated Bibliography will result in a failing grade for this paper.
Demonstrate the skills of analysis and synthesis that we have been learning this semester.
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