1. Choose a Topic and write a proposal (Leadership)2. Write a paper introduction

Due Date

The Introduction section is due by 0700 on Saturday, June 16, and is worth 50 points.

Overview

Students will build their individual term paper in sections as the semester continues. The Introduction sets the background for the issue under investigation and builds interest in the topic.

The research paper is done as an individual – it is not a group project. Students may solicit help from other students as peer readers, but the paper itself must be their own creation (see Academic Integrity guidelines in the syllabus).

Automatic Rejection

Papers with the following mistakes will be automatically rejected with a mandatory 10% (of total possible points) penalty from the final score for this paper. The required changes must be made before re-submitting the paper or it will be rejected again for another 10% penalty. You are highly encouraged to enlist the help of a proofreader (e.g., another class member or the University writing center) before turning in your assignment.

1) The file must be a Microsoft Word document. (Google Docs is not Microsoft Word.) If you do not own Microsoft Word on your personal computer, contact the instructor to work out alternate arrangements.

2) There must be no extra line spacing between paragraphs. (Go to “Page Layout” in the Microsoft Word top menu and put spacing before and after paragraphs to 0.)

3) Words must be spelled correctly (including the absence of typos).

4) Periods and commas must go inside quotation marks.

5) Single apostrophe ( ‘ ) “quotation marks” should not be used, with the exception of quoted material within a quotation (quotes within quotes).

6) Dashes should be executed with a space, two hyphens [ - ] [ - ] and another space (the computer will normally convert this to a single dash line), as detailed in the Course Stylebook

7) As detailed in the Course Stylebook, there should a space between the preceding words and an opening parenthesis, no space between the opening or closing parenthesis and the words inside it, and no space between the closing parenthesis and any punctuation. Example:

Jimmy Buffett’s collection of short stories (Tales From Margaritaville) parallels many of the songs on his “Off to See the Lizard” album (1989).

8) References appear as footnotes, executed by going to “References” in the Microsoft Word top menu and selecting “Insert Footnote.”

Writing the Introduction

The Introduction section should be 1.5 to 2 pages long, typed double-spaced (2.0 line spacing) in Times New Roman (or similar) font with 1-inch margins top, bottom, left, and right, and no extra lines between paragraphs. (Go to “Page Layout” in the top menu and put spacing before and after paragraphs to 0.)

The Introduction has two essential purposes: 1) to build interest in the topic, and 2) to give a broad and sweeping overview (the “big picture”) of the topic under investigation. Although the Introduction is only a couple of pages long, that does not mean it ought to be hammered out between commercial breaks while watching “Hawaii Five-O” or “Dancing With the Stars”: It is often much more difficult to write “short” than it is to write “long.”

As an example, if I chose to write about the decision of Vice Admiral Frank Fletcher to withdraw the U.S. Navy forces under his command from the Solomon Islands on August 8, 1942, during the initial phase of the Guadalcanal campaign, I would use the Introduction to give the general background to that event. I would briefly discuss how the Solomon Islands were vital not because of any great features of the islands themselves, but simply because they were there – that geographical location in the South Pacific – and that whoever “owned” that territory and could build airfields upon it would then control both air and ship traffic for hundreds of miles around. I might also discuss the vulnerability of the U.S. Navy ships under Fletcher’s command to the Imperial Japanese Navy and the critical importance of this vulnerability, especially after the losses at Pearl Harbor. I would identify the decision that had to be made and the person (Fletcher) making that decision, but I would not begin to analyze the decision (that is for later in the paper).

Most particularly, the Introduction should clearly reflect that the chosen topic meets these four essential requirements:

1) There must be an identifiable leader; a person or entity with the responsibility to make the decision under examination.

2) The decision must be able to be isolated and identified (ultimately the alternatives open to the leader must be able to be clearly identified in a later section of the paper).

3) The decision must take place within the type of setting designated for this JINS class, i.e., an alpine, desert, jungle, arctic, forest, savannah/ grassland environment (terrestrial wilderness settings) or an aerospace (aviation and space) or marine environment (including undersea, maritime, riverine and littoral settings).

4) Finally, the leadership decision must present room for argument. The question of whether or not Titanic should have been steaming that fast at night through iceberg-filled waters or whether or not the Donner Party should have tried to cross the Sierra Nevada that late in the season is pretty much a no-brainer: Who would possibly argue otherwise? In other words, you should not argue a decision where there is, was, or will be only one obvious answer to the question.

Writing Center