Although this is a humanities course, we will adopt a simplified scientific style for the Research Papers.  The principal ingredients of this style (for our purposes) pertain to layout, headings, and how references are cited.  This style excludes the use of footnotes.  On the other hand, references must be annotated.

Essential parts of each paper include: (i) the Title, (ii) Name and Affiliation, (iii) the Introduction, (iv) the body of the paper with appropriate Heading(s), (v) the Conclusions, and (vi) References Cited.  Specific instructions, including how to cite references, what type of references are acceptable, and what to include in the reference annotations, are provided at the link here: Sample PDF.  Key excerpts from this Sample include:

• With regard to preparing a paper of this length, it is worth giving pause to the following statement attributed to the author and humorist Mark Twain: "I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead."
• Think of this section [the Introduction] as being equivalent to a succinct "statement of the problem" aimed at convincing your audience to continue reading.
• This section [the body of the paper] should include... your description of the topic and surrounding issues, any notable problems or challenges involved, and your own critical analysis/assessment of the topic and cited references.
• ...references must be annotated.  (This is a departure from normal scientific style.)  The annotation should briefly state the principal topic/conclusion of the reference and why you believe it represents a credible source of information — regardless of whether you believe its conclusions to be credible.
• We expect you to judiciously use five to ten references, at least half of which are not among those in the Reading list.  No more than one-quarter of your references may be WWW sites or newspaper articles; and these must be carefully justified in your annotations.

Use standard 8.5 inch by 11 inch paper with one-inch margins (top, bottom and sides).  Use a Times New Roman 12-point font throughout.  (The Title and Headings are to be bold.)  The text lines should be double spaced and left-justified or full-justified.  Properly captioned figures and tables are acceptable, although these are excluded from the 6-7 page requirement.

As stated in the Course Assignments, only paper copy will be accepted.  Do not submit electronic versions of your Research Papers.