Research Paper Description

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There are two papers due for this course.  Both are research papers.  By that, I mean that in order to do them you will first have to research your chosen topic.  Remember that your audience for this paper is not the general public.  It's your instructor, who will want to read that you have become an expert in your chosen topic.

Let's go through this step by step.

First the particulars of each paper

Each paper will:

• have a title page
• be 3 to 4 pages long, not counting the title page or reference page
• be double spaced
• have 1 inch margins
• have a font size of 12 point
• have in-text citations
• have no quotations from the source material longer than a phrase (i.e., no sentence or paragraph long quotations)
• have a literature-cited page that lists only those sources cited in the text
• have no less than 3 sources
• be submitted electronically to my email address
• be in Microsoft Word.doc or .docx format or .rtf (rich text format) format

You will have to choose your topic.  The topic must be an environmental issue and must be approved by your instructor.  If it is not approved first, your instructor will not read your paper. 

The topic might be related to something covered in class.  If that is so, your research must cover information not covered in class, in the textbook, or in ancillary readings assigned for that topic.

Good sources are necessary for a good paper.  Environmental issues are multi-faceted.  The topic you choose will probably be the subject of scholarly papers, magazine articles, websites, and newspaper articles.  All are fair choices but a paper that does not delve into the scholarly literature to some degree will not receive an A

Your instructor is a resource for finding papers about your topic.  Use the TSU library, use google, and use your instructor. 

Citation Format

CITATIONS IN THE TEXT OF THE PAPER AND A LITERATURE CITED PAGE ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. ANY PAPER WITHOUT THEM WILL RECEIVE A ZERO FOR A GRADE.

In-Text Citations:

Citations are put into the body of the paper to note where an idea, fact, or quoted material has come from. Your papers and presentations, since you are re-packaging what information you have gathered from others, should be chock full of citations. Failure to do so is considered plagiarism and will result in a 0 for the paper, so put them in and follow your paper or outline with a literature cited page.

Be sure to place quotes around all sentences or phrases taken from the literature. After the quoted material, list its citation. Also, you have to cite any ideas or facts taken from the materials (Finknotle, 1992), even if you are not taking it word-for-word. Literature citations are to be done by placing the last name of the author and the year of the materials publication in parentheses at the end of the sentence or paragraph in which the material is first mentioned (Finknotle and Glossip, 1989). When you are introducing several things from a single source in a series of sentences as part of a paragraph, then wait until you have presented them all before including a citation (this saves space and makes for less repetition). Only cite material the first time it is used.  Examples for 1, 2, and 3-or-more authors (in order):

(Finknotle, 1992) for a single author, or (Finknotle and Glossip, 1989) for a pair, or (Finknotle et al., 1990) for more than two.

The literature cited section should come at the end of the text, must alphabetically list all materials consulted and should use the following formats:

Book

Author's Last Name, Initials. Year. Title. Publisher. City and country of publication, pages of interest (if not the entire book).

Article from a Book:

Author's Last Name, Initials. Year. Title of article. Ed. Editor of book. Title of book. Publisher. City and country of publication, page numbers of article.

Journal Article

Author's Last Name, Initials. Year. Title of article. Journal name, Volume number: pages (of entire article).

Internet material

Author's Last Name, Initials. Year. Title of article/Name of site. Internet site URL, date accessed (not date posted).

Last Updated January 22, 2012