The research paper should be 3– 4 pages (text).
Purpose. As you research your topic, your initial ideas will often shift based on the discoveries you make. You will pick up and discard information over the course of your research. Try to first understandyour purpose in writing the paper, and then keep this purpose in mind as you research the topic. For this paper, you should seek to analyze, evaluate, and/or persuade. In analysis, try to figure out how a particular subject or text is put together, or you might analyze a cause, or ask a question about a text, such as the ethical basis of a writer’sbeliefs? In evaluation, you are making value judgments about asubject, and in persuasion, try to convince your reader by arguing your point of view on a specific topic, such as whether there are moral and/or ethical issues in society that need to be answered/addressed more than others.
2. Topic. After you have decided on a topic and asked a research question, the research question should lead to your thesis statement, an outline, and a first draft. When you sit down to write the paper, be diligent about putting the information together in a cohesive, well-explained paper that your reader can follow and appreciate.
3. Documented sources. You must consult (and use) at least 3-7sources for this paper, at least one of which should be a main (primary) source. Primary sources include original texts, such as the readings from World of Ideas, or other written material by the original writer/author (novels, autobiographies, speeches, personal essays, etc.). Secondary sources are secondhand articles or writings about primary sources, such as critical essays, reviews, news articles, and any other material that interprets or responds to a primary source. Which type of source you use depends on your purpose in researching the topic. Try to mix your research: use both primary and secondary sources. Keep track of your notes as you gather and interpret the material. Be sure to start a file for each research paper you write.
4. APA Style. Use APA style in documenting your sources. Consult the proper sections in your Handbook, or go directly to the APA style manual. For anyone who does not have a Handbook, please use the online APA style manual (https://apastyle.apa.org/ – then click on Style and Grammar Guidelines), or go to the library and use a copy of the APA manual there.
