Research Report Assignment
I have organized the requirements for the final version of your research report by the "rules of five," to help you keep my expectations in mind:
• Your final report will have at least five maps, charts, or other graphics that illustrate and enhance your report (that is, not just for decoration). You will insert these graphics directly into the Word document.
• Your report will also include five additional references related to the general theme. These references may come from newspapers, reputable websites (e.g., not just somebody's blog), or other reference materials other than encyclopedias and dictionaries (see "Useful research resources," above). Again, every one of these sources will be fully and appropriately referenced, in the professor's modified Chicago style.
• You may use one or two articles that I assign for class, but you will have to research the rest for yourself. I will be glad to help you, if you start early but cannot find the materials you need.
• Combined, I want to use a total of 8 to 10 good references.
Also:
• Your final paper will contain at least 2000 words-which is very roughly seven double spaced pages worth of text-plus your name, student ID number, date, descriptive title, references, and illustrations. Please don't be short, nor too long either: target somewhere between 1950 and 2050 words of text.
• All your research and every one of your illustrations must be fully and appropriately cited, using the modified Chicago style specified below.
• You must submit your report through the Canvas dropbox, as a Word document (either .doc or .docx).
• Please note that your final report will automatically be checked by Turnitin.com, to be sure your work is original.
• No "do-overs." Check over your work before you submit your report, and be careful to submit the correct version of your paper.
Expectations for an "excellent" or "A" report:
• The report will be submitted by the due date, as a Word document, delivered via the digital dropbox in the "exams &dropboxes" link for this assignment.
• You will read carefully and follow all the rules listed above.
• You will incorporate your textbook readings, graphics, and additional sources into a report that is thoughtful, well-written, interesting, and enjoyable-both for you and me.
• You will define, explain, and provide examples all new terms and concepts. If you do this, not just the professor should be able to understand your report, but any interested, intelligent reader.
• Comparisons are always helpful. Rather than just giving the reader the square miles or kilometers of Honduras (pretty meaningless, even to me), compare it with the size of, say, a familiar state in the U.S. Don't just give the reader the population growth rate or fertility rate of Afghanistan, compare it with those rates in the U.S. or in other Third World countries, such as Mexico.
Complete & proper referencing
• You must provide a full and proper reference for everything you include in your report that comes from any other source. This includes and and all illustrations, quotes, facts, figures, or ideas that come from websites, books, TV, radio, textbooks, newspapers, magazines, interviews, etc.
• You must use the modified form of Chicago referencing and style explained in the section following. Please ask me if you have any questions.
• Please don't use footnotes. Instead, provide a simple citation in the text after any fact, figure, illustration, etc. The citation only needs to include the author's name, followed by the year if available. If there's not an author listed, then use the organization or publication responsible instead. For example: (Smith 2017) or (Washington Post). This citation then will direct me to the complete reference at the end of your paper.
• At the end of your paper, you will provide a complete list of "References," or "Works cited." (Don't use the term "Bibliography;" that's something different.)
• Begin all references with the last name of the author, or the organization or publication responsible if there's no author-then alphabetize in that order.
• You can use interviews with knowledgeable individuals on your topic, or your own relevant experience or photos. You can reference such sources as "Slick, Stan. 2017. Personal interview." " Author's personal experience. 2017." or "Author's personal photo. 2017"
• Never just give me the web address for a source. Website addresses change too often, or they're easy to copy incorrectly. Please provide full and complete references.
• Most students seem to have bad results with Microsoft Word's automatic referencing function, which results in lots of errors. Either check over the automatic referencing carefully, or I suggest you do it yourself so you're sure it's done right.
• Why am I such a cranky old professor about all this referencing stuff?