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EXPECTATIONS
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LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD
Students ask (when a ten-page paper is assigned), “Does it have to be exactly ten pages. What if I’m through with the ideas, and it’s only eight and a half.” I say, ”Yes, it does have to be a full ten pages. If you were writing an independent paper for me, it’s more flexible. But when a whole class is doing the same assignment, everyone has to go by shared standards (length, format, etc.)—simply to be fair.” As teachers, we have to decide where to draw the lines—what is “equal” for everyone. Every term, some new angle seems to surface. Here’s my current take on “the rules.”
Read the details carefully. Following these “rules” is part of the grade. BODY: A full ten pages of TEXT (not 9 ¼ or 9 ½, but 10) is minimum. Typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins all around, in standard 12-pitch font (no wide margins or oversized type). Print page numbers on all but page one. In addition to the ten text pages are a separate Title Page on the cover, plus separate pages for any illustrations (which are optional). Also separate are pages for Footnotes and Bibliography. “FOOTNOTES”: Put all notes together at the end of the paper as Endnotes—not footnotes at the bottom of the page, or ”in context” notes in parentheses within a sentence. The note number is all that appears in the body of the paper, and these should be “Arabic” not “Roman” numerals. Both End Notes and Arabic Numbers can be set in the dialog boxes for footnotes/options in MS Word. BIBLIOGRAPHY: This must include only sources you actually consult and refer to in the paper. (Sources that you found but did not use may be included in a separate list called “Other Sources”—this is optional). Do not list our textbook. Unlike the early versions of the bibliography, here you must give full publication information for every source—follow the MLA format for both notes & bibliography, available in the Writing Center. Required categories from the Preliminary Bibliography: We started with “Five Sources” there. This does not mean just five footnotes. You cannot quote one lone sentence and call it a source. Your “required” sources need to fit one of two patterns: 1. a single source that’s deep enough that you refer to various sections of that source several times in footnotes, or, 2. you draw on a number of smaller sources within a category. I’ll leave the number of sources per category flexible. The rule is: Fifteen footnotes minimum, drawn from among all five categories.
The end product is “polished text,” writing that has been carefully groomed, with a professional look and read. Budget time for this. Make one final check for grammar, punctuation, proofreading. Spell check, then you check. Careless errors will hurt your grade.
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