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UNIT IV: PAPER GUIDELINES

Many CSU courses will require a paper or project. The requirements of the assignment will be specified within the course. CSU has developed two documents that students should read thoroughly before beginning their first paper/project.  Many adult students fear writing their first paper. However, once the first paper is completed successfully and the student has learned how to properly format the paper to meet APA requirements and how a research paper should be written, writing becomes very easy to most students. CSU provides all the necessary information for you to be successful at writing if you will take adequate time to read and understand the resources provided.

A description of the Writing Guide for Papers and the APA Guidelines Summary documents is provided below.  Both of these documents are available on the CSU website located at www.columbiasouthern.edu. At the site, select Student Center and then Student Resources.

Writing Guide for Papers

This guide has been prepared to help you in the writing of research papers. It provides a simple step-by-step approach that takes you through each phase of the research paper process. This guide should be read through completely and understood prior to starting your first research assignment.  It should then be used as a reference as you complete each step of the research writing process. It also provides detailed information on the APA format that you are to utilize for all CSU writing assignments. This guide makes comprehensive use of the Owl Online Writing Lab that has been made available online to the public by Purdue University. 

APA Guidelines Summary

CSU requires APA formatting for all paper assignments. This document provides a basic overview of what components must be comprise your paper, how to avoid plagiarism, and a review of the main APA requirements that must be included in your paper. Please make certain your paper complies with the requirements outlined in this document before submitting it for grading.

FINDING SOURCES FOR YOUR PAPER

One of the first places a student should begin searching for articles to be used as sources is a Research Database, which normally requires a subscription service to be used. All CSU degree program students have access to such a database via the CSU Online Library. This database allows you to search through thousands of magazines, journals, and trade publications. The majority of the articles found in the database are not available freely on the web.

To access the database, login to the online library, select “Articles” and then select the database link provided. Before submitting your search criteria, be sure to check the box titled “Full Text” so that only complete articles are presented on your results page.

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas and representing them as your own without giving due credit to your source of information.  This includes copying word-for-word from a book, magazine, newspaper, website, or any other source without giving credit to that source. 

If you incorporate another author’s writings into your paper, you must put this text in quotation marks, if directly quoted, and cite your source(s). Provide citations when using the ideas of other authors, even if those ideas are paraphrased or summarized in your own words.

Intentional plagiarism is deliberate cheating and includes, but is not limited to:

Unintentional plagiarism can occur when a writer commits the following acts:

Remember, whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism remains a very serious academic offense.

Why should you be concerned about plagiarism?

Perhaps Toby Fulwiler and Alan R. Hayakawa in The College Writer’s Reference, 3/e, say it best:

In many countries, it is customary to use another writer’s words in your writing.  This is done to demonstrate knowledge; to honor intellectuals, writers or philosophers; or to rely on the words of an authority to add credibility to your writing.  Although there is nothing wrong with this practice, if you are not extremely careful about diligently acknowledging each time you use the words, thoughts, or teachings of someone else, you [could] be accused of plagiarism.  It is not enough to rearrange the words or to replace them with synonyms; even if you completely rewrite the words of the original, you are still borrowing the ideas of another person.  U.S. schools treat the idea of plagiarism very seriously, and you could find yourself in serious trouble if ever accused of plagiarizing. (2002, p. 112)

While other cultures may not insist so heavily on documenting sources, American institutions mandate academic honesty as a standard.  CSU is an international university in scope, but remains an American institution subject to the laws of the United States.  In the USA, plagiarism is not only an academic offense but may also reach legal circles.  For instance, any work created in the USA after 1 March 1989 is automatically protected by copyright, even if there is no copyright notice attached to the work. This means that a plagiarist could be sued for copyright infringement, even if the infringement is unintentional.  Worse still, a plagiarist who knows he or she is not the true author of a work but who willfully and deliberately puts his or her name on the work (thereby concealing the true author’s name), potentially commits the crime of fraud.

