Your research paper should be 5 pages, and use 5 academic resources. It must be impeccably cited and formatted. Works Cited page is required, and MLA should be followed.

Guidelines for the Final Paper:
The paper must be five double-spaced pages in length (not including works cited pages). The margins should be no more than one inch (right and left). The essay should be composed in 12-point Times New Roman font. Include a minimum of five scholarly sources. Other sources may also be used, but at least three sources must be academic and scholarly. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, websites ending with the .gov, .org, or .edu, newspapers or other media sources do not constitute scholarship. All of the sources must be documented and cited using MLA format.

Introduction/Thesis

There is a clear and focused introduction. The *thesis is clear, original, and sophisticated. The ideas embedded in the thesis are appropriate to the length of the assignment (for the proposal 2; final, 5 page count excludes works cited page). The content provides quality (not padded, dull writing, repetitive or margin/enlarged font-cheating). Effort and sensitivity to the study is evident.

*The thesis is a specific and concise argument developed from the list of topics.

Paragraphs
Paragraphs are composed around topics, which naturally and organically emerge from a complex, focused, and sophisticated thesis. Each paragraph explores one topic and one topic only. Topics directly relate To the thesis and are not theses in and of themselves. The paragraph completely and fully develops and explains the topic and provides details, examples, illustrations, and quotations from research as well as from the primary texts. Topics and paragraphs rise above commonplace thinking and summary. Quoted material is used powerfully to support analytical points (and not as padding). There is a graceful transition to the next paragraph. The ideas explored are significant, substantive, and instructive. Ideas/topics support the overarching thesis so that the paper is a unified whole, and not a concatenation of appended mini-essays.