BADM 605: Term Paper Guidelines
TERM PAPER ASSIGNMENT:
You must write an essay that is tied to some topic that we will be reading about and discussing over the course of the semester.
While your paper must be tied to the specific issues of the course, you will have some latitude in how you approach this assignment. One possibility would, of course, be for you to elaborate some more on the details of an issue that we focus on directly. Or, if you wish, you could focus on a related current issue that has been in the news and then compare, contrast or discuss that specific issue in the context of the arguments made in the readings for the course. Another possibility would be for you to elaborate further on an issue that arises in the discussion forum in the context of the discussion we will be having over the semester. In summary, the basic idea is for you to write on some specific aspect of one of the issues at hand that you believe calls for further scrutiny.
It is usually works best if you write a relatively narrow paper that focuses on a specific issue or question. The term paper is not meant to be a book review; it is meant for you to explore and follow up on some specific issue that is of particular interest to you.
BASIC FORMAT:
Your term paper should have a title that is consistent with the focus and content of the paper. The title should be on a cover page with your name identifying you as the author of the paper below the title.
It is ok to add diagrams and/or photographs to the paper as long as these are specifically intended to support or illustrate the points of the paper, but otherwise there should not be any illustrations of kind in the paper or on the cover page.
You should use page numbers, without any running heads throughout the paper. The entire paper must be written using the same basic font (for example: Cambria, Times New Roman, Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Bookman, etc.). You may make the title bold and/or larger than the rest of the paper, and you can also underline and use italics, or color, etc., but otherwise you should not switch fonts as you write the paper.
The paper must be submitted as a word file that is uploaded in Canvas and I will be grading it in its electronic format, so margins and line spacing are not all that critical. That said, using margins around an inch or so, along with single spacing, works well.
ORIGINALITY:
The paper must be your own original work and it must be written specifically for this class (this means no recycling of old papers written for other classes). The paper will be checked for originality using turnitin.com. Any citation omissions will affect your paper grade, but significantly plagiarized papers will receive a grade of zero, with no exceptions and with no do-overs.
LENGTH:
While the length of your paper must of course depend on your chosen topic, your papers should be at least 3000 words exclusive of the title page, any direct quotes, and references.
SPELLING AND GRAMMAR:
You should double check the grammar and the spelling of the paper before you submit it. Keep in mind that the quality of your writing (i.e., your phrasing, punctuation, grammar and spelling) will count for at least 25 points of the total 100 maximum points of the grade for your paper.
CITATIONS & CITATION STYLE:
You must cite all your sources and you must cite these sources using one of the following styles: MLA, APA, Harvard, Chicago, or Turabian. While you are free to select any of these citation styles, you must follow whichever style you choose to the letter.
PROPER QUOTATIONS & QUOTATION MARKS:
You must use quotation marks, or else use indented blocks, to identify all quotations. It is OK to paraphrase and not use direct quotes only when your language is completely different from the original, but you must still give proper credit to your sources. It is not OK to just insert a few words of your own into another writers text and then appropriate it without using quotation marks.
All quotations must correspond exactly to the original wording, spelling, and punctuation. Page numbers must be given for each citation. Changes must be clearly indicated: use brackets to identify insertions; use ellipses (…) to show omissions. Also indicate where emphasis has been added.
REFERENCES:
The last section of your paper must be a list of references. Your references must correspond to your citations in the text of your paper and must be completely consistent with your citation style. Points will be deducted from the grade for any paper that mixes up different citation styles. Your reference list should not include any sources other than those that you cite in the text of your paper, but it must also include every item that you cite or discuss, including the course material. Your reference list should begin on a new page (i.e., put a page break in front of the reference list).
