Short Paper # 1 – The Microeconomics of the Minimum Wage
Short paper # 1 is due at the end of Week # 2 (9 pm, with a grace period until 11:59 pm). Papers
submitted after 9 pm and up to and including 11:59 pm on the due date are late but NOT penalized. Any
paper submitted after the grace period is late and penalized at the rate of one letter grade per day late
(or any portion thereof). Blackboard is the official time keeper. After 3 days, any paper not submitted is
graded as zero. The paper must use at least three disciplinary sources but not necessarily peer-reviewed
sources. Students may use their textbook as a source, but it will NOT count as one of the three required
sources. Short paper # 1 must include graphs, a works cited page, have proper APA format throughout
the paper, and must be the equivalent of 4 pages of APA properly formatted writing. The paper will
automatically be evaluated for originality by Blackboard SafeAssign. You might find it helpful to review
the Prof Battista’s handout “Writing in Economics using APA and Visual Aids: Some Helpful Hints.”
Students may find the textbook helpful in applying concepts from their knowledge of chapter 3 (supply
and demand, consumer surplus, producer surplus and deadweight loss, price floors), chapter 4 (labor
markets), and chapter 5 (elasticity of demand, determinants of elasticity, price floors)
Short paper # 1 is worth 100 points and assesses Pathways SLO’s 1-5, and Gateway LO’s A-D.
The Minimum Wage has existed as a legal entity in the United States for almost 80 years. There is a
thorough and passionate debate about the impacts the minimum wage has on employers, employees,
compensation, costs, unemployment, and efficiency, to name just a few. Noting what has been
mentioned above, write a paper in which you explore the economic benefits and economic costs (the
“pros and cons”) of the minimum wage in the USA. As always, it is not an option to opt out and say
there are no benefits or there are no costs – your job is to explore the issues. At the end of your paper,
you may offer your own opinion of what you think of all this.
I. Good writing must follow the required APA format
1. Requires a cover page, table of contents, an abstract, bibliography, page numbers, headers, proper margins and proper fonts.
2. The cover page, table of contents, abstract, and bibliography are all stand-alone pages and do NOT count as written text.
3. Page numbers begin with the cover page as page 1 and are listed in the headers of each page
4. Citations are made internally within the body of the paper. Citations are NOT just for quotations
but are also for data you are using and information, ideas, theories, etc. that are someone
else’s, even when you are paraphrasing those ideas.
5. Do not confuse items. Your Bibliography is different than your citations and your headers are
differentthanyourheadings. Ifyouthinkthesearethesamething,thenpleasere-read#1
above.
6. Quotations should be used when a quote is powerful and helps to make a central point.
Stringing together quotes is NOT your writing but IS someone else’s. Stringing together quotes provides very little indication of what you know, even though you may be following proper APA format. Paraphrasing important ideas (i.e., putting them in your own words) makes your explanation more powerful and is a greater indicator of your knowledge and understanding.
7. Any visual aids that are included need to follow proper format (see II below).
8. Proofread your paper. Spell check only catches misspelled words not improper words (from and
form are both spelled correctly, but which did you mean to use?)
II.Visual aids that are included in your paper need:
1. 2.
To enhance the explanatory power of your paper.
To be properly and accurately constructed, which means:
a. Each aid is properly numbered and titled and included in the table of contents.
b. Each axis is clearly labeled with the variable it is measuring and the units of measurement of
that variable. Each axis is clearly, accurately and properly numbered.
c. The source for your visual aid is listed at the bottom of the visual aid and needs to fully
follow APA bibliographic reference.
d. If a key or legend is required, it needs to be clearly and accurately labeled.
e. Any curves need to be clearly and accurately labeled.
f. You should generally be careful color coding anything in a visual aid, unless you can assure
that all colors will be visible/legible/distinguishable, that any copies made will also be made
in color, etc.
“To stand on their own.” Imagine someone cut your graph right out of your paper. If it is properly and accurately constructed, labeled appropriately, and properly cited, your reader should be able to “read” your graph (figure out what is going on in it). If they have trouble reading it, it is most likely poorly constructed.
3.
Writing in Economics using APA and Visual Aids: Some Helpful Hints. By Prof Leon Battista ©IHS P a g e | 2
4. To be legible. Including a visual aid that is unreadable is counterproductive.
5. To be relevant. Including irrelevant, unnecessary, etc. visual aids is counterproductive.
6. To be incorporated into the body of your paper and not simply be relegated to an appendix.
Imagine if your authors wrote the textbook that way (they wrote and then referenced graphs, tables, etc. in the appendix.)
a. This does not mean that appendices are bad things and should not be used. They are quite
useful for listing raw data, calculations, proofs, copies of documents, etc.
7. To be gracefully introduced. If I include a graph in my paper (i.e., Graph # 2), then I should
gracefully introduce it – “As you can see in Graph # 2,” or, “If one refers to Graph # 2,” or, “You will notice point ABC in Graph # 2.” Including a visual aid without introducing it makes it seem unimportant and has the reader questioning why you included it.
8. Visual aids that take up 1/3 or less of a page are generally counted as written text, while those greater than that do not. Please take note of # 4 above as a reminder.