In addition to the legal issues surrounding plagiarism, the practice is unprofessional, unethical, and dishonest.  Plagiarism misrepresents the work of another as your own, thus cheating your source of due recognition and your professor of due respect. Copying papers or even parts of papers without acknowledging your sources denies proper credit. Students enrolled in college courses learn and grow as a professional and as an individual.  When students elect to plagiarize, they never fully engage themselves in the academic world of research and learning, never learn to creatively express thoughts and ideas, and create materials which when assessed by professors, never earn the proper feedback. Students compromise themselves of growth and never benefit from a professors’ response to the independent needs and skills of students.

How do you avoid plagiarism?

Generally, writing a research paper is none other than writing an informed opinion paper. When writing research papers, students draw upon others’ words and ideas to support their own words and ideas.  Scholarship entails researching, understanding, and building upon the work of others, but scholarship also requires that proper credit be given for any “borrowed” materials, i.e. for any words or ideas used that are not the student’s own.

Remember, using words, ideas, or any work by someone else without giving proper credit is considered plagiarism.  Any time you use information from a source, you must cite it.

The term “source” includes published works (books, magazines, newspapers, websites, plays, movies, photos, paintings, and textbooks) and unpublished sources (class lectures or notes, handouts, speeches, interviews, other students’ papers, or material from a research service).

Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism

Fulwiler and Hayakawa in The College Writer’s Reference, 3/e, provide the following helpful tips for avoiding plagiarism:

Place all quoted passages, even a single brief phrase, in quotation marks, and always provide source information.

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SUBMITTING THE PAPER

If the course requires a paper proposal or outline, you must submit this to your professor for approval prior to starting the paper.

The paper/project will need to be in MS Word or Rich Text File (RTF).  You should submit the assignment online at the Student Access site.  You are encouraged to upload your assignments at this site for faster processing.  Your assignment is sent directly to the professor for grading, and your student record is updated to reflect that you have submitted the assignment. Do not e-mail the assignment directly to your professor or to Student Services.

CSU PROCEDURES FOR GRADING AND PROCESSING PAPERS

The first step a Professor takes when a paper is received is to check the paper using a plagiarism prevention site called Turnitin.com.  The site uses a comprehensive database system, which compares a student’s paper to all papers previously submitted. In addition, the Turnitin database stores information of papers and text found on the Internet. Therefore, Turnitin provides the professor with a report that reveals what text has been copied from other sources and if the paper is an original work or not.  By using this tool, CSU protects the integrity of its programs and the hard work students put into earning their degree.

Once a paper passes the Turninin.com scan, the professor grades the paper as per the grading rubric. Click the link below to view the CSU Grading Rubric for Papers.  Be certain to read the rubric completely.

CSU Paper Grading Rubric
http://www.columbiasouthern.edu/downloads/gradingrubric.htm

Some items that can often cause point deductions in regards to APA formatting and Use of References are as follows. Make certain not to make these mistakes.

  1. Lack of valid in-text citations.
  2. Reference List that does not meet APA requirements. All sources identified through in-text citation must also appear on the reference list.
  3. Lack of a valid title page
  4. Not using appropriate font size , margins, and double spacing
  5. Proper use of headings as required by APA
  6. Lack of page header with page number

In addition, points are often deducted for the following type items:

  1. Quality of writing
  2. Bad Grammar, spelling, and punctuation
  3. Lack of Originality. Points will be deducted based on the percentage of the paper that is comprised of non-original work. For example, if 20% of the paper consists of paragraphs that have been simply copied and pasted into the paper, 20 points will be deducted.
  4. Lack of Introduction.
  5. Lack of Conclusion

HELPFUL APA WEBSITES

The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing: http://www.nutsandboltsguide.com/apa.html
(Excellent APA site that includes detailed examples. If you are writing your first paper and need examples on how to properly format in-text citations, the reference list, and other APA formatting items, this site should be your main resource.)

