Term paper
Q: Why?
Answer:
We will write a term paper in this course. The purpose of writing this term paper is to assess your ability to have an economically framed and researched discussion on a given current topic or question found in contemporary society. This assignment will assess your fluency in economics and your ability to perform scholarly research at the college level. This assignment will also asses your ability to articulate yourself through your writing. You may work on this paper in groups, if you would like. But, please let me know in advance of submitting any work.
This project/term paper assignment will fulfill the student learning objectives as required in taking this course.
Student learning outcomes
1. Evaluate which economic model or concept is most useful to analyze a particular personal, business, or social decision.
2. Apply macroeconomic concepts and models to analyze personal, business, and social decisions at the intermediate level of proficiency.
Q: What do you want us to do specifically?
Answer:
Below is an outline and the topic options for your term paper. You will choose a premise and research supporting AND negating arguments for the premise. Here are the possible premises you may debate:
Please choose one of the following arguments to discuss:
1) The federal income and payroll tax should be replaced with a consumption (sales) tax.
2) Financial markets are efficient (informationally efficient).
3) Economic growth in third world countries is beneficial for the US.
4) The Federal Reserve should raise interest rates to deflate asset bubbles even though the economy overall is not experiencing inflation.
5) Increased international immigration and trade are the most effective solutions to third world poverty.
6) The US should impose trade sanctions on China if China does not allow its currency to appreciate against the dollar.
7) Technological progress will cause the labor force participation rate to become lower and lower over the 21st century.
8) The US national debt is so large is risks decreasing economic growth.
9) Government, not private companies, are the driver of transformative technological and scientific innovation
10) Communism is a viable solution for the United States to alleviate income inequality
11) Wealth creates generosity and poverty creates selfishness
12) Economic growth is necessary to avoid potential future environmental crises
13) Universal basic income is a viable solution to ending poverty in The United States
**If you have another proposition you’d like to tackle, please send me a message and we can discuss you going in a different direction pending instructor approval. Also, you can work in groups if you would like, let me know!
The pro section of the paper will be arguments that support the premise. The con section will be arguments that negate the premise.
Q: How do you want us to format the paper?
Answer:
I expect the paper to contain the following sections: introduction, pro, con and conclusion. Please also reference the specific rubrics for the pro and con sections and a different rubric for the final paper submission. The rubrics contain my expectations on page length and other very important content information. Generally speaking, the paper should be 8-12 pages long. The introductory section should be 2-3 pages long. The pro section should be 2-3 pages long. The con section should be 2-3 pages long. And, the conclusion should be 2-3 pages in length.
Please double space your paper with one inch margins. Please use headers for each section (Intro, pro, con, conclusion). In addition, include page numbers. The font size should be 11-12 point Arial or Times New Roman. Please submit this file as a word or PDF document to the corresponding assignment module.
The paper should be formatted with in line or parenthetical notation citations. We will use the MLA format. Please reference the OWL for any questions on MLA formatting. In addition to your in line citations, you will need to create a works cited page. Please reference the OWL for any questions on MLA formatted works cited pages.
Purdue Owl MLA formatting guidelines (Links to an external site.)
Links to an external site.
Below is a link to the CR Library Citation Help page. It includes useful information about citations including why we cite.
CR Citation Help Page (Links to an external site.)
Links to an external site.
Q: How should I fill up all the pages discussing my premise? What should this paper contain?
Answer:
Introduction 2-3 pages
Your introduction should discuss what you will explore in this paper. I would even walk through how you will structure the paper by section. Perhaps, you want to let the reader know how you will conclude and perhaps you do not. This is up to you. Usually, the paper is written in the third person so do write this section in the same style, also.
I would include a discussion on the premise itself. What is meant by this premise? Are there any important terms or theories you need to define before you move into your pro and con arguments? The assumption is that the reader is a lay person and is not especially versed in economics. So, it may be necessary to bring them up to speed and in doing this, show your professor that you know the material. Perhaps there is historical or contextual information you might want to discuss. For example, if you are discussing that the national debt is too large and will negatively impact economic growth, you might want to discuss what the current national debt looks like and how it has changed and if there are any other current events to mention, mention them here. Give us some background and bring us up to date on the topic.
