english 101

Maximum Points: 125 points or 250 points (you will choose when you submit your paper)              

Topic: Continue to research the topic you’ve been working with this quarter

Deadline: May submit anytime during the week of June 10 until Friday, June 14, midnight.

INTRODUCTION

Your final research project will build on the work that you have been doing this quarter: You will continue to work with your student challenge/problem. You may use sources you’ve already used and you may find new sources that are credible and related to your research interests. You will include information from at least six sources, and at least one source must come from the TCC library databases. You may also include up to two interviews with students as sources.

PROJECT GUIDELINES

Section 1:  What’s happening at TCC? Begin your project with a 1-paragraph presentation of information discussing graduation/completion rates at Tacoma Community College and community colleges nationally. You will be provided sources for this section, and you will choose to present and cite data that you find most important to help a reader understand the seriousness of the graduation crisis. You will include information from at least two sources in this section.

Section 2:  What is the focus of your research? Present a well-explained paragraph in which you present your topic/challenge and relevant background information to prepare a reader for the rest of the paper. Use third-person point of view in this paragraph. You may use work from your second paper for this section, though take care to revise so that it is as clear and effective as possible.

Section 3:  What do you want to know? Why is it important? Present one or two well-explained paragraphs in which you state your research question and discuss it. What do you want know/understand about your topic/challenge? Why did you select this topic/challenge? Why do you believe it is serious and should be researched in more depth? You may write about specific challenges you and others have faced and the impacts of those challenges. First-person (I) point of view is important in this section, and you may use work from your second paper here, though take care to revise so that it is as strong and clear as possible.

Section 4:  What have you learned? Present two-four paragraphs in which you present the most important and relevant information from sources related to your topic/challenge. You may build on the work that you did in paper 2, but in this section, you will need to present information from at least four sources. In this section, you will carefully cite quotes and paraphrases with strong MLA in-text citations. This section will be written in third-person point of view.

Section 5:  What is your proposal for action/change?  If you could make significant changes to improve the experiences of community college students so they are able to graduate and move forward in their lives, what changes would you make? Why? Feel free to dream big in this section and explain your proposals in one or two well-explained paragraphs.

Section 6:  MLA Works Cited page, listing sources used, presented in alphabetical order with hanging indentation

GRADING RUBRIC

Focus (20 points): To earn full credit, the paper will include:

• Clear statement of research question and explanation in Section 3
• Strong discussion of the focus of research and relevant background information in Section 2
• All paragraphs begin with a topic sentence that offers the focus/main point of the paragraph

Explanations/Content (40 points): To earn full credit, the paper will include:

• Each section includes plenty of specific details/examples to explain important ideas
• Each important idea/assertion is backed up with specific examples/details
• Important ideas are linked with effective transitions (2-3 in most paragraphs)

Citations (25 points): To earn full credit, the paper will include:

• All quotes are cited with correct MLA in-text citations
• All paraphrases are cited with correct MLA in-text citations
• A strong MLA Works Cited page, with correct citations presented in alphabetical order with hanging indentation
• Works Cited page is titled, centered and spaced correctly

Word Choice (20 points): To earn full credit, the paper will include:

• First and third-person point of view used carefully, as suggested in project guidelines
• Vocabulary is formal standard academic English
• Words are spelled out, not abbreviated, no contractions
• Follow formal standard academic English rules to capitalize words (different from social media and other kinds of writing)
• Words are strong and specific and not overly general. Words like “big” and “really” are cut or replaced by more specific words
• No extra words (go through and cut them!)

Polish (20 points): To earn full credit, the paper will include:

• Strong MLA formatting, with correct information on the first page and writer’s last name page number in the top right corner of each page
• A compelling, unique title (not “Financial challenges” or “Final Research Paper)
• Clear sentences that offer each offer a clear idea
• Attention to proofreading: May include a few minor errors that do not interfere with the meaning of a sentence