Directions for Completing the Research PaperThe final draft of y.docx
- 1. Directions for Completing the Research Paper The final draft of your research paper must follow MLA style. Refer to the Documentationchapter in your textbook (Chapter 49) or go to this link to check that you have used the correct format. Don't forget to use the MLA style heading on the first page. You do not need a title page. Click here to watch a presentation that walks you through the steps of adding page numbers, setting up the heading, and formatting the works cited page with a hanging indent. Please review these instructions BEFORE you submit the final draft. This paper must be submitted as a word processing file in Word (.doc) or in Rich Text File (.rtf) format. Submit your paper into the Research Paper Drop Box. If you received comments for improving the formatting or content of your paper on the rough draft, I will expect that those corrections will be made here. The following information will be checked on the final submission, so be sure to check your draft carefully for: · the accuracy of your citations · your grammar and spelling · the organization of your paper Above all, I'll look for you to convince me of the truth of your thesis and to use credible sources to back up every generalization and assertion. Don't forget to add at least one visual, cite it correctly, and provide a caption for it. You may use up to three visuals if you like. I may or may not check your original sources. If I ask for them, you will be expected to provide copies of sources that are not available to me in the library or through the Internet. Plagiarism from sources may result in a grade of F for the course. Misrepresentation of sources will significantly lower your grade.
- 2. Your grade will be posted as soon as I have it ready. It will take a few days, up to a week. The sooner you get it to me, the sooner you get it back. In the last few days of a semester, I am always very rushed. For a complete copy of the grading scale I will use for your research paper, see the online page Research Paper Grading Scale in this topic. Research Paper Grading Scale Your Research Essay will be graded using the following criteria. I. Use of source material (20 points total) A. Choice of sources (10 points) · quality of sources · current sources · balance of viewpoints · variety of types of sources B. Choosing appropriate content from sources (10 points) · adequate amount of research · including credentials to show expertise · smooth integration of quotes and sources into the paper · fair and accurate reporting of source contents · integrating appropriate visuals II. Writing (50 points total) A. Use of thesis (10 points) · placement at end of introduction · defines position on issue · reinforced or extended in conclusion. B. Introduction and Conclusion (10 points) · Introduction leads into thesis smoothly. · Introduction gets reader's attention effectively. · Conclusion reinforces thesis. · Conclusion does not introduce new subtopic. C.Contents (30 points)
- 3. · all parts of thesis supported · all material relevant to thesis · use of appropriate transitions · good logical argument · audience-appropriate choices of language · key terms defined clearly · generalizations supported with research evidence · at least one visual with a caption and citation · logical arrangement of ideas · length (research paper needs to be at least six pages not counting the works cited page) III. Mechanics (10 points) · grammar and usage at college level · spelling correctly · MLA manuscript form followed · all instructions followed · MLA heading used · pages numbered · academic style used consistently · third person point of view, without first or second person pronouns (I, we, you, etc.) · no contractions · no slang or informal expressions III. Documentation (20 points total) A. Citations in text (10 points) · used where needed · correct MLA form B. Works Cited page (10 points) · correct MLA form · content matches the parenthetical citations · at least 7 sources used Possible total 100 Points You may not know exactly what to check for once you have finished your essay. You know you should check for grammar,
- 4. punctuation, and spelling, but beyond those technical details, what else can you do to make your essay better? Writing experts generally agree that details such as grammar and punctuation are important; however, solid organization, fresh writing, and creative content is even more important. Use the questions listed below to help you think about ways you might revise your essay. Also, you may want to watch this YouTube video to understand the difference between revising and editing and to see the revision process in action: Revising College Essays Organization · Is there a clear introduction, body, and conclusion? · Does the introduction provide sufficient background for the reader? Are the "who," "where," "why," "what," and "how" questions addressed? · Is there a thesis sentence? Is the purpose of the essay clear? · Does the essay move from general to specific? · Are there sufficient transitions between related ideas? · How can the overall organization of the essay be improved? Do the ideas flow in a logical order? Consider moving paragraphs around to see if there might be a better order. · Does the writer avoid introducing new material in the conclusion or switching subjects in the middle of a paragraph in the body? · Does every paragraph address the subject matter of the thesis in some way? Content and Style · Does the essay show that the writer has knowledge of the audience and a specific audience in mind? · Is the length appropriate and adequate? · Has the writer used sufficient examples and details to make his or her points clear? · Has the assignment been addressed? · Is the tone of the essay appropriate? · Has the writer avoided insulting the reader? · Is the tone of the essay professional and appropriate?
