research question

Research Paper

Your research paper should be 5-7 pages long, double-spaced with regular margins, and should be in MLA Style. That means it should have a “Works Cited” with entries in MLA format, and it should use MLA style in-text citations for quotations and paraphrases. It should also include the following:

· An introduction that states your topic and implicitly or directly states your research question.

· A thesis that answers the research question and is specific and debatable.

· Paragraphs that develop and support the thesis. You can include a summary of the text or a discussion of the author’s life, time period or cultural background, but only if they help develop your thesis.

· Your paragraphs should have clear topic sentences that work as the supporting points of your thesis.

· Use information from all your sources to support your claims. You can use direct quotations or paraphrases (putting information from your source in your own words) but you must cite the source in MLA style.

· On your Works Cited page, make sure you include the assigned reading and the sources you used. These should be most of the sources from your annotated bibliography. If you use sources from your annotated bibliography, DO NOT include the summary and evaluation paragraphs; you just need the MLA-style “Works Cited” entry. If you found new sources since the annotated bibliography, add them. If you decided that some of your annotated bibliography’s sources weren’t useful, don’t use them, but make sure you found new sources instead. You should have a minimum of four sources (that includes the assigned reading as well as the three minimum sources from the annotated bibliography.

· Submit the research paper in the Dropbox on our course homepage on eLearn. I will not accept emailed versions or print versions.

· If you need an extension, ask for it at least 24 hours before the due date.