Assignment

Write a research report of 500-750 words on an approved topic. Your report should use MLA documentation style and cite at least three separate sources. Your report does not have to argue an analytic thesis. Your purpose is simply to present information clearly.

Topics

Review the list of topics to see what is available. Send me an email at cbrucker@atu.edu in which you list your top two choices. I am going to let only two people write about the same topic. I'll assign you to the highesr choice that is still available.

Researching Your Topic

Once your topic is assigned, begin to gather information. You are required to use information from at least three sources. If you use Internet sources, be sure to copy down all of the information you will need when citing the source in your paper: the author or authoring organization, the title of the page, the title of site of which the page is a part, the date on which you accessed the page, the complete URL (its Internet address). If you are taking notes from a printed source, remember to record author, title, publisher, place and date of publication, as well as the page number(s) from which you get specific information.

Click here for Guidelines for Conducting Research. which You can also check the information on MLA documentation in Arkansas Tech Writing pp. 222-225.

Models

Click here to read a research paper that was written for the Fall 2008 section of American Studies and two research papers that were written in the fall of 2001 for an American literature course using these same guidelines:

1. "The Creation of the Wilderness Preservation System, 1964"
2. "The Political Principles of Thoreau"
3. "Kate Chopin: Unconventional Writer"

Plagiarism

Plagiarism, passing off someone else's work as your own, is a serious error that must be avoided. You will submit your report through Turnitin.com where it will be checked against a database of sources. Any plagiarized report may receive a zero for the assignment.

Many people do not realize that copying even a few words or a distinctive phrase from a source is considered plagiarism. Look over a plagiarism example submitted to me by a student who didn't realize that he was doing anything wrong. Developing good research methods and carefully documenting your information can prevent you from unintentionally plagiarizing your sources.

Writing the Report

Your report should be double-spaced. Use current MLA documentation style. You will have parenthetical in-text citations to at least three separate sources and those sources will be listed alphabetically on the Works Cited list at the end of your paper. You can check the information on MLA documentation in Arkansas Tech Writing pp. 222-225. If you are uncertain about someaspect of MLA documentation, ask me before submitting your report.

Models

Be careful to proofread your report thoroughly. Grammatical and mechanical errors should be avoided. If you need some help, contact me.

Submitting the Report

Your report should be saved as a Word-formatted file with your last name , first name and RP (for research paper) as the title. Thus, my report would be named Brucker , Carl RP. If you cannot use Microsoft Word, use the Save As command in your word processor to save your file as an rtf (rich text format) file or as a Word-formatted file. Use the Submit Research button at the left of the course's Blackboard site to submit your paper.

List of Topics