Scholarly Research Prompt
The Research Paper is the cornerstone of a student’s college experience. Writing a great research paper is not that complicated, especially when one selects a topic that a researcher can find an abundance of sources to support their effort. For this assignment, students will complete a research paper on the same topic they chose for the Literature Review. All your academic research should be completed after the last essay, thus, making this research essay easier.
Topic: Cost of College Education
The Assignment: Compose a 1000-word, 4-page research paper. Try to keep it close to 1000 words, this is where editing skills come into play. This is a 6-paragraph essay. Students must find a topic, find scholarly research about the topic, formulate a thesis/argument, and prove the thesis/argument by using their own analysis and scholarly/reputable research as evidence/proof. Do not write a 4 page summary about a topic (do not tell me what depression is or what Black Lives Matter is; rather, tell me why depression is not treated properly in the US or why the Black Lives Matter movement is a movement attached to the Civil Rights Movement and *why* using your own analysis and scholar’s research).
Students need to include word count on last page.
Try to keep the 4 Body Paragraphs relatively close in size.
The research paper must contain the following:
- Introductory Paragraph
- Body Paragraph 1
- Body Paragraph 2
- Body Paragraph 3
- Body Paragraph 4
- Conclusion Paragraph
Important Notes:
You can utilize any reputable/scholarly sources you wish and any assortment therein: websites, documentary films, television, books, newspapers, journals, magazines. Use a minimum of 3 sources. You do not need to only use academic sources in this paper but most of your sources should be from academic journals, meetings, and/or books.
Students must find proper evidence to support their claims and analyze the importance of their support/claims (don’t solely tell me what the Pacific Garbage Patch is, tell me why it is important/why the research is important, etc).
Students are required to stay with the 6-paragraph structure.
Utilize a proper citation format, either MLA, APA, or Chicago style (for help, visit owl.purdue.edu)
Title created by student (e.g. How John Lewis Contributed to the Civil Rights Movement)
No page numbers
Students may use First Person (example: In my opinion…) or Third Person (example: social media revolutionized our world because…)
Double spaced, Times New Roman, 12 font.
