If a single student writes the paper, it must be a full 8 pages long, not
including the abstract (if one is included),
list of references and the title page; shorter papers will receive a
reduced grade, and I will not read more than 8 pages, meaning that students
must be precise and concise. Students must also number the pages in the paper
beginning with the first page of actual text, not with the title page or
abstract.
Given the breadth and depth of the paper topics, I am encouraging students to write team written papers of two and three students. If two students co-write a paper, it must be 11 pages long, and if three co-write one, it must be 14 pages long.
The paper must be double spaced, be written with a 12-point font, contain clear
headings to show the logical divisions of the paper, and contain one-inch margins
on all sides of the pages. Make sure that the pages are sequentially numbered;
do not number the title page.
Most important, all citations must adhere to APA format; if you list a source with a URL, and I cannot find it on the internet, the paper will receive a reduced grade. All quotes must have page numbers, if a page number is not available, use (n.p.) after the quote.
Because this course is online, students will be allowed to use some online
sources in writing their papers. However, students are expected to
predominantly use sources that contain real research findings to support
positions; mere opinion is not valid, and papers that rely on opinion will
receive a very low grade.
Here is an example of opinion as opposed to the use of actual evidence. On one web page (which is not longer accessible), the organization, English First, made the claim that LEP students who attended bilingual programs had a higher dropout rate than those who did not attend bilingual programs. However, English First did not supply any evidence for this claim, and if you emailed them asking for the sources, the organization could not supply them. In other words, the claim was entirely unverifiable and consequently could not be used to support the position that bilingual education should be eliminated.
In contrast, an actual study exists that examines the dropout rates of LEP students in bilingual programs and immersion programs. This study, therefore, contains actual research results reported first-hand by the investigators themselves. The study was also published in a scholarly and refereed journal, making it an acceptable source to support a position. This study and others are available to you as discussed below.
Another claim used by supporters of Proposition 227 is that bilingual education programs are really monolingual Spanish language programs. Again, this claim is not supported by any research evidence.
To write an effective research paper, students must use real research evidence to support their positions. Some additional readings containing research evidence are available to all students. They are on electronic reserve at the CSUB library. Though students may use other sources, they must incorporate at least two articles from the Additional Readings into their term paper. By doing so, students are sure that they have used some actual research evidence. I will also provide a list of recent studies who wish to write on either of the two recommended topics discussed in Paper Topics.
All papers must contain no fewer than eight valid sources, some of which must be the reading materials assigned to the class. Remember that you must write a paper based on actual research evidence. Students who quote information from unreliable sources will receive a reduced grade as will students who merely write political propaganda.
Students will submit their papers using the Safe Assign feature in Canvas. I
will explain the procedure later in the quarter. Students must submit their
papers no later than midnight on the due date. I will not read any late papers
and assign them a score no higher than a 60. For a late paper to receive a 60,
it must adhere to all of the instructions above.
I recommend that students take their papers to the Writing Center on the main campus to have their papers critiqued, especially for APA format.