A requirement for ENG101 by both the college and the state is that students write a formal research paper.

All ENG101 students will write a formal research paper that is at least 6 full pages not including the Works Cited page. This research paper will use the MLA Style for both formatting and documentation.

Due Date: This assignment is due by 11:59 pm Sunday, February 27. Please upload your assignment as a Word file. If you miss the deadline for this assignment, you may submit it late. You will need to email the assignment to the instructor as the submission function for this assignment will be disabled once the due date has passed. Please note that written work submitted late will incur a 10% penalty for each week the assignment is late. For example, if you submit this assignment in Week 8, there will be a 10% late penalty. Please note that all assignments must be submitted by the last day of class. No late work will be accepted after December 19

Sample Research Paper: 

Here are the details:

1. The research paper will need to be at least 6 pages long, not including the Works Cited page at the end. If you desire to go over the 6 pages, please ask your instructor. Instructors will vary in how much over the page limit students may go.
2. The paper will have MLA Style for documentation of sources and formatting. Please refer to the resources located in this unit for assistance. Also, please do not hesitate to contact me individually by email with any questions you might have.
3. Your instructor will provide guidance on the topic of this essay. Some instructors will allow great freedom in choosing topics, while others will limit topics or have a selection of topics to choose from. This freedom on topics will vary depending upon the instructor, so please ask your instructor if he or she does not make this clear.
4. The paper will need to have a thesis to keep the paper focused and organized. Unit 3 explains how to develop the thesis and use it for an organization.
5. Include a visual aid such as a picture, graphic, table, chart, etc. in the research paper and give credit to the source of this visual aid. In the six pages this assignment requires, the graphic should take up no more than one-half of one of those pages. (That really means 5.5 pages of writing with .5 of a page allowed for the visual aid). This visual aid requirement is to be in compliance with state guidelines for the class. 
6. The paper needs to have at least 4 outside sources. At least half of the sources you use need to be non-internet. By non-internet, this means general web pages found through a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. It is acceptable to use library sources that are accessed online, such as the college’s system of OhioLINK and the EGCC Gateway. Please refer to the links below for assistance in accessing these library sources.

7.  The paper uses a formal, academic tone of voice.
8.  The paper is an original creation for this course session and not a reworking of any previous essay submission from any prior course experience.
9.  The paper also includes a large amount of the students own ideas and words and is not merely a linking of a series of quotes or paraphrases.