A research paper or analytical or interpretive essay will be judged by its ORGANIZATION, CLARITY, LOGIC and SENSE of EVIDENCE, as well as imagination and original thinking. The following suggestions should help avoid the worst errors with respect to the first four of these.
See also Guide to Citations of Electronic Source Materials
Note that a topic is not automatically a problem for investigation. You may begin by being interested in exploring a topic or theme, but by the time you write your paper, you should be able to show the reader:
(1) what problems or questions of significance are suggested by the material you have been studying;
(2) why the reader should be interested in these problems - that is, what light your work sheds on questions of more general interest; and
(3) what questions have arisen in the course of your studies that need further investigation.
Note: The same paper may not be used for two courses without the explicit consent of the instructors of both courses. The purpose of such permission is to allow for the possibility of projects whose scope and research would be substantially greater than either required paper. If it is discovered that papers have been submitted to two courses without the consent of the two instructors, they will be automatically unacceptable.
Paper Topic | Thesis Statement | Writing Form | Technical Tips | Citation Tips | Citation Style 1 | Citation Style 2
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