accounting

General paper guidelines

Please find general paper guidelines. Failure to follow these instructions will result in a reduction of points for your paper. As accountants you are expected to pay attention to detail.

Timeliness of submission:

Papers submitted less than 12 hours late will receive a 20 percent reduction in points. For example, if the total possible points is 50, late papers will be graded on a 40 point basis, so long as it is submitted with 12 hours of the due date. Papers more than 12 hours late will not be accepted.

File naming convention:

Your file should be named last name followed by the instructor provided keyword. For example if your name is Mary Kay Jones and the key word is ANALYSIS your file name will be JONESANALYSIS.DOC.

Do not put anything at the top of your paper such as:

Jane Smith

Dr. Rankin

Analysis Paper

You should simply start your paper. Do not include a cover page, run headers, footer or page numbers.

File format:

Files are required to be in MS word. No PDF files.

Font, spacing and paper length:

1. Times New Roman 12 point

2. The body of your paper should be double spaced with standard one inch margins.

3. Reference list should be single spaced with the second line indented and a blank line between references.

4. Copy the appropriate rubric to the bottom of your submission. Failure to do so will result in a point reduction.

5. Papers not conforming to the page length requirement will be assessed a 20 percent point deduction of the total possible points (e.g. A 50 point paper that does not conform to requirements will receive a 10 point deduction equal to 20% of 50 points).

Grammar and spelling:

Use Grammarly to scan your paper for misspelled words and make suggestions for word choice. As a general rule any word with squiggly underlines is either misspelled or you have another issue.

General:

1. Paper should be written in third person. In other words we or I should not be used unless the paper requires an opinion.

2. Use of direct quotes is prohibited.

3. Paper should be written in active voice. For example: John did the painting. (active voice- correct) The painting was done by John. (passive voice- incorrect)

4. APA formatting should be used for all references. In a reference list you should indent the second line and all references should be single spaced.

5. Headers should be bold and centered.

6. Be careful of capitalization issues. Follow the appropriate grammar for capitalization.

7. Only scholarly references. Wikipedia, a dictionary, investopedia or textbooks should not be used for references. The university library should be used to identify scholarly publications. All references should be in alphabetical order.

8. Only the year should be used in the references in APA format. Be certain that the font of your reference page conforms to requirements.

9. Anything reference included in your reference page, needs to be included in as an in text citation in your paper.

10. Do not put the name of the journal in your paper.

11. Your turnitin score (percent) should be no grader than 25 percent.

12. When doing an abbreviation, you start with the expression spelled out and then abbreviate after that. For example, Texas A&M University- Commerce (TAMUC). Each successive time you should use TAMUC.

13. Do not use colloquialisms such as “Bless his heart.” “Climbing the ladder.” “Boiled down.” “All in all.” “Right off the bat.” We all know what this means, but it should not be included in scholarly writing.

14. Prohibited words and phrases: look, like, view, see, saw, viewing, looking at, that being said, as previously stated, on the other hand, speaking, believe or not, walk away, telling

15. Good words: analysis, analyzing, evaluating

APA Website:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html