This is the base line Writing and Research ENG 101 Final Paper Project: The Research Paper Topic: Choose ONE of the following general topics: Focus on Art OR Music Activism: Focus on one artist or musician who has also been an activist, like Banksy or Paul Robeson. Detail the artist’s activist strategies and impact. Do not merely provide a chronological biography or report on the artist’s life. If you want to include relevant biographical details, do that in the introduction. The bulk of your paper should discuss your assessment of the artist’s activism strategies. Do you think they were effective? Why or why not? Focus on Individual Activist: Focus on ONE activist, like Angela Davis or Cesar Chavez. Detail the activist’s strategies and impact. Do not merely provide a chronological biography or report on the activist’s life. If you want to include relevant biographical details, do that in the introduction. The bulk of your paper should discuss your assessment of the activist’s strategies. Do you think they were effective? Why or why not? Focus on one activist movement, like Black Panthers, Guerrilla Girls, Black Lives Matter, or Act Up. Detail activism strategies and impact. Provide your assessment. Relevant history of the group can be provided in the introduction but you do not want a chronological report on the history of the group. The bulk of your paper should discuss your assessment of the group’s strategies. Do you think they were effective? Why or why not? Focus on one issue: Choose an issue that is important to you or that you believe needs to be addressed. How have activist individuals and groups organized to make positive changes around this issue. Have the activism strategies worked? Why or why not? What strategies do you think would be productive? Thesis: Create a topic and thesis proposal by following the directions in the Topic and Thesis Proposal PowerPoint. Your topic and thesis must be approved before you can proceed to work on your research paper. This is a research paper so your claims and positions must be supported with researched material in the form of statistics, documented examples, and data – NOT personal experience or personal feelings. Guidelines: The final paper grade is based on the following criteria. 1. For the most part, grammar and sentence structure must be accurate. Use spellcheck and edit for typos. 2. Your claims must be logical and void of fallacies. 3. The essay must be well organized according to the Essay Organization PowerPoint. 4. Paragraphs must be focused. Refer to the Body Paragraph Organization PowerPoint. 5. The paper must follow MLA protocols for format and documentation. 6. The paper must include at least THREE researched sources. These sources should be • ONE of the assigned texts that we have read this semester and • at least TWO but not more than FOUR sources outside of the assigned readings. Soft internet resources, like Wikipedia, GradeSaver, etc., are not acceptable for a college-level paper. 7. In your paper, all references to any text not written by you for this course must be documented with parenthetical citations. The citations must be formatted in MLA style. Any material borrowed from other texts or documents, including internet sites, discussion forums, books, newspapers, magazines, etc. that is not documented must be considered as plagiarized material. According to English Department policy, any evidence of plagiarism must be reported to the English Department Chair and the Academic Dean, and a note will be placed in the student file. The paper will not receive a passing grade, and therefore, the final grade for the course would be F. See the Citing Sources: The Quick and Easy Guide PowerPoint. 8. Follow all quotes with your interpretation of the quote. Follow your interpretation with a clarification of how that quote relates to your discussion. 9. Avoid vague language. 10. Your Works Cited page must formatted according to MLA protocols. 11. Your research paper must be submitted to SafeAssign. Only papers submitted to SafeAssign will be accepted for credit. 12. The paper must reflect careful proofreading. Length: 1400 – 2000 words (5 – 6 pages of essay, double spaced) Papers that do not meet the minimum length required will not receive a passing grade. Students must receive a passing grade for the research paper in order to pass the course. Submission Protocols: The paper should be submitted THREE ways. 1. Copy and paste the paper into the textbox in the Final Paper discussion forum. Make sure the paragraph divides are clearly indicated but don’t worry about page number formatting or works cited formatting because the BlackBoard software will not honor the formatting codes. 2. Attach a file to your posting in the Final Paper discussion forum. 3. Post to Safe Assign. Papers submitted after the due date will NOT be accepted for credit.
