SOME GUIDELINES FOR ARGUMENTATIVE RESEARCH ESSAY General Guideline on What to Do
Students will choose a topic from a list of possible essay topics during the first week of the term. Students wishing to choose an alternative topic will obtain approval from the instructor no later than first week of February. Essay topics that have not been approved will not be accepted.
Regardless of topic, students need to include three elements in their essay. The paper will include a clear argument or thesis, a strong analysis supported by evidence, and a forceful conclusion.
o Argument: An argument requires two elements: a clear position on the subject matter and supporting evidence (factors) that substantiate the claim.
? First, students will take a position on the subject. For example, if they choose topic #1 they can state something like this individuals faith in the political system has declined (or has not declined).
? Second, they will list at least three or more factors (i.e. the reasons for such decline (or no decline) in their faith) to support their argument.
o Explaining factors: In subsequent paragraphs, they will explain these factors and demonstrate how they are related to their main argument.
? If students are working on an idea or a topic and feel that it has both strengths and weaknesses, they will take a position and explain its strengths (or weaknesses) only. While they are explaining their position on an idea, they will acknowledge the opposite viewpoint briefly in a paragraph or so before concluding the paper.
o Conclusion: In the concluding section, students will briefly summarize their findings and reinforce their position. At this point, they may include some relevant suggestions or recommendations to make their argument more appealing. Length of Paper
The paper will be about 1500 words (double spaced) long, no more, excluding the cover page and list of references. Include the word count at the end of your concluding paragraph. Be concise and to the point. Include what is relevant to the main argument and leave out unnecessary detail or background information. (Note: The essence of writing a good paper is knowing not just what to include but what to exclude.)
Format and Style
Students will follow proper writing guidelines of the college. They will use an APA (American Psychological Association) style of reference and be consistent throughout the paper.
Students will type their papers. (No handwritten papers are acceptable.) They will use standard size 12 font and keep 1 margins on all sides, include the page numbers, a cover page, in-text or parenthetical citations, a list of references, and staple the pages in the upper left-hand corner.
Note: No fancy cover or a binder is required. An ordinary cover page with all identifying information (such as the running head, title of the paper, name of the student, and college name) is required.
Students will write their paper with proper sentence structure so that the ideas expressed are clearly understood. They will not personalize their papers (e.g. I belive, I feel, etc.) and use any value laden or normative expressions such as we all know (feel, hope, believe, think, etc.), or conclude their paper with a judgmental overtone, such as we are certain or absolutely wrong/right or we will overcome.
No paper requiring extensive corrections of grammar will be accepted. Any student anticipating such problems should consult the Langara College Writing Centre.
References
Students will include at least 8 major academic sources in their paper. These sources will be a combination of scholarly books and journal articles. While plenty of information is available on the web, most of it is not reliable. Students are strongly advised not to use any obscure internet resources. They will use reliable search engines such as google scholar and academic search premier on the net to find scholarly journal articles and other relevant information on their essay topic.
When students use any reliable website for reference purposes, they will provide a brief citation within the text and include the URL and the date of visit to the website in the reference section. No Wikipedia citations!
Citing Sources
Students will include at least 15 citations from the references/sources they have chosen in their paper.
Whenever students use and/or copy the ideas or opinions written/expressed by others, they will use intext or parenthetical citations. For paraphrased ideas, students will supply the last name of the author and year of publication. For direct quotations, a page number is also required.
Students will not use too many direct quotations.
Failure to follow these steps will result in a failing grade for the essay and will be considered as plaigarism. Consult the reference desk at the library and the writing centre at Langara College for proper guidelines and valuable assistance in your quest for writing a good term paper.
It is highly recommended that students consult and refer to Guidelines for Academic Essays, available on the library and the department website.
