Format
The assignment must be created using a standard word processor such as Microsoft Word. The text should appear as double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1-inch margins.
Assignment Goals
The overall purpose of this assignment is to produce an initial draft of your research paper. Though you will be revising this draft and re-submitting it, you should approach the current assignment as though you are turning in a finished product. In other words, I expect you to submit a complete paper.
The paper you turn in should meet the following criteria:
- Double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins
- 2,500 to 3,500 words
- Text from references list does not contribute to the word count
- Between 10-15 pages of text
- Five segments to your paper:
- Title page
- A single page
- Introduction
- Suggested length = Around two pages
- Literature Review
- Suggested length = Around six to ten pages
- Conclusion
- Suggested length = About one to two pages
- Formatted references list
- As many pages as necessary
Objectives
- Carefully review my feedback from the “research argument outline” assignment to adjust the structure of your research argument. Locate and review relevant sources as needed.
- Create the introduction segment to your paper.
- Create the literature review segment to your paper.
- Create the conclusion segment to your paper.
- Create a title page for your paper.
- Create a formatted references list.
A detailed overview of each objective is provided on the following pages. At the end of this hand-out, I also provide a grading rubric and an example template that demonstrates how your research paper might be organized.
- Review Feedback, Adjust Argument, and Locate Additional Sources
First, you need to review the feedback I gave you on your “research argument outline” assignment. Though you are not obligated to follow every suggestion that I made, it is problematic if you completely ignore my advice when writing your research paper. When I read the first draft of your paper, it should be apparent to me that you read the feedback I provided, took it seriously, and allowed it to influence how you approached this assignment.
Based on my feedback, I recommend that you adjust your research argument and create a simple outline that reflects your “new” / “revised” research argument. [Note: You will not be submitting this outline. It is strictly for your own benefit. However, I strongly recommend that you revise your outline before you start writing the paper.]
The purpose of this revised outline is to (1) identify areas where you might need to review additional sources, and (2) serve as a plan to guide you through the writing process. Although it is ultimately up to you to decide how to write your paper, it is important to stay focused on the purpose of the paper, which is to articulate your research argument as a means of addressing your research question. Everything you write should be in service of your research argument. Using an outline will help you stay on task while writing.
To be clear: I do not want you to submit a revised outline as part of this assignment. I am simply encouraging you to do this on your own time because it will make it much, much easier to write the first draft of your research paper.
- Create the Introduction
Second, you need to develop the introduction segment for your paper. The purpose of this segment is to introduce your research question and motivate readers to take interest in what you have written. Note: I want you to organize your introduction in a specific way. See below for more details. In total, this segment of your paper will probably be about 2 pages long and will consist of 3-5 paragraphs.
This segment of your paper has three goals:
- Put your research in context.
- Make your readers think they should read your paper.
- Give your readers a framework for understanding your paper.
To accomplish these goals, your introduction segment should be organized in three parts:
- A “working” introductory paragraph
- One or two paragraphs describing key constructs
- A brief “roadmap” paragraph
Working Introductory Paragraph: 1 paragraph
The “working” introductory paragraph is the very first paragraph in your paper. For the purposes of this assignment, it is okay if this paragraph is not particularly well-developed. However, the “working” introductory paragraph should follow these steps:
- Describe the current situation or background
- Start by stating what your reader knows (or might think they know) about your research topic.
- State your research question
- Next, state what is not known or remains unclear about your research topic, which your paper will address.
- Directly state your research question.
- Explain the significance of this question
- Imagine someone saying, “So what?” in response to hearing your research question.
- Answer this “So what?” by offering the reader a reason (or set of reasons) to care about your research question.
- Present an answer to this question
- Introduce the main claim (or claims) that serve as the answer to your research question.
Describe Key Constructs: 1-2 paragraphs
After the “working” introductory paragraph, your next paragraph (or paragraphs) should offer more detail on the constructs you are examining. This might include information on definitions (as a concept, what does the construct mean?), measurement (how is the construct typically operationalized?), scope (size/prevalence/frequency), or trends (changes over time).
For example, let’s say your research question was: “Are inmates who receive visits in prison less likely to recidivate?” The key constructs in this research question are: (1) prison visitation, and (2) recidivism. For this segment of your paper, if these were your focal constructs, you might focus on providing answers to the following questions:
- Do most prisoners receive visitors? What percentage never receive a single visit?
- Do inmates tend to receive more or less visits at different points in their sentence?
- Are some people more likely to receive visits than others? Is it mostly family members who go on visits?
