Argumentative Research Paper

(25%)

Due Date:

Tuesday/Thursday Class: 4/19/07

Monday/Wednesday/Friday Class: 4/20/07

General Guidelines:

• Page count: 8 full pages minimum to 9 full pages maximum, plus a works cited page or pages. If your paper falls short of the minimum required page count the grade will certainly suffer.
• Use MLA style.
• Use the formatting guidelines on the course syllabus.
• Make certain that the essay has a thesis.
• Remember to give your essay a two part title, separated by a colon, neither part of which should read Argumentative Research Paper.
• You are required to turn in your paper in a pocket folder, along with a printed copy of your outside source. Failure to negotiate this properly will cost points. Do not turn in your project as a mass of papers stapled together, nor should it be in a three-ring binder or anything other than a pocket folder.

Prompt:

• This essay also comes from the research done in your Annotated Bibliography.
• You are writing about the same topic as your Annotated Bibliography.
• You must cite a minimum of 8 sources, 6 of which must have been included in your Annotated Bibliography. This means that each one of the 8 sources quoted in this paper must be cited with an in-text citation and a corresponding works cited page citation.
• You may use additional sources beyond the 8 if you wish.
• Devise your own thesis and argument.

Criteria That Determines a Valid Outside Source: (we will go over this at length during class)

• You cannot use magazines, websites, or any web-related material that can be reached with just an Internet connection. In other words, you must use the OSU library interface to use databases to which the OSU library subscribes.
• Your outside sources must be articles from peer-reviewed scholarly journals, and the articles must have the equivalent of a works cited section at the end, which might also be titled as one of the following: references, bibliography, sources cited, and so on. Alternatively, there may be no such section at the end, but the articles might be footnoted throughout, which is also acceptable if the footnotes give the publication information that is typically found in a works cited citation.
• An article must be a minimum of five pages in length, or it will be considered invalid.
• Do not use articles from anonymous authors, or they will be considered invalid.

Another important point:

Remember that MLA Style Guidelines are a critically important element of this course, and if you negotiate them at an exceedingly low skill level this paper will receive an unsatisfactory grade at best.

Due Date:

Tuesday/Thursday Class: 4/19/07

Monday/Wednesday/Friday Class: 4/20/07