The Impact of Foreign Aid on Developing Countries

Guidelines for Argumentative Research Essay

Topic-  Impact of foreign aid on developing countries long SOME GUIDELINES FOR ARGUMENTATIVE RESEARCH ESSAY General Guideline on What to Do · Students will choose a topic from a “list of possible essay topics” during the first week of the term. Students wishing to choose an alternative topic will obtain approval from the instructor no later than first week of February. Essay topics that have not been approved will not be accepted. · Regardless of topic, students need to include three elements in their essay. The paper will include a clear argument or thesis, a strong analysis supported by evidence, and a forceful conclusion. o Argument: An argument requires two elements: a clear position on the subject matter and supporting evidence (factors) that substantiate the claim. ? First, students will take a position on the subject. For example, if they choose topic #1 they can state something like this “The US led war on Afghanistan failed (or succeeded) in restoring stability in the region.” ? Second, they will list at least three or more factors (i.e. the reasons for failure (or success) in restoring stability in the region) to support their argument. o Explaining factors: In subsequent paragraphs, they will explain these factors and demonstrate how they are related to their main argument. ? If students are working on an idea or a topic and feel that it has both strengths and weaknesses, they will take a position and explain its strengths (or weaknesses) only. While they are explaining their position on an idea, they will acknowledge the opposite viewpoint briefly in a paragraph or so before concluding the paper. o Conclusion: In the concluding section, students will briefly summarize their findings and reinforce their position. At this point, they may include some relevant suggestions or recommendations to make their argument more appealing. References · Students will include at least 10 major academic sources in their paper. These sources will be a combination of scholarly books and journal articles. While plenty of information is available on the web, most of it is not reliable. Students are strongly advised not to use any obscure internet resources. They will use reliable search engines such as ‘google scholar’ and ‘academic search premier’ on the net to find scholarly journal articles and other relevant information on their essay topic. · When students use any reliable website for reference purposes, they will provide a brief citation within the text and include the URL and the date of visit to the website in the reference section. No Wikipedia citations! Citing Sources · Students will include at least 20 citations from the references/sources they have chosen in their paper. · Whenever students use and/or copy the ideas or opinions written/expressed by others, they will use in-text or parenthetical citations. For paraphrased ideas, students will supply the last name of the author and year of publication. For direct quotations, a page number is also required. · Students will not use too many direct quotations. · Failure to follow these steps will result in a failing grade for the essay and will be considered as plagiarism. Consult the reference desk at the library and the writing centre at Capilano University for proper guidelines and valuable assistance in your quest for writing a good term paper. · It is highly recommended that students consult and refer to Guidelines for Academic Essays, available on the library and the department website how should it looks like- • Introduction • States the argument clearly by taking a position on an issue/problem • Lists the explaining factors related to the argument • Body of the paper • Discusses the explaining factors and demonstrates their relevance to the main argument in the subsequent paragraphs • States the counter argument in a paragraph or two before the concluding section • Conclusion • Summarizes the main point of the essay and offers some concluding remarks • Offers some recommendations at this point (optional) • Does not introduce new issues or ideas that are not explained or discussed in the paper • References • Uses the proper and consistent citation throughout the paper (papers without any citations won’t be accepted) • Includes the required number references (in the References or Works Cited section of the paper • Guidelines • Follows all the guidelines provided by the instructor