Then, the next paragraph would focus on providing answers to the following questions about recidivism:
- What does the word “recidivism” mean? Are there different ways to measure it? How is it typically measured?
- What is the national recidivism rate? Has this been relatively stable over time, or is it decreasing/increasing?
The goal is to make sure that the reader is familiar with fundamental information about your research topic. You do not need to provide excessive detail here, but it is obviously problematic if you write an entire research paper on “recidivism” and never bother to define what it means or acknowledge if recidivism rates are high or low, etc. Note: This may require you to skim one or two additional sources.
“Roadmap” Paragraph: 1 paragraph
The final paragraph of your introduction segment should offer a brief (3-4 sentences maximum) description of how the rest of your paper is organized. This will resemble something like this: “First, I describe blank. Next, I examine blank. Finally, I consider blank. I then conclude by discussing blank.” If you look at your outline, you can fill in these blanks by drawing on the ideas you put forth as claims and/or reasons.
- Create the Literature Review
Third, you need to construct the literature review segment of your paper. This is where you will transform the “skeleton” of your research argument (the outline) into a long-form written argument. This is where your prep work from the “review of sources” assignment will come in handy.
The easiest way to create this part of your paper is to turn each “reason” into its own section, wherein each “sub-reason” is structured as a separate paragraph. To get a better sense of what I mean, see Figure 1 below:
Figure 1: Diagram of Research Argument (Booth, Colomb, and Williams 2003:139)
Whenever you start a new section, be sure to include a brief paragraph (2-3 sentences) that introduces the new section. The final sentence of this brief paragraph should state the purpose of the section, which is usually a “reason” from your research argument.
In addition, you should signal the start of a new section by using a descriptive sub-header. Though it is up to you how to format this header, one approach is to make it left-aligned, italicized, with the first letter of each word capitalized except for prepositions, articles, and coordinating conjunctions.
Here is an Example of an Appropriately Formatted Sub-Header
- Create the Conclusion
ourth, you need to develop a conclusion for your paper. The length of this part of your paper will depend on your research topic, but you will probably end up writing about two paragraphs.
There are two goals for this section:
- Leave readers with a clear idea of your claim.
- Reinforce its importance.
For the purposes of this assignment, it is okay if this part of your paper is not particularly well-developed. However, the first paragraph should follow these steps:
- Restate your claim.
- Early in the paragraph, restate your central claim. Elaborate on it.
- Remind the reader of your claim’s significance.
- Imagine someone saying, “So what?” in response to hearing your claim.
- Answer this “So what?” by offering the reader a reason (or set of reasons) to care about your claim.
- Describe new significance or practical implications
- Consider whether your claim has any new significance—reasons that make it important, but that you did not mention in the introduction.
- Also consider whether your claim has any practical implications—how might this knowledge be useful for addressing or improving some problem with the correctional system?
Next, consider whether your research findings raise any additional questions that could be explored. If so, end your paper by reflecting on potential “next steps” for researchers to investigate.
- Create a Title Page
Fifth, you need to create a separate title page. See the example template at the end of this document.
- Create an Formatted References List
Finally, you need to create a references list that is formatted according to APA, MLA, or Chicago style guidelines.
