The research paper topic will be selected by the student with approval of the instructor via the proposal which was due in week 3. That is you had a virtually unlimited choice here. That is why the proposal was so critical so you would narrow your topic to something that can be handled reasonably well in an 11 week term. If you did not have a proposal, the topic for the paper has to relate to some issue related to security assessment, policy, or risk assessment, and your introduction, regardless if you had a proposal or not, must clearly lay out what the focus of the paper and what the paper accomplished. Ideally, you will have one or more introductory paragraphs, one or two laying our the key points of the paper, and finally a paragraph laying out what the paper accomplished and transitioning to the body. This is why the introduction is usually the last thing revised.
For this class you will need to identify you issue or problem and offer both lessons from the arguments you make and solutions or recommendations to resolve the issue or problem. That is I don’t want just a lot of background or information, but a clear problem statement and a clear solution or recommendation or recommendations at the end, fully supported by what you present in the body.
There is no length minimum or maximum. This is a 300 level course and a paper commensurate with 300 level work is expected. The paper length is determined by the parameters the student sets in his or her introduction and the amount of writing necessary to fully develop the topic, and the conclusion once reaches. A paper is never, in the real world, determined by some number someone pulls from the air. All sources of information must be documented and selected bibliography of all sources used or referenced expected. Strayer requires APA format. In short, a paper is as long or as short as it needs to be, no more, no less.
I do not expect nor want an abstract, but I do ask for a bibliography in addition to your reference page. One secret to successful academic and professional writing is keeping a working bibliography, and annotated bibliography/note file going from the start. Every time you visit a website, data base, refer to a book or other resource, you put that item – assuming relevance to the topic — properly cited in your working bibliography. For those sources that are dealing with the specific questions or arguments you need for each of your outline points, you note any ideas, data, corroboration, examples, or direct quotes, properly cited you put in your working note file.
Then at the end, when you begin writing everything you need initially is already done, and in place. So, as you write you may find you need a quote or something from a source you look at early, while you were still formulating your ideas, you can go to your working bibliography, and find that source easily. And there is a very good chance that if you are taking good notes, and corroborating ideas, you will not be using material in your note files, but the citation would be in your bibliography.
A reference page is only that material you are citing in the paper. A bibliography will show me the extent of your research, that information was corroborated, and the material you had made your choices for in the body of the paper. The bibliography includes the material from the reference page.
Grading for the paper and essay assignments will be based on answer quality, logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.
Paper/Essay Rubric
Criteria | Unacceptable | Minimum Passing | Fair | Proficient | Exemplary |
Has a strong introduction with a solid introductory paragraph or paragraphs, lays out the key issues, what the paper accomplishes and transitions to the body.
Have well developed and supported conclusion with lessons and takeaway
Weight 50 percent | Did not have an introduction or conclusion, or no discernible introduction and provided only a summary for a conclusion. | Did not have either an introduction or conclusion; or, one of both were insufficiently developed for what was presented in the body. | Had only a partial introduction and/or incomplete conclusion based on the material i body. | Satisfactory developed both an introduction and conclusion but may be missing one or two elements. | Has a strong introduction with a solid introductory paragraph or paragraphs, lays out the key issues, what the paper accomplishes and transitions to the body.
The conclusion has well developed lessons and takeaway based on what was presented in the body and introduced in the introduction. |
Develop in the body of the paper the key elements that have to be discussed or argued to reach the conclusion – lessons and takeaway
Weight: 35 percent | Did not submit work.
Work has more than 60 percent of the material cut and pasted, or poorly paraphrased from single sources of data – patchwork plagiarism.
Extremely poor organization, little concept development, mostly asserted history or data not relevant to the conclusion.
No conclusion or a conclusion that has no support in the body, and/or introduces new material, not developed in the body, to draw new lessons or takeaway. | Insufficiently development of ideas. Paper is mostly facts asserted with little support, documentation is poor or nonexistent.
Poor source selection and ineffective usage of source material, and/or poor paraphrasing and/or inappropriate cut and pasting of material.
No or weak conclusion, and/or introduces new material, not developed in the body, to draw new lessons or takeaway. | Paper has satisfactory organization. Ideas are mostly asserted, not developed. There is some improper multiple idea paragraphs, single use of sources with little or no corroboration.
Adequate source selection, no or ineffective use of source material, material accepted prima facie.
Conclusion is weak, or only partially related to arguments in the body, and/or introduces new material, not developed in the body, to draw new lessons or takeaway. | Paper has good organization and presents has good development, but some ideas unevenly developed.
Sources are mostly appropriate, effective, and there is some attempt at corroboration.
Arguments are mostly related to course content appropriate to reach intended conclusion. | Paper is well organized, and present well developed argument to support the conclusion.
All sources are appropriate, used effectively, and all data is corroborated
Has one idea paragraphs that relate to the course content appropriate to reach the intended conclusion. |
References Weight: 5 percent | No references provided | Inadequate and/ or poor source material to support the topic.
| Sufficient source material to make the arguments but with no corroboration, and some poor source selection, to include using secondary sources when primary sources were available. | Has sufficient corroboration of material, generally good source selection to include primary sources when available. | Fully corroborates all data, seeks out best sources for quoting, data, examples and citing. Always as primary sources when available, and effectively uses secondary sources as appropriate. |
Clarity, writing mechanics, and formatting requirements Weight: 10 percent | No evidence of any proofreading, paper has major errors throughout the paper. | Lots of minor and major errors, poor proofreading | Several minor and major errors, poor proofreading | A few minor errors due to poor proofreading | A couple of minor errors, but otherwise good proofreading |