A Sample Paper and Guidelines: http://valencia.cc.fl.us/lrcwest/apapaper.html

Comprehensive Writing Site by Purdue University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html#other

How document and site sources (including online sources): http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html


COMMON MISTAKES IN WRITING

For your benefit, below is listed some common mistakes seen by students who do not take the time to study the Writing Guide and the APA Requirements Summary.

  1. Unintentional Plagiarism: Student incorporates the appropriate number of sources into the paper. The paper has a logical flow and the student transitions well from one paragraph to another. The paper is the student’s own work and does not contain several or more paragraphs of text copied from other sources. However, the student fails to cite many of the sources in the paper.
  2. Copy and Paste Paper with Proper Citations: The paper does contain in-text citations and is mostly APA formatted. However, the student has simply taken blocks of text from different sources and pasted them into the paper. The paper reflects very little of the student’s own work.
  3. Copy and Paste Paper without Proper Citations: The paper is comprised of blocks of text copied and pasted from a few sources. The student has not cited the sources within the paper or in the Reference List. The paper reflects very little of the student’s own work and is plagiarized.
  4. Not Properly Incorporating Sources: The above examples reflect a common mistake of students not properly writing the paper or incorporating sources. The paper must have a flow and sources are to be used to back up the point the writer is making. For example, when quoting or paraphrasing a source, the writer should lead into the quoted information as follows: According to John Smith (2004), “Plagiarism results in the dismissal of students each year” (p. 24). The writer may then wish to paraphrase information form another sources to continue the point that plagiarism is a serious problem. For example, the writer could continue with the following sentence: In 2003, professors caught on average ten instances of plagiarism by students each semester compared to fifteen instances in 2004 (Sample Author, 2003). Normally the writer would continue with his or her original writing to continue the point or reflect on the information from the two sources. A sample reflective statement could be as follows: This information suggests that plagiarism is a serious and growing problem at most institutions.
  5. In Text Citations: Students often do not properly include in-text citations in their work as required. It is not enough to list a course on the Reference List. In the paper body, the sources must be identified when used with a citation that normally includes the author, year, and page reference. A complete bibliographic citation has two parts: (1) the in-text citation in the body of the paper, and (2) the bibliographic reference in the reference list. An example of each is listed below.

    6. Part 1: In Text Citation

    According to Robert Prentice, Cruver, a former Enron employee, described Enron as an organization where money was the only yardstick and ethics had little place in anyone’s decisional calculus (2003, p. 6).

    Part 2: Reference List

    Prentice, R. (2003). Enron: A Brief Behavioral Autopsy. American Business Law Journal, 40 (2), 417-444. Retrieved November 1, 2004, from Academic Search Elite Database.

    For more information and examples of how to properly format citations and references, review the following webpage: www.nutsandboltsguide.com/apa.html.

  6. Reference List Not Properly Formatted: Be certain to properly list each source in the reference list. This does not mean provide a list of web addresses or magazine titles. APA style has specific guidelines to referencing sources. The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing site link provided above provides excellent examples of how to properly list references.
  7. Writing an Analytical or Argumentative Paper: The two basic types of research papers are Analytical and Argumentative. Students often write a paper that makes no analysis or argument. The following site compares the two types of papers and gives information needed to determine which paper type will be written. It is imperative that students understand these differences so that they know the paths to take in research and writing of the paper. Pay special attention how a research question is used in analytical papers and a thesis statement is used in argumentative papers.
    http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/types.html

SAMPLE PAPERS

Taking the time to carefully read and review sample APA papers will greatly assist you in grasping APA formatting along with the proper writing style of a research paper. Links are provided below to several sample papers.

http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/social_sciences/pdf/Hacker-Shaw-APA.pdf

http://valencia.cc.fl.us/lrcwest/apapaper.html

http://www.thewritesource.com/apa/aparesearch.htm