- 5. · Is the language convincing, clear, and concise? · Has the writer used fresh language and a creative approach? Research and Sources · Are all sources credible? Or, if they are no credible, is there an explanation as to why those sources being used? · Is the research accurate, unbiased, and complete? · Has the writer fully interpreted the findings? · Has the writer commented on each source used? · Is the analysis based on hard evidence? · Is the analysis free of faulty reasoning or logical fallacies? · Is the documentation in the Works Cited page and body of the essay correct? · Have all quotations been checked against the original? · Are all quotations introduced? · Is the flow of the essay seamless? · If material was paraphrased, are the sources still mentioned and cited? · If necessary, are limitations of the argument clearly spelled out? · If included, are recommendations based on accurate interpretations? · Have all facts been checked for accuracy? · Have any potentially libelous statements been eliminated? Once you finish looking over the essay for content and organizational issues, proofread one more time before you post the final draft. Proofreading · Has the writer checked grammar and punctuation? · Has the writer spell checked the essay? · Has the writer checked for his or her particular pattern of error? · Are the page numbers correct? · Is the title capitalized correctly? · Has the writer used the correct margin and font?
- 6. Rough Draft Bullying Bullying is a phenomenon that occurs all over the world today. The chances of one’s child (or even the parent themselves) experiencing various forms of bullying are quite elevated nowadays. As such, wide-ranging data has been collected around the globe to ascertain its prevalence and how profoundly it can affect its victims. The most common forms of child bullying occur in school settings and through the internet (Mishna et al. 368). Hence, it is little surprise that educational institutions and the media often engage in talks regarding acts of bullying. In the contemporary society, various instances of bullying are usually reported with statistics backing such assertions. In the US, one out of every four learners reports experiencing acts of bullying during the school year. Sadly, more than 60% of children who face bullying fail to report it. On a positive note, over half of bullying incidents cease when peers intervene on behalf of the children being bullied. Additionally, school-based bullying prevention strategies have been found to be effective in reducing bullying. Children who face bullying are at a heightened risk of poor school adjustment, depression, sleep difficulty, and anxiety. Additionally, such children are at an elevated risk of academic problems, substance use, as well as being violent later in life (Cornell et al. 138). Other negative impacts of bullying include mental health and behavior problems, and negative health impacts like stomachaches and headaches. Thus, the ensuing discussion seeks to comprehensively explicate the unsavory ramifications of technologies in communication and social networking, in particular, regarding issues in bullying. Discussion Bullying indubitably represents some of the most noteworthy challenges to the society today. In a few words, being on the receiving end of constant bullying is an experience that no one would ever wish to undergo. When the victim is younger, the
- 7. impacts of such unsavory experiences can be exacerbated (Associated Staff para. 1). Sadly, this is what a worrying number of children and teens have to go through with increasing regularity today, and the role of communication and social media technologies in perpetuating such conducts continue to cause heightened exasperation. Some people may take flippantly issues in bullying having not experienced it in their lives. However, for those who have faced bullying, they have an enhanced comprehension of what it means to be bullied, and it is painful, both physically and psychologically, to say the least (Kaplan para. 3). A repertoire of communication and social media technologies are readily available for use by children and teens, for instance, social media websites, cell phones, as well as online gaming today. As such, children and teens in the contemporary society appear to have an ever-surging number of outlets through which they can have interactions with one another (O'Keeffe, Schurgin, and Clarke-Pearson 803). Nevertheless, even though such technologies enhance social interaction, an ugly side of the phenomena continues to manifest in the form of cyber-bullying. On top of the verbal and physical bullying that tend to unfold in academic institutions, cyber-bullying, usually by the way of harassing text messages, as well as disparaging posts on Facebook or Twitter accounts of other children, continues to appear with increasing regularity (Kwan and Skoric 19). While these novel manifestations of bullying may not occur in person, there is no doubt as to their equally destructive emotional and psychological impacts. Based on a growing number of studies, more than ninety percent of US teens go online daily. In essence, social media ranks among the most frequently employed kinds of websites by this particular demographic. While such connections have proven their benefits in more ways than one, for instance, their facilitation of growth and learning, communication and social media technologies are virtually a double-edged sword (O'Keeffe, Schurgin, and Clarke-Pearson 801). Apart from
