English & Communications Department — Leitch

ENC 1102 Research Paper Information and Requirements

• Follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) style throughout your paper. There is a sample MLA research paper in The Bedford Researcher. As you have done with previous writing assignment, consult the MLA.org website for MLA documentation and format requirements.

• Your final research paper must be submitted in two ways: 1) via TurnItIn.com and 2) as a printed hard copy. You also will be handing in note cards (> 100), bibliography cards (> 10), and the TurnItIn.com Originality Report as specified below. Your Research Paper cannot be graded unless you include a hard copy of your TurnItIn.com Originality Report that indicates there is no more than 24% borrowed content in your Research Paper.

• A title page is required. Follow the title page format shown in the accompanying attachment. MLA requires your research paper use a 12 point Times New Roman font throughout. Use black ink on white paper.

• The text of your finished research paper should be 2500-3000 words in length.

• Your finished paper must cite at least five different types of sources (e.g., book, magazine, scholarly journal, newspaper). Open sources (such as Wikipedia) may not be used. Information from the databases that the MDC Library provides is greatly preferable to information found on the World Wide Web.

• You may select your topic, but it must not be biographical or autobiographical. Remember that your topic should lend itself to research, discussion, development, and exposition and be suitably focused for such a short research paper. It is preferable to go into depth about a well-focused topic than to give a general overview of a broad unfocused topic.

• The final hard copy of your printed research paper should be unbound. Submit your printed paper inside of a 9 x 12 inch (a/k/a No. 90) brown or manila metal clasp envelope on or before the scheduled due date. Enclose a hard copy of the TurnItIn.com Originality Report. The note cards (> 100) and bibliography cards (> 10) generated during the research process also should be enclosed in the envelope. Sequence the note cards in the order they were used in the research paper with unused cards placed at the end of the sequence. Hold the note cards together with a rubber band or similar elastic. Do the same with the bibliography cards in a second stack. Clasp the envelope closed, but do not glue it shut. On the outside front of the envelope type or print your name, class name, class reference number, class meeting days, class meeting time, and class room number.