Term papers

CIS 101

Summer, 2001

Instructor: Eli Minkoff

I.T.V. from Augusta

Wednesdays, 1:00-3:45pm

TERM PAPERS

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TERM PAPERS
A term paper is required in this course, on any of the topics covered in the course or in our texts.

No minimum or maximum length is required, but the paper should be well researched and should contain references to BOTH printed sources and on-line sources.
Like other assignments, the paper should be posted to your web site. You can post it either as an ASCII (text-only) file (with no HTML tags whatsoever), or as an HTML file. HTML format is recommended, because then you can use italics, boldface, centered headings, different type sizes and fonts, images, and clickable "hot links" to on-line sources.
Please do not use subscripts or superscripts unless you have mathematical equations or chemical formulas. In particular, don't use traditional footnotes (now considered old-fashioned) to cite your sources.
PRINT SOURCES should be cited using the Author-Date method. IN YOUR TEXT, give the name of the author, followed by the date (and a page number if needed). If the author's name flows well in the sentence, just put the date after it: Jones (1985) claims that . . .
Smith (1994, p. 62) says that "we are . . . ." In other cases, put author's name and date in parentheses at the end of the sentence: ...and this process was successful (Brown, 1990).
". . . to the utmost of my ability" (Abercrombie, 1991, p. 64). Notice in these last two cases that the reference in parentheses is part of the sentence, and the period that ends the sentence should therefore come after the reference, not before.
Direct quotations should be set apart from the rest of the text, usually by enclosing them in quotation marks; they should also have a specific page reference. Page references are also desirable for specific facts, especially quantitative results. For example, if you say there are a particular number of companies or people of a certain type, or a particular percentage who are women or who gave a particular response on a survey, you should give reference to a specific page where you got this information.
ON-LINE SOURCES can be cited in various ways. Web addresses may be mentioned in the text, but it is usually preferable to look for some sort of author, which may be a corporation, a society, a government agency, or some other collective body instead of a person. If you can identify an agent who is responsible for the page, please list them as the author and use the Author-Date method as you would for a printed source. Many web pages put a date near the bottom; please look for a date and list it if you can find it. If you cannot find a date, use "no date" (or "n.d.") in place of a date.
Every paper should include a Bibliography (you can call it References or References cited) that lists ALL sources in one alphabetical sequence. Anything that has an identifiable author (which may be a corporation, a society, a government agency, or some other collective body) should be listed under the author; if there is no identifiable author, please list by title. Titles for web pages usually appear in a bar at the very top of the screen.
Bibliographic information should begin with the author, date, and title. (The "author" can sometimes be an organization or corporation responsible for the material.) If you cannot identify an author, begin instead with title and date. If you cannot find a date, say "no date" or "n.d." in place of the date. Other information that you should give includes:
- For books, give place of publication and publisher, e.g. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- For articles, give the name of the journal, followed by volume number and inclusive pages for the entire article, e.g. Journal of X-ology, vol. 6, 451-472.
- For on-line sources, always give the full URL (beginning with http://). You may make this URL into a clickable "hot link" if you wish. Also give the date on which you accessed the information; this date is important because many web sites change their information frequently.
Papers are DUE the last week of classes (the exact date is listed on the Assignments page).
Like other assignments, term papers should be your own work.

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