No Paper Should Be Longer Than 4500 Words

UniCERT IV/A

The Academic Paper

[Dr. Evans]

Guidance notes

The main objective of this course is to assist you to produce an academic paper of min. 4000 words (the body of the text – footnotes, contents pages, bibliography, etc - are NOT included in the count).

No paper should be longer than 4500 words.

On the way to the final paper you will also be required to produce other pieces of work. These are all connected with the production process of the academic paper.

The tasks and assignments in order of production are as follows:

• LEP: Doing an initial piece of library exploration: you will be required in the first week to visit the university library and get acquainted with the journals stored there. You will then choose a current journal, choose an article from this journal, and present very briefly in class the results of your library search, the format and contents of the journal of your choice, and the contents and bibliographical details of the article you chose to read. The short summary of this article – in paper form – should not exceed 70 words, excluding the bibliographical details. You will hand this in to me after presenting it in class. The LEP should be a DOC file, and should also be sent to me as attachment.
• Reading original papers (primary literature) as a group. Aim: establish a common basis for discussion of core ideas
• Reading anoriginal articleor articles (primary literature) on the theme of your course which you will choose from a list of readings and which you will find in the Copy-Shop (Baracke) in a folder with my name on it. You will prepare a presentation of the main points of the ideas contained in the article(s) for the benefit of the rest of the group. Effective communication of the content of your reading,putting the text you have read in its historical and thematic context; guidance of a discussion on the theme. Production of a handout for the presentation (min. 1 sheet of A4). Presentation aids to be used as appropriate (PPT, OHP, black/whiteboard).
• Selecting an own topic for a piece of limited research. Work on that topic centred on addressing the question agreed with the lecturer.
• Carrying out a literature search in the library and using scientific journal resources (paper and/or electronic). Producing a specimen of this research in the form of a research protocol (at this stage of your work:minimum2 books/monographic works, 3-5 journal articles, of which at least two must be from the University Library of the OvGU, the others from any other collection of [electronic] journals). This research protocol is the Literature Search Protocol or LSP. At this stage it is, of course, a preliminary review of (possible/probable) source literature. The LSP must be sent to me as an attachment to an email (NOT in the body of the mail). It should also be brought to the individual consultation. The literature you find will be listed with all correct bibliographical details and each source will be accompanied by a brief evaluation of its use, its value and its relevance (or not). Thus, the LSP is a preliminary literature review. For more, see below.

AFTER the LSP has been read and "passed" as adequate:

• Producing acorrect bibliographical record of the literature you have collected up to this point. This will probably mean responding to my corrections of the LSP.
• Note: you will certainly collect literature until shortly before finishing the paper. Lists of reference vary in length and quality from paper to paper. While there is NO fixed minimum, you are expected to make use of a respectable number of sources
• Producing a draft of the introduction to your academic paper (approx. 500 words). The draft can alternatively be part of the body of your paper. This will be sent to me as an attachment to an email, and it will be brought to individual consultation.
• Attending at least one personal tutorial during the writing process
• Producing the final academic paper, accompanied by a “conference paper”, i.e. a 150 word abstract of the final paper,an outline of the paper's content, with a selection of references for further reading.
• Inclusion of copies of all downloaded articles or web materials,where necessary with indication of those sections heavily used (highlighting) and date of accesson a CD.
• All materials – paper, conference handout, reviewarticle, all other materials copied or downloaded stored - on aCD.
• Alternatively in exceptional cases - uploading of all the above to a designated cloud application.
• Note: the AP must be delivered as a hard copy, not bound, but in a plastic cover to protect the paper and out of which the individual sheets can easily be extracted for marking purposes.
• Note: all documents, any text or sample of your work which you send to me must be sent by mail as an attachment. It must also be in WORD or similar file so that editing is as efficient as possible (PDFs are for completed papers after final corrections).
• Note: every file you sent to me must have a clear and systematic name. This name should ideally consist of your name + description of the document or file itself + any indication of version number. E.g. MüllerOleg_AP_Draft_2.docx. NEVERacademicpaper5.docx
• Note: these notes should be noted.