ENG 123: Research Paper Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

In this assignment, you will write a research paper. Research writing is commonly required in college courses for well-established reasons. It helps you develop specific skills and abilities that are essential in college, the workplace, and life. Regardless of your major and the career you choose, you will need to be able to demonstrate the critical thinking that research writing requires. Why are critical thinking skills so important? They are what allow us to comprehend difficult concepts and to engage with complex ideas, including ideas with which we may disagree. Writing research papers helps us develop critical thinking skills because we have to use critical thinking throughout each step of the writing process. We use critical thinking when we determine how to find information, when we comprehend information new to us, analyze information, evaluate sources, reach conclusions, make rational decisions, and solve problems. Moreover, we usually engage in research writing with the goal of persuading, and the ability to persuade effectively is also essential in life. Much of what we do in school, the workplace, and even our personal lives depends on the ability to persuade. You will need to know how to write research papers for your college courses, but research writing is not restricted to the academic setting. In both personal and professional contexts the development of your research paper is a concrete demonstration of your mastery of the topic, enhancing your credibility and deepening your own understanding.

 

Your Mission

Select a topic that considers your interest, your career, and/or previous knowledge and experience. You will identify a research question based upon this topic. Your research paper should allow you to explore some aspect of your interest from an objective perspective. Be wary of choosing topics that you know absolutely nothing about. For example, if you choose a topic in the health sciences, you need to be prepared to read health sciences research material, which can be quite intimidating to someone who is not familiar with the language of the discipline.

 

Your Resources

Use your Learning Modules to guide you through the development of your Research Paper Project. Each module is a valuable resource that will walk you through important aspects of your research paper. Review your syllabus and Learning Module titles to identify the purpose of each module in the process. You will explore your topics and post them to the discussion forum at the beginning of Module One so that you are ready to create a working research question by the end of the module. You will submit an annotated bibliography at the end of Module Two. Your completed Outline is due in Module Three. Your first draft is due at the end of Module Five to you instructor. You will engage in a peer review for this draft in Module Six and submit the final draft of your completed Research Paper at the end of Module Seven.

 

Critical Elements

In your Research Paper project:

 

1.       Identify a clear thesis that articulates a logical argument about your chosen topic

2.       Select a coherent research question that purposefully explores an interest, your career, or knowledge

3.       Demonstrate an informed, logical counter-argument with sufficient detail that support the claim

4.       Use supporting sources that are credible and effective in supporting thesis argument demonstrating the quality of your research process

5.       Purposefully integrate sources within one’s own work at appropriate points in structure of argument

6.       Apply clear pattern of organization around the thesis argument

7.       Apply relevant rules of grammar

8.       Apply correct syntax in developing sentence structure

 

Format

6–8 pages, double-spaced (excluding reference page) with standard margins and Times New Roman 12-point font. The paper should adhere to all APA or MLA standards of formatting. The paper should use a minimum of three resources from those qualified in the Annotated Bibliography.

 

Rubric

Critical Elements	Exemplary	Proficient	Needs Improvement	Not Evident	Value
Thesis	Identifies a clear thesis that offers a persuasive argument in direct response to the selected research question   (14-15)	Identifies a clear thesis that offers a persuasive argument that responds to the selected research question   (12-13)	Identifies a clear thesis but does not offer a persuasive argument that responds to the selected research question   (11)	Does not identify a clear thesis that offers a persuasive argument that responds to the selected research question (0-10)	15
Counter-argument	Demonstrates an informed, logical counterargument with sufficient detail that support the claim (14-15)	Demonstrates an informed, logical counterargument with some detail (12-13)	Demonstrates a counterargument but with gaps in detail   (11)	Does not demonstrate an informed counterargument   (0-10)	15
Research Question	Identifies a coherent research question purposefully supported with concrete and relevant examples from one’s own interest, career, and/or knowledge base that inform selection (9-10)	Identifies a coherent research question purposefully supported with relevant examples from one’s own interest, career, and/or knowledge base that inform selection (8)	Identifies a coherent research question supported with examples from one’s own interest, career, and/or knowledge base but it is unclear how examples inform purposeful selection (7)	Does not identify a coherent research question from one’s own area of interest, career, and/or knowledge base     (0-6)	10
Evidence of Quality Research Process	Uses supporting sources that are credible and highly effective in supporting thesis argument (14-15)	Uses supporting sources that are credible and effective in supporting thesis argument (12-13)	Uses supporting sources that are credible but they are not effective in supporting support thesis argument (11)	Does not use required supporting sources that are credible (0-10)	15
Integration of Evidence	Purposefully integrates sources within one’s own work at highly effective points in structure of argument   (14-15)	Purposefully integrates sources within one’s own work at appropriate points in structure of argument   (12-13)	Purposefully integrates sources within one’s own work but need be more effectively placed at appropriate points in structure of argument (11)	Does not purposefully integrate required number of sources at appropriate points in structure of argument   (0-10)	15
Argument Structure	Demonstrates thesis statement’s connection to all supporting points represented by evidence applies effective pattern of organization throughout   (9-10)	Demonstrates thesis statement’s connection to most supporting points represented by evidence applies effective pattern of organization throughout (8)	Demonstrates thesis statement’s connection to most supporting points represented by evidence but applies ineffective pattern of organization throughout   (7)	Does not demonstrate thesis statement’s connection to supporting points       (0-6)	10
Rules of Grammar	Easy to read with highly effective application of relevant rules of grammar throughout   (9-10)	Easy to read with correct application of relevant rules of grammar; errors, if any, are minor (8)	Ease of read is impeded by some incorrect application of relevant rules of grammar; errors are moderate (7)	Difficult to read with incorrect application of relevant rules of grammar; errors are frequent and or/severe (0-6)	10
Syntax	Applies correct syntax in developing sentence structure highly effective to essay throughout (9-10)	Applies correct syntax in developing sentence structure within essay   (8)	Applies correct syntax in developing sentence structure within essay with few errors   (7)	Does not apply correct syntax in developing sentence structure   (0-6)	10
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