Please have your paper reflect reflect the following formatting guidelines. An example of what one’s paper may look like can be found here.
Length: 10–13 pages, NOT including a title page (if used) and a list of references cited.
Page setup: 1-inch margins (all), header or footer with page number
Font: 10–12pt font size; standard fonts only (i.e., Arial, Times New Roman, Helvetica, or Calibri)
Line spacing: Single-spaced heading (i.e., name, class, assignment) and double-spaced body. Be sure to NOT include extra space before/after paragraphs. Your word-processing program has controls for this feature (wherever it allows you to modify line spacing).
Miscellaneous: Please use bold-face type for any section headers and italics for any subsection headers. No extra spacing for section separation.
The list below provides some useful links for considerations of writing style, as well as style guides for citations and references. Ideally, you should choose the style guide generally accepted within your concentration area. For example, history and anthropology may have some specific, stylistic differences, but both tend to use variations of the Chicago Manual of Style. The main rule is be consistent; choose a style and stick with it.
EOU’s Pierce Library has some excellent resources to help students properly cite sources. Additionally, the EOU Writing Center has some resources for improving your writing, in general, and some specific resources that help students avoid plagiarism.
Strunk, William, and Elwyn Brooks White. The elements of style Penguin, 2007. (1st edition also freely available electronically )——This classic, bestselling style guide is a simple, straightforward reference for effective writing.
American Anthropological Association (AAA) Style Guide——The default style guide for the field of anthropology; used by AAA publications among others. If no rule exists in the AAA Guide, follow the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS).
American Association of Physical Anthropologist (AAPA) Style Guide——If your research topic area is biological anthropology and you do not use AAA style, use the AAPA style. It is also available as a *.pdf.
Society for American Archaeology (SAA) Style Guide——If your research topic area is archaeology, use the SAA style.
American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guide——If your concentration is sociology, you will probably want to use this style.
All cited sources should be included at the end of your paper, beginning on a page titled “References Cited” or “Works Cited.” While it can be counter-productive to require a minimum number of references, it is not unreasonable to expect that for a 10–13-page paper, one could easily need at least 15 references, especially since much of the information reported would not be considered general knowledge. Thus, you must include a minimum of 10 references. Of these, only four can be electronic sources (meaning websites); the remainder must be scholarly books and/or articles from peer-reviewed, scholarly journals. This can include scholarly, peer-reviewed journals that are accessible online (e.g., PLOS ONE) and electronically-available material of print journals. Some acceptable scholarly journals that you will likely use include—but are not limited to— the following: American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Nature, Science, American Anthropologist, Current Anthropology, Journal of Anthropological Sciences, American Antiquity, and American Journal of Sociology.
The main outcome of this assignment is that students will present biographical research on a person who has made a significant contribution to the development of anthropological theory. In writing the paper, then, students should focus on answering questions in from two general perspectives: the person’s biographical information (e.g., aspects of the person’s birth/death, upbringing, educational background, personal relationships, etc.) and theoretical contributions to anthropology (e.g., intellectual influences, main theoretical positions/arguments, specialized research area, criticisms of, legacy in anthropological theory, etc.). You should expect to draw connections between aspects of your individual’s personal life and their intellectual life.
Your paper will be graded using the following rubric. All parts are not weighted equally. For example, content and your understanding of your chosen personality’s work and theoretical positions (including criticisms leveled against those positions) counts more than grammar/style. At the same time, logical organization and good writing style (grammar, spelling, etc.) will affect how you present that content to express your ideas.
| Mastery | Satisfactory | Needs Improvement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margings, fonts, etc. | Paper is appropriate length. Margins and spacing are set correctly. Appropriate pages include page number and header. | Paper does not completely meet meet required length, a small number (few instances) of formatting issues. | Multiple aspects of formatting (e.g., length, spacing, pagination, etc.) do not meet the requirements as specified and are consistently incorrect throughout. |
| Mastery | Satisfactory | Needs Improvement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization | Paper is arranged logically into sections (e.g., Introduction, Biographical Information, Theory and Impact on Anthropology, etc.) addressing certain themes. Thesis clearly outlined in the introduction. A summary/conclusion section restates the thesis and ties salient points from the text together. | Paper is arranged into sections, though sections and themes are not clearly defined. Thesis outlined in the introduction. A summary/conclusion section restates the thesis and ties salient points from the text together. | Paper is disorganized; sections (if used) and themes are not clearly defined. Thesis is not outlined in the introduction. The paper ends abruptly without a summary/conclusion section. |
| Clarity/style | Clear, concise writing with few to no errors in grammar/style and spelling. | Writing is clear, relatively error free, except a few instances of incorrect grammar/style and/or spelling. | Writing consistently exhibits errors in grammar/style and/or spelling, making understanding difficult. |
| Mastery | Satisfactory | Needs Improvement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biographical information | Paper includes a detailed discussion that includes salient biographical information (e.g., birth, death, family life, education, etc.) | Paper includes some biographical information, but not in sufficient detail/background. | Paper includes only minimal biographical information. |
| Theoretical summary/analysis | Persona’s main theoretical contributions are explored in with specific examples. Includes discussion of critiques to persona’s theories and their impact on anthropology. Student demonstrates understanding of persona’s specific theories. | Persona’s main theoretical contributions are explored, though in little detail without specific examples. Little explanation of critiques and persona’s theories and their impact on anthropology. Student demonstrates general understanding of persona’s specific theories. | Persona’s main theoretical contributions not fully explored, or incorrect, without specific examples. Little to no discussion of critiques to persona’s theories and their impact on anthropology. Student demonstrates only minimal understanding of persona’s specific theories. |
Students must submit papers electronically in Canvas using the “Submit Biographical Research Paper” assignment tool available from the Assignments area or the Week 11 Module. Acceptable file formats include MS Word (*.docx, *.doc), LibreOffice (*.odt), Rich Text Format (*.rtf), or a link (URL) to a shared Google Doc. Papers must be submitted no later than Monday, 16 March at 11:59 PM. Papers submitted after the deadline will be penalized a letter grade for each day late, as per the general late-work policy.
Not to beat a dead horse, but Eastern Oregon University places a high value upon the integrity of its student scholars. Plagiarism, even if unintentional, is an actionable offense of the EOU Student Handbook. Again, Pierce Library has some great resources for properly citing your sources. If uncertain, here are some suggested tips to avoid plagiarsim.