Paper 4

Paper #4:

Research Paper (200 points)

For this last major paper, you will be choosing your own topic. The topic should be

something that you can make a claim about and something that can be researched. For more help

thinking through a possible topic, you may want to look your major (Cyber Security). Your

project should be able to answer the following: What is

something that you feel strongly about that you can

both a.) make a claim about and b.) do academic

research on? Once you have chosen a topic, write a

working thesis (see the ATTACHED Eschholz et al.

“College Writing” pgs. 31-32 for writing strong thesis

statements) and start your research! If you find that there

isn’t enough credible research, you may rethink your

topic or adjust your research question as necessary.

You will need to have a proposal for what you want to write about and a quick check-in

with me to approve your topic. This proposal should be at least half of a page and you should

also include the citations for two sources that you have already found via the library website.

You may turn your proposal in early for approval if you wish. We will then have a Peer

Workshop for your draft as usual.

Lastly, we will be doing a reflection on the writing process. This will need to be a half

page that asks you to consider how your process has changed over the semester and what the

experience of writing this research paper was like. Please add this to the end of your final draft in

the same document.

Details

MLA format: 12-point Times New Roman font, 1” margins, double-spaced

Length: 5-8 pages (not counting the Works Cited page)

Sources: 4-8 credible sources (found in database, primary texts, peer-reviewed)

Important Dates

Friday, December 4th: Proposal due- topic must be approved by me

Sunday, December 6th: Draft #1 due on Blackboard by 11:59pm

Friday, December 11th: Final Draft and Reflection due on Blackboard by 11:59pm

*Note: I am banning traditional

controversial topics (such as abortion,

drinking age, euthanasia, gun control, etc.)

in favor of you choosing a topic that is

more complex and more related to your

own personal interests. If I feel that your

topic is too cliché, I will ask you to choose

another.