Present a defined opportunity or challenge in your potential future field of work that you have researched extensively
Make clear your audience is a discourse community of professionals in your field who already do this work every day
Use the language, definitions, and terminology that professionals use, rather than simplifying/summarizing
Discuss important ideas you have explored in your research of sources that include journalistic, professional, and academic publications
Divide your subject into three or more sub-sections to allow you to demonstrate that you have created some depth of knowledge, rather than just a superficial acquisition of facts
and SHOULD NOT:
try to “teach” or “inform” a professional audience
try to argue or persuade, but instead present your knowledge/understanding
explore any aspects of employment — a “job” or “jobs in the field”
REQUIRED CONTENT ELEMENTS
A formal academic essay 2,000 words or more in length
An interesting title that speaks to your professional audience
An Introduction
An Overview section to present the “big picture” of the topic you explore
Three Subsections, each exploring a separate aspect of the big picture – the parts that make up the whole
A Conclusion that demonstrates the knowledge you have created for yourself and why it matters to you.
INTRODUCTION
ONE PARAGRAPH
Avoids a general introduction and begins with the specifics of your topic.
Written for your professional audience
Introduces your opportunity or challenge
Includes your own exigence/reason for speaking, AND and why you are a credible author worthy of the audience’s attention
Our class example for this idea was “As a college student studying for a future in _____, my exploration of this opportunity will help better prepare me to join those current leading the field after graduation.”) Don’t copy this.
OVERVIEW SECTION
ONE SUBSTANTIAL PARAGRAPH, or no more than two paragraphs if needed
Summarizes your understanding of the “big picture” of the opportunity/challenge you are exploring in the essay.
Outlines the current state of affairs regarding your very narrow topic
Uses definitions of key terms, statistics and/or visual elements to demonstrate your understanding
Presents the three specific subtopics you will be exploring for the rest of the essay
THREE SUBSECTIONS
Each of your THREE SUBSECTIONS should include ALL of these elements:
a Subtitle that introduces the specific content of the section
a brief introductory paragraph that explains the key ideas of this subsection, how this subsection relates to your overall exploration, AND why it is important
at least 1-2 body paragraphs that explore the key ideas you have learned from your research of this sub-topic
a topic sentence for each body paragraph, explaining the key idea to be discussed; paragraph discussion is LIMITED ONLY to that key idea for the entire paragraph
discussion of credible research from at least 2-3 different sources to demonstrate the knowledge you have created from your reading and analysis
in-text citations for all sources referred to in the subsection (AVOID extensive quoting; paraphrase the ideas of sources in your own words)
a concluding paragraph at the end of the subsection that summarizes the subsection and its relation to your overall exploration
CONCLUSION
Your Conclusion should present a summary of your key findings — how each of your subtopics has contributed to a deeper knowledge of your subject. It should also address how the work you have done has helped you achieve your Purpose (see above), providing preparation for your future career.
APA STYLE ELEMENTS
STUDENT TITLE PAGE SETUP:
Proper placement of title, name, page number in upper right corner (NO running header, which is not used for student papers.) Details here: Student Title Page GuideLinks to an external site.
STUDENT PAGE SETUP
Margins, fonts, spacing: details here: Student Paper Setup GuideLinks to an external site.
Titles, Section headings and subheadings: details here: Heading Template for Student PaperLinks to an external site.
IN-TEXT CITATIONS
This advice comes from the APA Style Guide:
Use either the narrative or the parenthetical citation format for in-text citations.
Parenthetical citation: Place the author name and publication year in parentheses.
Narrative citation: Incorporate the author name into the text as part of the sentence and then follow with the year in parentheses.
See sample paper with plenty of helpful notes here: Student Paper with AnnotationsLinks to an external site.
REFERENCES PAGE
Your References page needs two types of formatting:
Correct page setup for title, margins, indents, and double-spacing
Source list with citation information for each correctly formatted for the specific source type (a book, an article, a web page, a podcast, and so on).
Details for formatting here: Creating a Reference List – GuideLinks to an external site.
Details for citing specific types of sources here: References List – Examples of Typical Types of SourcesLinks to an external site.
RUBRIC
Rubric for Inquiry-Based Research Essay 11011.pdfDownload Rubric for Inquiry-Based Research Essay 11011.pdf
