English 3 Research Paper Assignment

You must submit a term paper that counts as a second-term test grade. The object of the final paper is to get you to think about how your high school experience compares with the "real world.” Using what you know, write a 4 to 6 page paper on a topic of your choice. The topic must be related to your post-high school interests, but there are no other limitations. My suggestion is to take a specific issue or question that you have encountered and conduct further research on it. For example, if you are interested in the public defender's office, looking at whether poor clients accused of minor crimes are given adequate legal services is an appropriate topic. You would go about doing this paper by doing some outside research on the public defender system and then relating your experiences to this research. The best way to approach this paper is to begin with a question, and answer it after researching the topic.

You are encouraged to make explicit links between classes you have taken here at Northwood, although the paper itself may not be from another class. Also, this paper should not be a simple description of what you have done in a class; this is a research paper, and it should deal with academic subjects.

You must decide on your research question by our _______________________ class meeting. Please bring a typed copy of your research question. I will collect these, and we will discuss them in class. If you have any questions or are unsure about the topic, please don’t hesitate to come see me to discuss options.

Paper mechanics:
1. You must include four “outside" sources, such as books and articles from academic journals. These can be materials that were assigned in other classes, or you can do additional library research. At least one of your academic citations must be a book or academic journal article. In other words, you cannot have four websites as your four citations. Be sure to make appropriate citations on all works cited, using MLA. Your citations should be attached to your paper. Reminder: You must give me four academic citations by _________________________________.

2. The paper should be 4-6 pages long (this is a minimum of 4 FULL pages, not “three and a line”).

3. Your paper must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman or similar font. It should follow all normal essay writing requirements (i.e., be sure to have a thesis statement and supporting evidence).

4. Due: ____________________________ at 3:00pm. I will be in my classroom (917) to collect these. If you'd like to turn it in early, by all means do so. I will not be able to read late papers in time to give you a grade.