1) NASA
2) United States medical debt
3) Voting regulations and restrictions in the last decade
4)How to increase literacy in the United States
These are all broad umbrella topics, and you will develop your own focus under this broader topic. The process of learning academic research is an important objective in this class and in addition to the paper, questions about MLA guidelines and formatting rules will make up a portion of the objective questions on your final exam, so review the materials carefully.
For your final research project, you are to write a paper (approximately 1000-1200 words). To do that, you must narrow your research question to one general question, with an answer well supported and documented by the evidence you find. This is not a report, but a research paper in which you prove and support your thesis. You must write a proposal (see the guidelines on the proposal) and post that to the class discussions. Then, when your proposal has been approved, you will write and submit your draft, and when that has been reviewed, you will submit your final paper. This is a process; it is not a one-step writing assignment.
Research Requirements and Paper Guidelines
This assignment is a controlled research assignment that requires you to use the topic list you have been provided, references to at least four sources from an academically acceptable website. You may not use any form of Wikipedia information. You must have a minimum of four sources.
Remember that you may not quote blocks of text in any one citation. Review the handouts and suggestions for incorporating text into your paper. This OWL link posted in your class might be helpful as your begin your work.
This paper is to be, first and foremost, your own thoughts, supported with evidence from the assigned readings. Remember, this is not a report. It is a research paper and it requires a thesis/focus question that you prove in process of writing the paper. This is not a first person paper. It is not a paper that focuses on your personal experience. It should be written in third person.
The paper must be written using MLA format, and it must include a works cited page. The works cited information is not included in your word count. When you save your file, all of your pages should be included in one file. Do not submit separate files for the paper and the works cited page.
All of the information you need to understand the research paper format is in our section on research. There are handouts on plagiarism and formatting. Review them carefully. This paper will be submitted to TURNITIN through the class drop box, so be sure you have carefully documented your sources.