Assignment: Research paper on student-selected topic. Papers must be 10-12 pages of text. They must include captioned images, and abstract and a bibliography. Images, abstract and bibliography do not count toward the 10-12 pages. Some notes:

• Research: I know you all know what research is, but for the record, it means finding sources related to your topic, using them to construct your text, analyzing them, critiquing them, and setting them in relation to one another and to your own ideas.

• Sources: Use a variety of sources. Internet sources are allowed; HOWEVER, they need to adhere to scholarly standards. This means that they are administered by an authoritative source and have some form of editorial oversight and review process. Wikipedia is not a viable source for this assignment because it does not have the necessary review standards or scholarly backing. If you have questions about whether or not a source is acceptable, please ask.

• Documentation: You must cite all your sources, using the correct format, in.the text of the paper. If you do not include proper citations it is an automatic F. (This comes straight from Professor Richardson, although I agree.) You can use footnotes, endnotes or in-text parentheticals - it's up to you - but you must use them correctly and find and follow the right format. You must cite not only direct quotes, but any information taken from a source, even if put into your own words. Citations work hand in hand with the bibliography, but they do not replace it, nor does the bibliography replace footnotes/in¬text citations.

• Images: Images must be labeled (assign figure numbers to refer to in your .paper) and captioned. I suggest following the captioning format in one of your textbooks.

• Abstract: An abstract is essentially a summary It is an overview of your research paper that provides an outline of everything that occurs in the paper: what the topic is, what the argument is, how it is pursued in. the paper. Your abstract must be 200-250 words, and should appear as a separate paragraph at the start of the paper.