1. Construct a title page, with a creative title that captures the essence of the paper, including, perhaps, its point of view. Of course, include your name, class, date, etc.

2. In four to five pages, develop your paper topic. Introduce it, develop your arguments and offer evidence to support your views. If possible, also try to recognize the weaknesses of your arguments. What part of your paper might someone disagree with and why do you think they would be wrong? Finally, offer a conclusion that clearly restates your position and why it is important. This portion of your paper is worth up to 20 points.

3. Be sure to include footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography. I have a link on my website that gives excellent examples of how to construct footnotes and a bibliography in the mla style. Footnotes will refer to material you researched and are actually using in some way, whether it is a quote, a paraphrase or even just an idea presented in the source. Bibliographies contain a list of all the sources you examined, even if you do not ultimately use them when you write your paper. If you want your readers to take you seriously because you have learned something valuable and want to inform them, give them appropriate footnotes and bibliographies so they can better understand your research process. If you do not include an appropriate title page, notation and bibliography, you may receive up to a five point penalty from the paper's grade.

4. When you research your topic, I expect that you will examine several sources at a minimum. When using the internet for research, be very careful about the credibility of many web page sources. Often they do not mean the literary and scholarly rigor that is required for a written piece to be published in journals, magazines and newspapers.

5. If the research paper is turned in late, it will receive a two point penalty.

Critical Thinking Review (15 points)

1. Choose a topical article that contains a minimum of 1000 words from a magazine, newspaper, or journal that you used for your research paper. Address each of the seven points under the subheading, Evaluating Arguments, on p. 109 in chapter 6, Critical Thinking Skills, found in the Course Reader. If your article is notably less than 1000 words, your evaluation will receive a one point penalty.

2. Try to limit your statements to no more than about 10-12 to fulfill the requirements of point one. Develop the statements so they cumulatively state the major points of the article.

3. Don't just answer the questions yes or no. Explain yourself and give examples that illustrate your position.

4. I need to have a copy of your article turned in with your evaluation so just xerox or print a copy of the article to write on to identify which sentences or paragraphs correspond to each of the seven components of the evaluation. To accomplish this, identify what part of the evaluation is being addressed in the margins within the article. For example, if a particular paragraph contains the thesis, which is component three of the evaluation, identify the paragraph by writing out thesis, or just 3 in the margin by the thesis. Do this for each of the seven components comprising the evaluation. Since parts of your evaluation will have examples, expect to identify all the parts of the article you use for you evaluation. This allows me to quickly refer from your evaluation to the article for reference, and then back to your evaluation. You will be docked a point for failing to complete this identifying scheme.

5. If the critical thinking review is turned in late, it will receive a two point penalty. If the article is not attached to the critical thinking evaluation, two points will be deducted from its grade.

Final Editorial Considerations

1. The process of researching and writing papers of any kind require several steps. You should write a first draft and then in successive drafts, carefully edit its content, spelling, grammar, syntax and paragraph development. Read your final paper out loud to see how the words on paper sound. You will be amazed at how much more apparent writing errors are when you hear them spoken.

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