Grading Rubric: Assignment #3
- Language and Presentation – 20% of grade (maximum of 20 points)
- Format – 10 points
- Assignment uses 12-point, Times New Roman font – 1 point
- Assignment uses 1-inch margins – 1 point
- Assignment includes page numbers at the bottom of the page – 1 point
- Assignment is double-spaced – 2 points
- Assignment uses appropriately formatted in-text citations – 2 points
- Assignment uses appropriately formatted headers and sub-headers – 3 points
- Spelling/Grammar – 10 points
- Zero to four spelling or grammatical errors – 10 points (out of 10)
- Five to six errors – 8 points (out of 10)
- Seven to ten errors – 6 points (out of 10)
- Eleven to fifteen errors – 4 points (out of 10)
- More than 15 errors – 0 points (out of 10)
- Word Count
- Excluding text from references list, assignment is between 2,500 and 3,500 words
- 1 point deducted for each 100 words under the 2,500 count
- A 2,000 word assignment would result in minus 5 points
- Introduction – 20% of grade (maximum of 20 points)
- “Working” Introductory Paragraph – 8 points
- Paragraph is structured in the situation/question/significance/claim format described on page 3 of these guidelines – 6 points
- Quality of content – 2 points
- Description of Key Constructs – 10 points
- The paper provides a thorough description of the key constructs and includes evidence from one or more sources to support this description – 10 points
- The paper offers a basic description of key constructs and includes evidence from at least one source to support this description – 8 points (out of 10)
- The paper offers a minimal description of key constructs and does not include evidence from any sources – 4 points (out of 10)
- “Roadmap” Paragraph – 2 points
- Paragraph is structured around the order in which the paper presents the claims/reasons, as described at the top of page 4 of these guidelines – 2 points
- Literature Review – 40% of grade (maximum of 40 points)
- Sub-Header – 3 points
- The paper uses sub-headers to separate each section
- Brief Introduction – 3 points
- At the start of each new section, the paper includes a brief paragraph that introduces the section by describing its relevance to the broader research argument, such as by stating the claim or reason that the section focuses on
- Paragraphs Organized by Sub-Reasons – 4 points
- The paper dedicates separate paragraphs to discussing each sub-reason
[Continues on next page]
- Quality of Content – 30 points
- Overall coherence – 10 points
- Note: Your score on this will range from 0 to 10 points, based on my discretion
- The presentation of information is easy to follow, logically organized, and thoughtfully executed – 10 points (out of 10)
- The presentation of information is difficult to follow or poorly organized – 0 points (out of 10)
- Appropriate level of detail provided when discussing evidence – 10 points
- Note: Your score on this will range from 0 to 10 points, based on my discretion
- The paper provides extensive detail on evidence that is most central to the research argument, limited detail on evidence that only supports a minor point in the research argument, and moderate detail on evidence for everything else – 10 points (out of 10)
- The paper makes no attempt to adjust the level of detail described in relation to the relevance of the evidence for the overall research argument – 0 points (out of 10)
- Engagement with major ideas – 10 points
- Note: Your score on this will range from 0 to 10 points, based on my discretion
- It is apparent that the student has made a concerted effort to read those sources that are most relevant to their research question, intellectually engage with the major ideas contained in those sources, and translate their understanding of these ideas into their own language – 10 points (out of 10)
- It is apparent that the student has strictly skimmed their sources to extract basic information – 0 points (out of 10)
- Conclusion – 10% of grade (maximum of 10 points)
- Initial Paragraph – 8 points
- Paragraph is structured in the claim/significance/implications format described on page 5 of these guidelines
- New Research Paragraph – 2 points
- Paragraph reflects on research findings and describes potential “next steps” for future research
- References List – 10% of grade (maximum of 10 points)
- Sources – 5 points
- There are at least 10 library-quality sources
- Format – 5 points
INTRODUCTION
[Paragraph #1 = Begin your paper with a “working” introductory paragraph.]
[Paragraph #2 = Describe the key construct(s) that your research question explores.]
[Last Paragraph = End with a brief roadmap paragraph.]
LITERATURE REVIEW
Descriptive Sub-Header for Section One
[Brief paragraph introducing the section. Final sentence of paragraph states the purpose of the section, which is usually a “reason” from your research argument.]
[Paragraph where the first sentence states a sub-reason. Review of relevant evidence that supports this sub-reason.]
[Paragraph where the first sentence states a sub-reason. Review of relevant evidence that supports this sub-reason.]
[Paragraph where the first sentence states a sub-reason. Review of relevant evidence that supports this sub-reason.]
Descriptive Sub-Header for Section Two
[Brief paragraph introducing the section. Final sentence of paragraph states the purpose of the section, which is usually a “reason” from your research argument.]
[Paragraph where the first sentence states a sub-reason. Review of relevant evidence that supports this sub-reason.]
[Paragraph where the first sentence states a sub-reason. Review of relevant evidence that supports this sub-reason.]
[Paragraph where the first sentence states a sub-reason. Review of relevant evidence that supports this sub-reason.]
Descriptive Sub-Header for Section Three
[Brief paragraph introducing the section. Final sentence of paragraph states the purpose of the section, which is usually a “reason” from your research argument.]
[Paragraph where the first sentence states a sub-reason. Review of relevant evidence that supports this sub-reason.]
[Paragraph where the first sentence states a sub-reason. Review of relevant evidence that supports this sub-reason.]
[Paragraph where the first sentence states a sub-reason. Review of relevant evidence that supports this sub-reason.]
CONCLUSION
[Paragraph that restates your primary claim and elaborates on it. Reminder of the significance of this claim. Discussion of additional/new reasons the claim is significant.]
[Paragraph that reflects on new research questions raised by your findings.]
