Research Paper and Works Cited Page Draft Instructions

This writing assignment involves writing the first draft of your Research Paper and Works Cited Page. Once you draft your essay and revise, you may submit it for feedback. The feedback will help you write the final draft; your final draft will be graded.

During Topics 10 and 11 of the course, you will need to revise and edit the final draft of your research paper. Your will learn more about the revision and editing process in Topic 10.

Note: You will not submit the final draft of your research paper until Topic 12. 

Additional helpful resources:

Research Paper Rubric  | Research Paper Sample

For this assignment, you will need to submit:

• The first draft of your research paper, complete with properly-formatted parenthetical citations from at least four credible sources within the text. 
• The Works Cited page, which should be located at the end of your essay. The Works Cited page should be clearly labeled and follow MLA formatting requirements. 

You will need a good, comprehensive thesis statement that states your claim (what will you prove? Keep in mind that the purpose of this assignment is to support a claim, which means you must do more than merely inform the reader. You must take a stance on your topic and make/support claims that go beyond mere facts) and at least three supporting details (how will you prove your point?).

You might use this as a guideline in crafting your thesis:
(Reason 1), (reason 2), and (reason 3) prove that (add your claim).

Example:
(1. Children who play violent video games exert more aggression than their counterparts who are not exposed to these games) because (2. children often imitate their experiences as a natural learning process) and (3. the violence they see in video games desensitizes them to violence in the real world); however, (your claim: increasing the ages allowed to play certain violent games may prove to decrease childhood aggression).

The guidelines and requirements for this assignment are as follows:

Remember to apply the concepts you’re learning in the course, including elements of grammar, punctuation, thesis development, and other skills. 

Length: This assignment should be a minimum of 800 words. However, you should aim for a minimum of 1,250 words. All length guidelines are excluding the Works Cited page.

Header: Include a header in the upper left-hand corner of your writing assignment with the following information:

• Your first and last name
• Course Title (Composition I)
• Assignment name (Research Paper)
• Current Date

Format:

• At least four credible sources used and documented in MLA style
• Double-spacing throughout
• Standard font (Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri)
• Title, centered after heading
• 1” margins on all sides
• Save the file using one of the following extensions: .docx, .doc, .rtf, or .txt

Underline your thesis statement in the introductory paragraph.