- 8. sending harassing texts and posting derogatory remarks, bullies can also make use of videos or pictures in making fun of their victims, employ social media for stalking purposes, as well as hack an account or make fraudulent posts as if another individual composed them. A considerable proportion of social media bullying happens on Facebook (Kwan and Skoric 17). This is as a result of an array of factors including the platform’s extensive popularity, as well as its capability to share photos in addition to other media. Indeed, judging by particular reports, ninety percent of teen users of Facebook have affirmed their witnessing of bullying on the site. What is more, other studies have pointed that over fifty percent of teens on Facebook have grappled with issues of bullying (Kwan and Skoric 20). Of even greater shock is the fact that even individuals who ostensibly care about one’s children have the potential to cause them harm via Facebook. Other social media platforms that have been cited to facilitate bullying include Twitter, Ask.FM, and SnapChat. According to various assessments, Twitter is an indisputable hotbed of a plethora of bullying content, with as much as fifteen thousand bullying tweets disseminated on a daily basis. Further, Ask.FM has been blamed for severe issues among teens, which has resulted in bullying conduct that continues to prove challenging to stop. Indeed, the suicide of a young girl (fourteen-year-old) back in 2013 was connected to bullying behavior on ask.fm. Regarding SnapChat, the popular social media platform has had to fend off allegations of perpetuating bullying. SnapChat has also been implicated for its contribution to the suicide of a teenager who was on the receiving end of unremitting bullying. Furthermore, the motivations for cyber-bullying tend to be diverse. Some of the causes of bullying take in the need to be noticed, the craving for authority over one’s peers, the existence of issues at the bully’s home, the perception of bullying as being cool and funny, aggressive personality, and jealousy (Associated Staff para. 2). Other causes may comprise revenge, the unavailability of adult supervision, and the compulsion to
- 9. take one’s emotions on others. Although the causes of cyber- bullying seem to be diverse, the impacts of the trend represent a serious concern for the society. The ramifications of cyber-bulling may not be pronounced compared to physical bullying, in particular, at the start. Nevertheless, if the bullying continues unchecked, the outcomes can be tragic. Teen suicide is among the most severe effects of cyber-bullying. The amplification of bullying on social media, as well as other online platforms and communication technologies, has resulted in a dramatic surge in teen suicide. This takes place since a great majority of teenagers lack the emotional capability to tackle serious bullying (“The Impact of Bullying” para. 4). Even though suicide undoubtedly ranks as the most severe impact of cyber-bullying, the unwanted implications do not end with it. Cyber-bulling has the potential to bring about self-esteem problems, self-harm, depression, as well as feelings of isolation that are bound to have a damaging impact on one’s academic performance, social skills, and an individual’s well-being in general (Cornell et al. 138). Other major long-term impacts of cyber-bullying may include alcohol and substance abuse, as well as psychological post-trauma disorders (Valdebenito, Ttofi, and Eisner 140). The never-ending nature of cyber-bullying has proven to be a major impediment to the complete eradication of such behavior (“The Impact of Bullying” para. 2). In essence, it is a virtual impossibility for children and teenagers to escape such issues given the fact that more than ninety percent of teenagers in the US can easily access cell phones and other vital portable devices. This continuous connection to the globe via electronic media results in the creation of a platform that can be used for constant bullying (Bonanno and Hymel 689). Simply put, children and teenagers do not seem to have a place to which they can go in a bid to evade harassment. However, despite the conspicuous challenges in tackling cyber- bulling, a range of measures has been proposed to aid children and teens under such circumstances. Bullying on various