Pro arguments: 2-3 pages
Use headers for each pro argument. This helps me, the reader and your primary audience, to easily discern the separate arguments in your paper. Each pro argument should be distinct from the next argument. I am fine with transition sentences to allow for flow, but please make sure to discuss one argument per heading. If you have any interesting points which do not actually fit under one argument or another perhaps maybe you want to leave them out altogether.
Each pro argument should be based on economic analysis and theory. This paper is a paper on economics and therefore, when providing evidence of the truth of the premise the evidence should be rooted in economic theory, not social, political or cultural theories. We are moving through a good amount of material in this course and I expect that your paper reflect the theories we are studying as you apply them to your arguments. All information which you incorporate into your paper which is gathered in the research process needs to be documented with an in line citation. That includes information that is paraphrase and it not a direct quote. Ensure that you are accurately citing each fact or opinion that is not part of the common knowledge. If it is not part of common knowledge, you should cite the information in line directly after the information is provided. If it is your own opinion, no citation is needed.
The pro section of the paper is a place where we describe three points of evidence that prove that the premise is true. For example, when discussing the idea that predatory pricing creates monopolists in big box retail, an example of pro argument might be that there are examples of big box stores using predatory pricing and examples where these same stores are monopolies. In the pro section, we are not mentioning positives of the premise but rather we are seeking to find evidence that supports the truth of the statement or premise.
Con arguments: 2-3 pages
Use headers for each con argument. This helps me, the reader and your primary audience, to easily discern the separate arguments in your paper. Each con argument should be distinct from the next argument. I am fine with transition sentences to allow for flow, but please make sure to discuss one argument per heading. If you have any interesting points which do not actually fit under one argument or another perhaps maybe you want to leave them out altogether.
Each con argument should be based on economic analysis and theory. This paper is a paper on economics and therefore, when providing evidence against the premise the evidence should be rooted in economic theory, not social, political or cultural theories. We are moving through a good amount of material in this course and I expect that your paper reflect the theories we are studying as you apply them to your arguments. All information which you incorporate into your paper which is gathered in the research process needs to be documented with an in line citation. That includes information that is paraphrase and it not a direct quote. Ensure that you are accurately citing each fact or study that is not part of the common knowledge. If it is not part of common knowledge, you should cite the information in line directly after the information is provided. If it is your own opinion, no citation is needed.
The con section of the paper is a place where we describe three points of evidence that contradict the premise or show that it is false, not true. For example, when discussing the idea that predatory pricing creates monopolists in big box retail, we might find that the companies do not need to use predatory pricing to become a monopolist. They might use other strategies to gain a monopoly. This would refute the premise since is not true. In the con section, we are not mentioning negatives associated with the premise but rather we are seeking to find evidence that is contrary to the premise and disproves the truth of the premise.
Conclusion: 3 pages
The conclusion should be a lengthy section of your paper. Once you have substantiated the pro and con arguments, bringing evidence for either side, it is very important to take time and reflect upon which side provides a stronger case. I think this section can be especially difficult for a student as you might already have your mind made up by the time you have written the pro and con sections of your paper. Remember, the pro and con sections are not supposed to contain a opinion one way or another about the premise. You are simply stating the facts and evidence you have gathered. Think of it like a case as presented to a jury. Save the discussion about which side is stronger, pro or con, for the conclusion section of the paper. Make sure to state which position you take at the beginning of the conclusion section of the paper. “This paper finds that big box stores do (or do not) use predatory pricing to become monopolists”.
In the conclusion, here are some things to consider when making your decision about whether the preponderance of evidence points to supporting the pro or con arguments: 1. Are there any strengths or weaknesses in any of your arguments which you can poke holes in? You may see this when you are actually writing the argument in the pro or con section. Remember, save that discussion for the conclusion; 2. Take a look at what has happened in recent history concerning your topic. Does history help refute or support these claims we are making in our argument. Is there sufficient evidence or is there not?; 3. Are there assumptions we are making in the analysis that we cannot make or that do not hold true? Perhaps this would refute the strength of our model. We can also use the opposite rationale and find that the assumptions hold very strongly, and thus the model is robust and we can use it to apply to our model and argument. For example, are the firms that we are defining as monopolists in the pro section of the paper really not monopolists because their structure is not a single firm with a unique product, etc. Finally, make sure that you state your position at the end of the paper, again, for emphasis.
