I am doing my research paper on the first African American football player Kenneth S. Washington.
Research Paper Assignment, Research paper: 200 points. Each student will write one (1) 3-5 page research paper which demonstrates the student’s ability to collect, analyze, synthesize and present information in written form, properly incorporating, citing and documenting sources. This is a Library research project: no internet sources may be employed unless prior approval is given by the instructor. A minimum of two non-internet sources (other than the textbook) must be incorporated…. Procedure: 1. Select a topic… 2. Students are to submit their Research paper topics before the mid-term week. b. The Instructor will notify the student of which topic they may write on, and whether they will need to further narrow down the topic. 2. Conduct Research on selected topic. 2. Locate appropriate sources utilizing the University Library. Students must locate and utilize a minimum of two non-internet sources. At least one source must be a book; the other may also be a book, or it may be an article in a scholarly journal. b. It is often useful to begin your research by locating books which deal with broad subjects, and then use the bibliographies of those books to help you locate further sources. .. .. . .. i. For example, if you wish to write an essay on Julius Caesar, you might start by locating a general history of ancient Rome, and consulting the bibliography to help you identify books about Julius Caesar. websites or reference books (e.g. Encyclopedias) may be employed as sources; the course textbook may not be employed as a source. .d. Make sure that the sources you select are actually about the topic you have selected. Titles can often be misleading. e. When you have located your sources, read them and take notes. In order to .: avoid inadvertent plagiarism, always nnt direct qnotes from your sources in What is the ones quotation marks in you-rotor, and nuts the page number of the quotation. 3. Write a three to five page essay. Your essay must have a thesis (a main argument), and it must support that argument with specific evidence such as examples and quotations from historical figures. a. Your essay should be structured into five sections (each section may or may not consist of just one paragraph)… i. The first paragraph should set forth the paper’s thesis the main argument of the paper). For Example: A student writing on the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire might put forward the following argument: “While a number of factors contributed to the ease with which a small Spanish force was able to conquer the Aztec empire, by far the most significant was the introduction of smallpox into the Aztec population.” 3. ii. The next three sections of the essay should each contain a sub-argument which supports the main argument put forward in the first paragraph. For Example: The student writing of the conquest of the Aztec empire might employ the following three sub-arguments: 1. The introduction of smallpox decimated the Aztec population, created a crisis of leadership, and prevented the Aztecs from being able to militarily resist the Spanish, 2. The role played by the Spanish possession of firearms was relatively unimportant: Sixteenth century muskets would not have provided a major military advantage had the Aztecs been able to muster their warriors in large numbers. Aztec religious prophecy played some role; but it was not nearly as decisive as the role played by smallpox. By the time the Aztecs came into conflict with the Spanish, it was clear to them that the Spanish were not gods.. Each sub-argument must be supported with specific examples. iii. The final section of the paper must draw together the arguments * put forward in the paper and re-state the main argument of the paper. b. Throughout the essay, you must cite the sources of information which are …being employed. i. When to cite: . 1. At the end of every sentence in which a quotation from a source is employed, you must cite the source of that quotation. .2. Whenever you employ information which is not considered to be “common knowledge and most of the historical information you will be dealing with is not considered to be “common knowledge”-you must cite the source of that information. If all the information contained in a single paragraph comes from a single source, you may cite that source at the end of the paragraph. However: if the information in the paragraph is drawn from more than one source you must provide a citation each time the source changes. ii. How to cite: …1. In the first instance: Footnotes must contain the following information in tiie ionowing oruci napisa 2. For books: Name of Author, Title of Book, Place of: Publication, Publishing Company, Year of Publication, page number(s) the quotation or information comes from. i. Example: RW. Davis, Political Change and Continuity, 1760-1885: a Buckinghamshire Study (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1972), p. 123. 6. For articles: Name of author, Title of Article, Name of scholarly journal in which article appears, issue number and date of publication, page number(s) the quotation or information comes from. i. Example: Edwin Jaggard, “Small Boroughs and PA SES SA 69 : Political Modernization, 1832-1868; a Cornwall Case Study,” Albion 29, no.4 (1998), pp. 622-3. 2. Subsequent citations of a source already noted in full should use a shortened form containing the following information: Author’s last name, title, page number(s) referred to: a. Examples: i. Davis, Political Change and Continuity, pp. 23-4. ii. Jaggard, “Small Boroughs and Political Modernization,” p.644. c. Your essay must contain a Bibliography which is to appear on the page after the last page of the essay. The bibliography must contain entries for every source cited in the essay. Please note that the proper form of bibliographic citation differs from that of footnote citation. i. Examples: 1. For books: Davis, R.W. Political Change and Continuity, 1760 1885; a Buckinghamshire Study. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1972. For articles: Jaggard, Edwin. “Small Boroughs and Political Modernization, 1832-1868: a Cornwall Case Study.” Albion 29, no. 4 (1998): 622-642. ii.For further information on footnote and bibliographic citation, students are urged to consult The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. 4. Your essay must be turned in on the assigned day. 2. 5. General Directions for written assignments: All written assignments must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point font. No extra spacing between paragraphs. All papers must contain a cover page containing the student’s name and section number. All written assignments must be submitted to the instructor on the assigned day during class time.All written assignments are individual projects, not group projects.. Plagiarism: All written assignments must be in the student’s own words (no direct copying from sources, no cut-and-past, no borrowing the work of other students, etc.). If it is determined by the instructor that the student directly copied from another source — even if the plagiarism consists ví just a portiod of one sentence a grade of “0” will existente mot be assigned. Late Papers: All written assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day on. which they are due. Late papers will be marked down one letter grade (i.e.—from A to A-, A- to B+, etc.) for each day that they are late unless the instructor is presented with a valid excuse Students who do not turn in a paper, or whose papers are not accepted, will be given a “O” on the assignment. Grading: All written assignments will be graded on content, grammar, punctuation and spelling.
