ECON 203 Project Description (Term Paper)
Due at the end of week 7
Select at least three news articles that discuss the economic concept that you chose as a topic for
your term paper.
At least one news article should be dated within the previous two months.
Please note that the goal of this assignment is to read, understand, and discuss recent news
using microeconomic terminology. The articles should be from an on-line newspaper or
magazine. Materials posted on educational websites, like
www.thebalance.com, www.khanacademy.org , and so on, are not considered news articles
even if they were recently updated and contain material related to the term paper topic.
The Term paper should have the following structure:
1. Abstract (0.5 of a page) – the short description of the concepts, problems, questions
discussed in the Term paper.
2. Introduction (0.5 of a page) (optional)
3. Literature Review (about 2 pages) – please compare and contrast the opinions of the
authors of the articles, present the important information, data, statistics to support your
conclusions. It is important that the Literature review is written in your own words with
small quotes from the article. All quotes must have references in accordance with the
7th Edition APA Style.
4. Discussion (about 2 pages) – Your task for this part of the Term paper is to analyze the
issue described in the articles using the economic concepts and theory learned in this
class. Refer to the course content materials and use specific economic vocabulary within
your term paper. The articles you choose may not use these exact terms; therefore, it is
incumbent upon you to convert the article language into economic language as is
appropriate. Include at least one graph developed in our course.
5. Conclusion (0.5 of a page)
The Term paper should be the title page and sub headings that correspond to
the structure described above.
Please note the Term paper should be written in your own words. You can use short quotes from
the article(s) to support your statements. However the size of these quotes should be reduced to
minimum. No more than 20% of the text of the term paper should be made up of quotes.
(less is better!!!).
Please also avoid copying the materials from any textbooks, including our textbook.
Please be aware that Wikipedia, Investopedia, and other on-line dictionaries and encyclopedias
are not verifiable sources of reliable information, and should not be used in the Term paper.
Acceptable sources of the information are: research papers, newspaper articles, and books.
Please note that this is the course of microeconomics, so you should choose the concepts related
to microeconomics (not macroeconomics).
Possible concepts include:
• taxes and consumer or producer surplus
• elasticity on a particular product
• perfect competition
• imperfect competition, such as monopolies
• monopolistic competition
• oligopoly
• labor market,
• wage determination
• income inequality
• poverty and public policy
• another topic selected by the professor
Format of the Paper:
Written projects:
1. Must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font, with one
inch margins
2. Must have the title page in APA-7th style
3. Must have in-text citations in APA-7th edition style
4. Must have reference list in APA-7th edition style. Please note that you must reference the
data you are using for the project
5. Must be prepared using word processing software (Microsoft Word preferred)
The Term Paper must be posted to the LEO Student Assignments as a Attachments are limited to
a maximum two files in doc, docx., xls. xlsx., or rtf. formats. OTHER FORMATS ARE NOT
ACCEPTABLE, will not be reviewed or graded.
The Term Paper should be about 4-5 or more double-spaced typewritten pages (plus tables and
graphs)
Please note that hand-written and scanned works, pdf. files, jpg. files, as well as files posted in
google drive, will not be accepted or graded.
Please note that starting from the Fall 2020 semester the UMGC moved to the 7th Edition
of the APA Style. The links to the 7th Edition of the APA Style methodology are posted in
Content – Course Resources – Writing Resources.
Please note that Use of 7th Edition APA Citation Methodology is required for the assignment
The links to APA citation methodology are posted in Content – Course Resources – Writing
Resources.
In accordance with the UMUC Academic Policy, notes taken for papers and research projects
should accurately record sources of material to be cited, appropriately quoted, or summarized,
and papers and research projects should acknowledge these sources in the appropriate places in
the text of the paper as well as in a reference list at the end of the paper, in accordance with
accepted citation practices.
All works must be Word processed. Handwritten and scanned work will not be accepted and
graded.