- 10. communication and social media platforms continue to grow, hence the need to come up with practical measures that can assist children and teens in going about such matters. One of the most helpful measures to adopt relates to having appropriate privacy settings, which bars random individuals from having an access to one’s profile (Perren et al. 283). However, one must have the understanding that a change in privacy settings does not guarantee the avoidance of bullying as numerous children and teens are often bullied by individuals they perceive as friends. On top of privacy settings, children and teens need to unfriend individuals posting derogatory remarks and harassing them, block individuals who unremittingly forward derogatory messages, report bullies to the relevant social media site, and notify adults of what is going on (Perren et al. 283). Other workable strategies that children and teens should adopt in this regard include refraining from acting in response to a bully’s messages and keeping records of the conduct for evidence if needed. Worryingly, some quarters of the population does not hold the view that cyber-bullying has become pervasive in the nation. Such people are of the belief that the talk surrounding issues in cyber-bullying has been blown out of proportion, which consequentially makes the phenomenon to appear as if it is an epidemic. Based on such standpoints, conclusions have been reached that cyber-bullying is not on the rise as is always purported and that the impacts of the trend have equally been exaggerated. Despite such unfounded assertions, the gravity of cyber-bullying is a fact that is no longer in doubt given the rising grim statistics of the impacts and prevalence of the trend. Indeed, the augmentation of the efforts to curb cyber-bullying is a testament to the seriousness with which the issue is taken nationally. Thus, such insensitive statements should be swiftly discounted for failing to acknowledge an issue that is bound to affect many if not addressed effectively. Cyber-bullying is certainly an increasingly novel expression of bullying today. Regardless of its unconventionality when
- 11. compared to other traditional forms of bullying, it has the potential to cause the most severe consequences. Given the fact that children and teenagers find it challenging to steer clear of it, this can compound matters, with grim outcomes with lasting impacts a real possibility. Owing to this, it is of the essence that parents, educators, as well as other adults, seek workable measures of aiding children and teens as regards the most appropriate way of interacting in a friendly way. Of even greater significance, such measures should look to provide counsel on the most effective way of fighting bullies. With proper guidance, every form of cyber-bullying can be lessened and possibly even ended, hence affording children and teens a safer life. Works Cited “The Impact of Bullying”. Victoria State Government Education and Training. 28 November 2013: Web. 4 Nov. 2016. Associated Staff. “Causes and Effects of Bullying”. Stellar Bully Project. 4 February 2011: Web. 4 Nov. 2016. Bonanno, Rina A., and Shelley Hymel. "Cyberbullying and internalizing difficulties: Above and beyond the impact of traditional forms of bullying." Journal of youth and adolescence 42.5 (2013): 685-697. Cornell, Dewey, et al. "Perceived prevalence of teasing and bullying predicts high school dropout rates." Journal of Educational Psychology 105.1 (2013): 138. Kaplan Karen. Victims of bullying live with the consequences for decades, study says. Los Angeles Times. April 18, 2014. Web. 4 Nov 2016. Kwan, Grace Chi En, and Marko M. Skoric. "Facebook bullying: An extension of battles in school." Computers in
- 12. Human Behavior 29.1 (2013): 16-25. Mishna, Faye, et al. "Cyberbullying behaviors among middle and high school students." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 80.3 (2010): 362-374. O'Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson. "The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families." Pediatrics 127.4 (2011): 800-804. Perren, Sonja, et al. "Tackling cyberbullying: Review of empirical evidence regarding successful responses by students, parents, and schools." International Journal of Conflict and Violence 6.2 (2012): 283. Stuart, Jeffrey. Personal Interview. 4/11/2016. Valdebenito, Sara, Maria Ttofi, and Manuel Eisner. "Prevalence rates of drug use among school bullies and victims: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies." Aggression and Violent Behavior 23 (2015): 137-146.