The student will draft a research paper. The paper must conform to the following
requirements:
• You will turn the assignment in on Canvas, via turnitin.com
• 2500 words minimum.
• Include page numbers
• Times New Roman or similar “traditional” font, size 12 (use serifs).
• Use MLA or APA style guidelines.
• Include a Works Cited Page, (or footnotes/endnotes but ONLY if you are confident you can use such notes
correctly).
o Cite a source for every fact that is not common knowledge—generally this requires at least one
citation per paragraph.
o I should be able to verify every fact in your paper by checking the citation at the end of the
sentence, then looking at the Works Cited page for more info.
o The word in the citation should be the first word on the margin of the entry on the Works Cited
page. For example: the paper–blah blah blah (Smith 42). The works cited—Smith, Robert. The
Oil Industry, London, 2012.
• Use at least ten sources, four of which must be actual books, not internet or magazine articles. Scholarly
journal articles are “books” under this criterion (but be sure you know a scholarly journal from a lesser
publication).
• The paper should demonstrate some knowledge of issues related to the Petroleum Industry, particularly
each sub-topic (or question) included with each topic listed below. As a bonus, any connection to
Houston (the energy capital of the world) or to Texas will be of interest: Houston attorneys and judges,
companies/defendants based in Houston, etc.
• You will lose points for grammar, punctuation, spelling errors. This should be your best work.
• This is FORMAL WRITING.
o No first or second-person (I, us, we, our, my, mine, ours, you, yours.)
o No slang or colloquialisms, avoid casual expressions and clichés.
o No contractions (can’t won’t don’t didn’t it’s they’re)
• Connect the material to topics covered in this course, and to HOUSTON if possible.
Choose one of the following topics. This choice will be recorded via email. You will be graded primarily on how
well you answer the questions that follow each topic below. (Do yourself a favor—make it easy for me to see each
subtopic by adding subheadings to the paper that follow the questions.)
Tell the story of Spindletop. How much oil was being produced in the United States before the blowout
near Beaumont? How did this gusher change expectations for oil production? How did it turn Beaumont
into a boomtown? What impact did the discovery of this much oil have on the fledgling auto industry? Were
there any statutes or regulations passed as a result of this gusher or others like it? If so, what problems were
those rules designed to correct? What was the purpose behind the rules?
