Project Overview: In this project you will study a particular political or social issue and conduct library and on line research. The paper is to be a minimum of 6 full pages but no more than 10 full...

Project Overview: In this project you will study a particular political or social issue and conduct library and on line research. The paper is to be a minimum of 6 full pages but no more than 10 full pages, word processed, and double spaced not including the title page or reference list. The Process: 1. Choose a topic that has political implications and therefore lends itself to research. For example: the legalization of marijuana. Begin to research your topic to familiarize yourself with the debates that surround it, and any other relevant background information. 2. Survey the information available. Continue to research your topic. You must have a minimum of 6 references; at least 4 of which must be book, Journals or Newspapers (Only the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal can be used when using newspapers). The other 2 can be either books, articles from academic journals or authored web articles. Journals may be online or hard copy. The paper must be a minimum of five full double spaced pages’ not counting the title page or table of contents and a maximum of 7. 3. Begin to write your paper. Use the information gathered from the research to lay out the argument both for the topic and against. You should not take a position in the paper either pro or con except in the conclusion. Has it changed at all? Does the information gathered from your survey contradict or support the information in your research 4. All papers must be submitted to safe assignment on blackboard before being handed in to me. Suggested Topics 1) Who is right on abortion, pro-choice or pro-life? 2) Should Marijuana be legal for public use? 3) Does our system of passing legislation at the federal level need to be changed? 4) Should we have public financing of national elections? 5) How should we treat poverty in America? 6) Should we have national health insurance? 7) Should we give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship? 8) Does global warming exist and if so what should be done about it? 9) Should gay marriage be recognized by government? 10) Do we need to improve our education system; if so how and if not why not? 11) Is the money spent on a college education worth it, pros and cons? 12) Should we have one legal national language? (other topics may be used with my approval). All topics must be approved by me before you begin the research. If you decide to do a research paper, you may not change your mind. All research papers must first be submitted to safe assignment blackboard. How the Paper is Graded Reference List 10 points In text referencing 15 points Grammar 15 points Content 60 points In addition you can lose 2 points for not numbering the pages correctly, improper margins, an extra space between paragraphs and 10 points for each page less than 9 full pages (half pages cost a 5 point loss). Documenting Sources: New APA Guidelines When you write a research paper, you always have to document your sources. Information that is referred to in your paper must be acknowledged by in-text citations within the body of the paper and through a reference page at the end. The parenthetical reference provides your reader with enough information to locate the full reference in the "Reference" section. Remember that all information or points of view that you obtained from an outside source must be acknowledged, whether it is a quotation, a summary, or a paraphrase. A. When to Use In-text Citations Use an in-text citation to document a source briefly, clearly and accurately (All ideas not your own whether in your words or quoted must be referenced in the text). You can do this in three ways: 1. Cite the last name of the author and the date of publication of the source in parentheses. For example: A prominent psychologist has proclaimed that a "true work of art resides in that fact that it has escaped from the limitations of the personal and has soared beyond the personal concerns of its creator" (Jung, 2003). 2. Use the author's last name in the sentence and place only the date of publication and page of the source in parentheses. For example: Jung proclaimed that a "true work of art resides in the fact that it has escaped from the limitations of the personal and has soared beyond the personal concerns of its creator" (1990, p. 309). 3. Use the author's last name in the sentence when you are citing the entire work rather than a specific section or passage and omit any parenthetical reference. For example: Jung believed that true works of art are transcendental in nature. B. Formatting Parenthetical References 1. When using a short quotation (less than four lines), place the parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence but before the final period using author’s last name, date of publication and page number. For example: Jung believed that "the divine frenzy of the artist comes perilously close to a pathological state, though the two things are not identical" (Jung, 1990 pp. 23-24). 2. When the in-text citation documents a long quotation (four lines or more), it should be off set from the text by typing each line five spaces in and flushed with the indented margin. The lines must be single spaced. There are no quotation marks used and the period is placed at the end of the passage. Place the author’s last name, date of publication and page number(s). For example: Jung perceived some acts of creativity to be obsessions that might actually be harmful to the artist: Analysis of artists consistently shows not only the strength of the creative impulse arising from the unconscious, but also its capricious and willful character. The biographies of the great artists make it abundantly clear that the creative urge is often so imperious that it battens on the humanity and yokes everything to the service of the work, even at the cost of health and ordinary human happiness. (Jung, 2000 p. 203) C. Reference List Although each of these in-text citations is brief, your references, which can be primary and secondary sources, will not be clear or accurate unless they refer readers to a complete citation listed in the section of your paper called Reference List. The Reference List is the last page of your paper and is also numbered. Below are general guidelines in presenting your sources: * Put references in alphabetical order of author’s last name. * Put the publication year in parentheses following the author’s or author's last names. * Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns in titles. Also capitalize The first word following the colon in a subtitle. * Use italics for titles of books but not articles. Do not enclose titles of articles in quotation marks . * Include the city and publisher for books. If the city is not well known, include the state, using its two-letter postal abbreviation. * Separate the author’s or authors’ names, date (in parentheses), title, and publication information with periods. * Use a hanging indent: Begin the first line of each entry at the left margin, and indent all subsequent lines of an entry one-half inch (five spaces) . * Double-space within and between entries and end with a period. The following examples of the Reference List page include citations for a book, an anthology, a magazine article, an interview, a newspaper article and a document on a Web site. Only the first letter of a title, the first letter after a colon and proper nouns should be capitalized. Book Angelou, M. (1970). I know why the caged bird sings. New York: Bantam. Anthology Wilmer, F. (1998). Taking indigenous critiques seriously: The enemy ‘r’ us. In K. Lifton (Ed.), The greening of sovereignty in world politics ( pp. 55-60). Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press. Magazine Gross, P. (2001, February). Exorcising sociobiology. New Criterion, 19, 24. An Interview An interview takes an in-text citation but is not listed on the Reference List. Newspaper Johnson, R. (2003, July 13). The irrationality of art. NewYork Times. Pp. A1, A16-17. Document on a Web site Lloyd, J., & Soltani, A. (2001, December) Report on: Plan Columbia and indigenous peoples. Retrieved April 2, 2004, from http://