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 Rough Draft of the Research Paper is to illustrate your process in arriving at preliminary 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 made a good preliminary attempt at getting 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.
2) Documentation: You have a Works Cited page that is appropriate to your resource material. A works cited page is not a bibliography! We do not use bibliographies in this course. A bibliography is a listing of all the works that a person has consulted in order to write the paper. A works cited is a list of only those works that have been cited in the paper. And "cited" means directly quoted, summarized, or paraphrased.
3) Organization: You have written your draft with basic paragraph organization and have divided the paper into an Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. The Introduction should exhibit the use of standard introductory techniques to get and hold the readers' attention. The conclusion should exhibit unifying techniques. Remember, these research papers are meant for the general reader; this is not a subject area course. The writer has the responsibility to make the research paper interesting to the reader. In order for this paper to be interesting to the reader, it MUST be a personal search. So-called objective research papers and papers that attempt to prove what the writer already knows are NOT acceptable. Repeat: Not. There should be an ongoing narrative throughout your paper, not just in the introduction, that demonstrates that this is your paper, that it means something to you, that the topic is important. Without that, the paper is not acceptable. Repeat: Not. For a more complete explanation of what is an acceptable research paper, click HERE.
4) Writing Competency: Since everything you write is judged on basic writing competency, the rough draft must also 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 draft, it is expected that the paper is not completely error free. But this paper must contain all four of the standard ways to quote from your sources. If it contains only summaries of your research, the paper will receive a failing grade. Look at the article called "Writing About Literature" to review these four ways.
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. Under no circumstances will a research paper be accepted if the student has not given sufficient evidence that this paper has been written by the student. Evidence means that the topic has been discussed in the Library Log and that the rough draft is sufficiently "rough" to exhibit the writing process that the student is going through. In other words, a paper that is essentially finished is not a rough draft. Your library log must give evidence that you are writing the rough draft. Think of your library log as a rough rough draft. And, finally, a paper that is argumentative is not a research paper. An argumentative paper assumes that the writer knows the answers. A research paper assumes that the writer does not know the answers but is searching for the answers. A research paper demands that the writer know the questions that will lead to answers.
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