Order Description
Mandatory Guidelines:
1) Style: May be written in either first or third person depending on student’s preference, but this must be consistent throughout the paper.
2) Title Page: Must contain a title, professor’s name, date, and course code.
3) Page Numbering: All pages must be numbered EXCEPT the title page – the page with your intro paragraph will be page #1. (in Word, start page numbering at 0 and suppress page numbers on the title page to do this). Numbers may appear anywhere on pages as students desires.
4) Intro Paragraph: Must have an introductory paragraph which contains the following elements, in ANY ORDER that you feel comfortable with:
a. The sell: A sentence or two that convinces the reader that the paper is addressing and important topic (i.e. make the reader care about your paper). Example: “poverty rates, as baker (2011) has shown, are rising dramatically in Canada, it is important, then, to explore the causes of poverty in this country.”
b. Topic Statement: A statement about WHAT your paper will explore: Example: “This paper will explore the causes of poverty in Canada”.
c. Theses Statement: A strong stance that you will be arguing with regards to the topic – often contains the word “THAT.” Example: “I will ague THAT poverty in Canada is caused by a lack of opportunity available to those with lower incomes” (Yes, you will be giving away the ending of your paper here).
d. An Outline: A very brief (one or two sentence) explanation of the form that your argument will take in the paper. Example: “In the first part of the paper, current thinking about [the topic] will be explained; this will be followed by a critical reflection on the issue”.
e. IMPORTANT: Be concise. A good introductory paragraph should be between ½ and ¾ of a double-spaced page and must NEVER exceed one page in length.

5) Body Paragraphs: A paper this size should contain 4-7 body paragraphs that are approximately ½ to ¾ of a page in length. If you are writing a paragraph that exceeds one page, you should break it down into two separate paragraphs.

6) Topic Sentences: Each body paragraph should have a clear topic sentence (usually the first sentence) that relates directly to every other sentence in the paragraph. It is like either a thesis or topic statement for just that paragraph. It may not have to be cited if it is just your indication of the content of the paragraph to follow.

7) APA In-Text Citation: Cite properly, according to APA guidelines ALL INFORMATION YOU WERE NOT BORN KNOWING. You must cite information whether is in your own words, or is a direct quotation. Examples of APA in-text Citation are here: https://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch09_s1-0001.html
Everything must be cited except:
a. Your topic sentence: Since this is just a statement of what you want to explore. You also may not need to cite topic sentences of each paragraph if they are just your indication of the content of the paragraph to follow (you will have to use your common sense to decide when a topic sentence needs a citation and when it doesn’t)..
b. Your thesis sentence: Since this is by definition YOUR FINDING after critically considering all information.
c. Your Conclusion: The conclusion paragraph should be a summary of your entire paper and especially your findings. NO NEW INFORMATION should appear. Therefore there should be no need to cite anything. It is your own very concise summation of the issue.

8) Conclusion: All papers should have a short concluding/summary paragraph in which you (in any order you like):
a. Re-state your thesis
b. Summarize the main arguments
c. This should be little more than a summary of information and findings that you have already presented. Somebody should be able to read it without reading the rest of the paper, and know the main points you made.
d. Keep it very short – including only the most important information.

9) List of References: All papers must contain a proper APA-format list of References. Examples of a proper APA reference list are Here: https://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch09_s1-0002.html

10) RUBRIC – a rubric is provided in the “handouts” section. This must be copied and pasted to the end of the paper. Students that fail to do this will not get a complete set of comments on their paper.

11) Overall Outline: Given the information above, the paper should roughly follow this outline (the number of paragraphs for the body sections are up to the discretion of the student):
a. Title page
b. Introductory paragraph
c. 5-7 body paragraphs (estimate) in which you elaborate your argument
d. Concluding/summary paragraph
e. Proper APA Reference Page.