Online Courses (Distance Ed):
Paper instructions:
Paper: The Argumentative Research paper
Length: 8 pages minimum - 12 page maximum, use 12 point typeface, no fancy typefaces please: Garamond, Times New Roman, Arial are fine, may use some small graphics such as photos or graphs.
Purpose: To prove a position using sources, to show that you know how to do library research and cite sources correctly
Description: The research paper is the culmination of the Comp I and II courses. To receive full credit, the research paper must be argumentative - that is, it must take a position and prove the other side wrong. It cannot simply present both sides of the argument equally; that is a simple report.
Your paper must be wholly original, not following anyone else’s organization or format. It may not be comprised of large chunks of sources strung together.
Also, it has to follow the requirements laid out below:
Topics: You can choose any topic you want as long as it is argumentative. Good topics also are timely or show some special insights or experience you have. Topics to avoid are these: abortion, capital punishment, gun control, evolution, pollution, or global warming.
These topics have been used so much in the past that it is difficult to bring in any new perspectives. Try not to re-hash some tired argument.
Sources: The paper must use at least six sources. You can have as many sources as you want but six are the minimum. Also, try to avoid using all the same type of sources—it’s better if some sources are from books, some from magazines, some from non-print media, some from reference material.
You may use sources that you access from the internet. However, the quality of sources on the internet varies from the excellent such as academic journals and major newspapers to the unusable such as personal websites and blogs (weblogs). Generally, if the source is published as a paper copy and can also be accessed on the internet, that is an acceptable source. The New York Times is a major newspaper but also has a website with much of the same information on it. Whatever you access from their website is in essence the same as what you would get from their newspaper, so there is no real difference. That is not an “internet only” source. Other sources can only be found on the internet. Salon,com and Slate.com are two well-known examples. You should limit your “internet only” sources to one-third of your total sources (two “internet only” sources out of six, three out of nine, four out of twelve, etc).