Business Law Term Paper

Paper Guidelines BSL 498 DUE DATE: Friday, May 9th by 5:00pm (the last day of the final exams period). The paper must be 8-10 pages in length (double-spaced, 1 inch margins, 12 point Times New Roman font). The paper must include an introductory paragraph, which provides an overview of your paper. This paragraph should specify what topic you will discuss and the conclusion that you will draw. Think of the introductory paragraph as a road map to your entire paper, which provides an overview of what’s to come in the rest of the paper. The body of your paper should set out the topic/issue that you will address, and provide an argument (or arguments) in support of a position(s) on the topic/issue. - The body of your paper can include exposition of literature that we have covered in class, or outside literature that you find yourself. - However, no more than 50% of your paper should be devoted exposition. (If you rely on literature that we have covered in class, then you have not only the readings themselves, but also my lecture notes which outline the material. I already know what my lecture notes say, and I don’t want to receive a paper in which 90% of it just repeats my lecture notes back to me. This sort of paper involves essentially no work on your part. But even if you use outside literature, you still must keep the exposition to no more than 50% of your paper. The term paper is about taking a position on a particular issue or topics, and developing your own line of argument in support of that position. In other words, it is an argumentative paper, not a book report.) - Be sure that you provide a clear line of argument. (Many arguments can be boiled down to 3 or 4 or 5 premises and a conclusion. However, a lot can be said about, and in support of, each premise. So it may be that the overall argument you provide can be boiled down to a 3 or 4 premise argument. But the paper itself may contain extended discussion of each premise in the argument. And of course, you are also likely to offer more than one argument in the course of your paper.) The key is to always think of your argument in premise/conclusion format. Make sure that the conclusion of your argument follows from the premises (reasons) that you rely on. - Even though the argument of your paper will not abbreviated in premise/conclusion format, it often helps to write out your argument this way on a separate sheet of paper, in order to closely examine it and make sure that it works and makes sense. In your paper, the argument will obviously be written in prose form. - Finally, you should also consider and respond to objections to your position. This is another aspect of the paper that can help you to reach the full 8-10 pages. Only 50% of the paper can be exposition, but the other 50% can consist not only of your own argumentation, but also your anticipation and response to potential objections to your position.

The paper must also include a concluding paragraph, which states what you have accomplished in your paper. This paragraph should briefly summarize what you have argued in the paper and state the conclusion(s) that you have drawn. The paper must be uploaded to Blackboard prior to the due date of 5:00pm on May 9th. Your paper will be electronically checked by SafeAssign, so do NOT submit plagiarized work. (This is a serious academic violation and can make you subject to academic sanctions by the University.) Please let me know if you have any specific questions about format or other aspects of the paper, which may not be covered in these guidelines.