Research Paper Rubric

Criteria:

Points

Relevant Topic

You are responsible for choosing a topic. Look for inspiration in the new, laws which have recently passed, major court cases that have made headlines, current social movements, and topics in the powerpoints and/or text.

For federal govt classes, use this website for inspiration: https://www.isidewith.com/polls.

For Texas govt classes, lookup laws recently passed in our state, state and local politics and politicians, and the history and culture of Texas.

If your paper does not have a relevant topic, 30 points will be removed from your total score

Example:

Relevant

NOT Relevant

A paper on how abortion became legal in the US

A paper on how to perform an abortion

You may write a persuasive (take a side and explain your argument) or an expository essay (not arguing a side but explaining your topic).

Title Page

If your paper has no title page on the 1st page of your document or does not look simliar to the below example, 20 points will be removed from your total score:

Abstract Page

The abstract is no longer than ½ page long and summarizes what your paper will be about.

If your paper has no abstract page on the 2nd page of your document or does not look similar to the below example, 20 points will be removed from your total score:

Essay

Your essay should: begin on the 3rd page; be double spaced; have 1” margins on all sides; and have 10 or 12 point font size. Acceptable font styles are times new roman, calibri, or arial.

Minimum of 5 pages; you will not be penalized for writing more than 5 pages

If you write less than 5 pages:

4 pages 25 points deducted from your total score

3 pages 50 points deducted from your total score

2 pages 75 points deducted from your total score

1 page or less You will receive a 0/200 for the assignment

Reference Page

Minimum of 5 sources; you will not be penalized for having more than 5 sources. You may use books, news articles, academic articles from the library research database, documentaries, interviews, etc. However at least 1 of your sources must be an academic article.

If your reference page has only:

4 sources 20 points deducted from your total score

3 sources 30 points deducted from your total score

2 sources 40 points deducted from your total score

1 or no sources 50 points deducted from your total score

Do NOT use wikipedia as a source. Acceptable websites include those that belong to web addresses ending in .edu, .gov, and some .org.

Your reference page should be labeled ‘References’ and should look similar to this:

APA (American Psychological Association) format

Your paper must be in APA format. Refer to https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html for rules and examples

If your paper:

is a mix of APA and another format 20 points off your total score

is written completely in a format other than APA 40 points off your total score

Spelling and Grammar – increments of 5 points off will be deducted depending on severity of spelling/grammar issues

Organization – increments of 5 points off will be deducted depending on severity of paper organization issues. Subtitle are encouraged but not necessary to receive full points.

Total points earned (0/200 is lowest score possible):

200

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