AP World History



AP World History Research Paper Guidelines Introduction In the pursuit to understand the past, historians search through pages of primary and secondary sources for answers to numerous historical questions. The information gathered from these sources is then used to support an argument that informs our understanding of human nature and contemporary affairs. In this assignment, you will become an amateur historian as you set out to explain a portion of world/ global history. This assignment is a controlled research paper in that you are required to use certain sources. These requirements are designed to help you focus on your topic, train yourself to do proper research, develop an historical argument, support your argument and prepare a writing style befitting the AP exam.Instructions1) Your research paper will be six pages in length. A longer essay will only hamper your practice at writing a clear concise essay for the AP exam. The bibliography page is not considered part of the text. Any illustrations, chart, or pictures you choose to include are to be placed in an appendix and also are not considered part of the text. If an appendix is used, it should be placed after the body of the paper and before the bibliography. 2) You will be assigned a peer review date in which your rough draft will be critiqued by a fellow student in class as well as myself. Participation with your rough draft will be considered in your grade.3) Your paper must follow an academic standard. All papers will be typed on standard white paper. Margins are one inch on all sides of the paper with page numbers & your last name in the upper right hand corner of the paper. Use black ink; double spaced, 12 pt. font, and Times Roman type. Your paper will NOT have a title page. I will go over the correct heading for your first page in class. Staple the paper with one staple in the upper left corner. Do not use a binder or report cover. No hole punching in the margins.4) Citation in research is extremely important. You must give credit to other historians when you use their ideas. A general rule of thumb is to cite a source for the information you use to help build your argument. Citing a source is not a license to plagiarize! Plagiarizing will be penalized heavily, a zero for the assignment, parent conference, & referral so make sure you have properly cited your paper.5) Most historians prefer footnotes therefore we will use footnotes in our papers. Footnotes are used within a paper when you use quotations, statistics, or a historian’s opinion which is not yours. I will provide some examples for you in class. There will be no endnotes. Do not define terms within footnotes. You will use a specific format for the footnotes. Another question that always arises as to how many citations/footnotes you should have. There is really no right answer for this question. We have another rule of thumb for this problem. In general, five or more citations per page is too many. Writing for several pages without a citation is usually a signal to go back and check your work.6) You are required to use a minimum of three books when completing your paper. Any combination of books is fine as long as you use a minimum of three total. Yes, E-books are fine but cite them accordingly. In addition to books, students will also be required to use a minimum of one primary source in their papers. I will discuss these sources in more detail in class. You will NOT use internet sources for your secondary sources in place of books. Don’t ask. The Internet will be allowed for your primary source, but that it is it. Again the Internet will NOT be allowed to be used for secondary source requirements. In total then the required sources are the following3) Books – Secondary Sources1) Primary Source If these requirements are not met the grade for the paper will drop significantly. You must meet academic requirements.7) You will be assigned a deadline for this paper. Absolutely NO LATE PAPERS. You must provide hardcopy by the deadline and submit it to that will check for plagiarizing. I will give you instructions on how to submit the paper in class. Failure to submit your paper to will result in an automatic drop of 50% of your paper grade. Grading Rubric for Research Paper Introduction10 ptsGrabs the readers attentionB.A.R. System - Background, Argument, & Roadmap *****Thesis statement is clear and well constructedMain Body15 ptsLength requirement metTransitional devices move reader from one idea to anotherMain ideas support thesisSupporting details relevantAccuracy of informationAcademic standards metConclusion – summary of major pointsFootnotes5 ptsCorrect notationIn the order usedBibliography5 ptsCorrect notation – MLA FormatAlphabetical orderSource requirements metFormat5 ptsSpelling, punctuation, grammarHeading Sentence structurePages numbered Research Paper Total40 pts ................
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