TOPIC: Your topic should address some current issue in your major and advance your knowledge. Science and technology change too quickly to rehash old “stuff.” Old “stuff,” other than as background information, or to show progress in a particular area of research, is not advancing your knowledge and can produce misleading or wrong conclusions.
AUDIENCE: Your paper should be understood by a broader audience than scholars in your field. You will have to explain concepts and not expect your audience to understand in-house jargon. If you are working on a paper in your field for another class or on the job we can negotiate audience requirements.
FORMAT:
-Length – 5 to 7 double-spaced pages of text. Seven “rambling” pages is not better than five clear, fully developed pages.
-Proper MLA!!!!
THESIS: must be included in the introduction, generally at the end of the introductory material. Use subheadings, where appropriate, to separate different aspects of your paper which support your controlling idea (your thesis). [The body of your paper should provide supporting evidence to support your thesis, in a logical fully developed, consistent manner. For each new topic which supports your overall thesis, provide a topic sentence or two which is, in effect, the thesis for that subtopic which supports your controlling idea for the whole paper.]
SOURCES: Use a minimum of 5 varied CURRENT sources (at least three from 1995 – for example, journals in your major, Internet sources, interviews. Books (often outdated by the time they get published) are generally poor sources for scientific subjects except for background info. Trade magazines or special interest group sources have built in biases. Check the source of all information for reliability. Is the Internet site sanctioned by a reputable institution or organization? Is the person interviewed experienced in your subject? Does he or she have a built in bias you need to address in your paper? What biases of your own may you have to be aware of to produce a scholarly look at this subject? We will have time next week in the library to look for more sources and work on our papers.
Follow the current standard MLA style for documenting the sources in your text. Use parenthetical citations (citation information in text between parenthesis). Give parenthetical citation information for quotations AND paraphrases. Include page number for direct quotes. MLA requires the date be included in in-text citations: