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Due Date: May 1,
2008 (or earlier)
Write a 15-page research paper (15 pages
for body of paper, exclusive of title page, reference page, appendices,
etc.; double-spaced, 1.25” side margins, 12 point Times Roman, APA or MLA or
Chicago Manual of Style
format) on a topic that is related to the main focus of this seminar. You
may either concentrate on China,
Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Japan, or South Korea or choose a topic that involves two or more of the
aforementioned countries or territories. You may also elect to work on a
topic that relates practices of Asian communities in the U.S. to practices
in the countries/territories of their actual or claimed origin. Your paper
should include the following elements:
- title page:
follow APA or Chicago Manual of Style format (title page not necessary for
MLA format)
- table of contents:
optional
- list of tables, charts, figures,
photographs, etc.: optional;
include of you have many tables, etc. (if you include any; optional)
- a clear statement of purpose:
what is the main problem you are dealing with? Why do you consider your
topic important? How do you delimit your topic? What belongs/does not
belong to your topic? Why does it/does it not belong? Why should we as
readers care about your topic?
- methodological and/or theoretical
considerations: how did you
tackle your problem? Did you make use of any particular methods or
theories? What are some of the key terms you use in your paper and how do
you define them? What do you bring to the topic that may have affected
the way you define your research problem and influenced the way you
approach it?
- literature review:
what has been written about the problem you propose to study in your
paper? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current scholarship?
Are there any gaps or oversights in the literature? How does your
research fit into the body of existing studies on your chosen topic?
- discussion of your (primary) sources:
what sources is your research based on? Who created/compiled these
sources? When? For whom? In what form? What are the biases and
limitations of these sources? Are there alternative/other sources to the
ones you are using in your paper? If such sources exist, why didn’t you
make use of them in your research?
- main body of your research paper:
present your argument and research findings in the most coherent and
economic way possible; take great care in documenting your sources
(primary as well as secondary); make use of tables, charts, figures,
illustrations, and other visual aides to present your data, and to
highlight interconnections between sets of data or concepts, and to engage
the reader (clearly label tables, charts, etc. and provide reference as to
the source(s) of these material; make sure to use the same title in the
list of tables, etc. at the beginning of the paper); add subtitles to the
major sections of your paper so as to guide the reader through your
argument.
- conclusion:
sum up your argument; restate your major findings and spell out for the
reader how your research has added to/modified/superseded/debunked the
current scholarship on your topic; remark on aspects of the topic that you
were not able to cover or address to the degree that you would have liked
to; suggest further/additional/supplementary avenues of research on your
topic that you or someone else could/should pursue; if appropriate,
discuss how your research has changed/confirmed/validated your original
thinking about the topic and how this might impact your future study of
the subject.
- appendix/appendices: include material, data, visual
aides that are integral to your argument but too copious to fit into the
main body of the paper into an appendix/appendices
- list of references:
add a list of all documents used in your research paper; format according
to APA, MLA or Chicago Manual of Style documentation.
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Evaluation Criteria
for Research Papers
- proper spelling,
punctuation, and grammar
- idiomatic use of words and expressions
- no colloquialisms
- clear and logical organization of the paper
- paragraphs are connected with effective transitions
- opening section states clearly the purpose of your essay (you have to have
a particular point you want to make)
- formal conclusion (see above)
- support your argument with carefully chosen quotations from the text;
indent quotes that are longer than two lines
- quotations don't speak for themselves; you need to interpret them so that
the reader can understand your reasoning
- use simple present tense for analysis and summary of the text
- use simple past tense when referring to the historical context of a text,
genre, or author
- make use of critical terminology introduced in class and in your readings;
define key terms, if necessary
- show that you have critically engaged with the texts/data/images/concepts
you are working on and have come to your own conclusions on a particular
topic
- plagiarism of any kind will result in a failing grade for the essay and
might have additional disciplinary consequences
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Useful Writing Aides
Books on Research and Documentation Styles
Palmquist, Mike. The Bedford Researcher: An Integrated Text, CD-ROM,
and Web Site. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003. Also available
at:
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/bedfordresearcher
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and
Dissertations (Chicago: Chicago UP, 1996).
Hacker, Diana. Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age
(Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999).
Also available at:
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/
Books on the Writing Process
Howard V.A., and J.H. Barton. Thinking on Paper (New York: Quill,
1986).
Kaye, Sanford. Writing under Pressure: The Quick Writing Process (New
York: Oxford UP, 1989).
Books on Usage
Weiner, E.S.C., and Andrew Delahunty, comp. The Oxford Guide to
English Usage (New York: Oxford UP, 1994).
Sora, Joseph W., ed. Random House Writer's Reference (New York:
Random House, 2003).
Heyworth, Gregory, and Rosette Liberman. The Writing and Revision
Stylebook (New Haven: Cooper Hill Press, 2000).
Dictionaries
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Also available for free
at:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/)
Cambridge International Dictionary of English (Cambridge: Cambridge UP,
1995).
Longman Advanced American Dictionary (Harlow: Longman, 2001). (Also
available for free as Longman Web
Dictionary at:
http://www.longmanwebdict.com)
MacMillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners of American English.
Oxford: MacMillan, 2002. (Also available for free at:
www.macmillandictionary.com/online)
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
(Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000).
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