How this paper is graded depends upon how well it is written. How well it is written depends upon the stated principles that determine its function. What is its function?
The function of the Final Draft of the Research Paper is to produce a perfect final product that illustrates your arrival at answers to your guiding questions: What do I know? and What do I need to know?
This writing assignment, then, has the following criteria by which it will be graded:
1) Thoroughness. You have found your information. You have consulted the necessary print media and have conducted the necessary interviews. You have gathered any other non-print media that would add to your project. Even though it is not realistic for me to require a minimum number of pages for the paper since it is not possible ahead of time to predict when research is completed, thoroughness can be judged. When you submitted your rough draft of the research paper, you would have been told if your research was thorough enough.
2) Documentation: You have a Works Cited page that is appropriate to your resource material. A works cited page is not a bibliography.
3) Organization: You have written your final draft with basic paragraph organization [including paragraphs in the Body of the paper that have guiding topic sentences] and have divided the paper into an Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. Your paper will have techniques to get and keep the readers' attention.
4) Writing Competency: Since everything you write is judged on basic writing competency, the final draft must be written in standard English, free of punctuation errors, spell-checked, and in a writing style appropriate to the assignment. Since this paper is a final draft, it is expected that the paper is completely error free. A large part of competency for the research paper is demonstrating that you have mastered the basic "writing about writing" skills. Your research paper must include all of the citation methods of integrating your cited material into your own words so that the result leaves no hanging quotes and all of the quoted material results in complete and grammatical sentences. Bob Cassel's research paper demonstrates these techniques as does the essay "Writing About Literature."
Grading Criteria: If you are thorough, have documented completely, are well-organized, and the writing is competent, then you receive an A. Appropriate deductions are made in points 1, 2, 3, and 4, resulting in grades of B, C, D, or E.
A final reminder: Re-cycled research papers are not acceptable: no high school papers or papers based upon speeches you have done or papers from other college class assignments. Submitting papers that are not your own is plagiarism, which results in a failing grade, or worse. If in doubt, see the statement on plagiarism.
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