2. Paper must be between 5-7 pages in length and include a Works Cited page (or pages) listing every source used in the paper. The works cited does not contribute towards the required page minimums. If your paper is not at minimum a full 5 pages long, it cannot earn a passing score. 5 pages is not as bad as it sounds—promise! If you have the average amount of sources (see below), you’ll be surprised by how quickly you arrive at 5 pages—quotes and paraphrases take up quite a bit of space!
3. Sources must be accurately cited both in the paper itself and in the works cited (please consult Purdue University’s Online MLA Guide for instructions and examples regarding accurate citations, both in-text and for the works cited: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html (Links to an external site.))
4. Most final papers between 5-7 pages will utilize 7-9 sources. That is the average. You may have a few more or a few less but try to stay in the 7-9 safety zone.
5. Papers must use appropriate, i.e., credible and/or scholarly sources. Look to Ebscohost, Jstor, etc. for most of your sources (there are links on the BC library webpage, which will take you directly to these online databases. Ideally, your paper should rely primarily on scholarly articles, but you may use 1-2 websites (no more) as sources. You may also use documentaries, newspaper articles (from credible outlets such as The New York Times, LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, etc.). Do not under any circumstances cite from Fox News, Infowars, Wikipedia, or websites ending with .org.
6. You must introduce each source the first time you use it and then cite any paraphrases and direct quotes used in the paper. When in doubt, cite! Reference our MLA Guidelines Power Point (see attachment and ICE Paraphrase Power Point in Files. I’m also posting a sample research paper I did in Grad School–look it over carefully to get an idea of how to integrate sources into the body of your paper, how the works cited should look, and to see how an argumentative paper is constructed).
7. Papers must use college-level vocabulary and be relatively free of typos/misspellings/and grammatical issues. If you are worried, find someone to proofread your paper!!! I cannot proofread student papers.
8. Papers must have an original title and be formatted according to MLA Guidelines. This is imperative to the success of the paper. Papers not formatted according to MLA Guidelines cannot earn passing scores.