Research Paper Instructions:
Review these instructions to begin preparing for what you will need to do in working on your Research Paper throughout this course. Also, review the scoring rubric provided below to see how your final paper will be graded. The research paper will consist of an objective examination of a topic in your major(s) or a topic in which you are interested. The paper will be a literature review of the topic and should be related to one or more of Ottawa's liberal arts breadth areas.
Steps included in the research process are:
1. Choosing a topic and formulating a research question
2. Conducting a preliminary review of available literature
3. Doing a complete review of the literature
4. Creating a proposal and outline of the paper
Writing the paper in APA style. The length of the paper will vary from student to student, but in general, the paper should be between 6-8 pages of text, as well as a title page and reference page (total of 8-10 pages).
For this paper, an abstract is optional. The sample paper provided for you contains an abstract for you to use as an example if you choose to include one. The paper must cite at least 8 different references (no more than 7 years old), at least 5 of which need to be peer-reviewed articles from scholarly journals. The final version must include acceptable spelling and grammar, and be written in APA format in Times New Roman 12 point font and 1" margins.
The paper must include a running header and page numbers in APA format, as well. Citing Sources One thing that characterizes academic research papers is the citing of sources of information used within the paper. Failure to cite sources is considered plagiarism, or stealing the intellectual property of a writer. Plagiarism can result in serious consequences - anything from an "F" on the paper to an "F" in the course, to expulsion from college.
You should cite your source when:
• You are making an important statement or using a unique idea from something you read. The citation should include the author(s) and year of publication.
• You are using direct quote, in which case you also cite the page number(s).
• You are citing specific statistics, dates, or numbers (also cite page numbers). The particular mechanics of citing your sources within the paper are explained in the APA Writing Style Guide in the Resource Room.