CRITICAL RESEARCH PAPER GUIDELINES
Three critical research papers are required for this course. Combined they account for 75% of your grade. These papers are thesis driven and require research on your part beyond our course text and classroom work. They are designed to get you to further develop skills in several areas – to do independent research; to enhance your critical thinking skills; to achieve a better knowledge base of Western political thought; to develop strong, evidence based, and coherent arguments in support of your thesis; to more objectively evaluate all sides of a research question, argument, or issue; and to develop writing skills and organization that effectively communicate your thesis and arguments. The paper questions are directly related to the Western tradition of political philosophy.
General Format Information and Advice
Paper length should be 8 to 12 pages double spaced; title page, main body, citations, and worked cited (bibliography). The general structure of the paper should include an introductory paragraph (a descriptive account of the question to be answered; why is it relevant?); a clear thesis statement (your answer to the question; tell the reader what you are going to attempt to prove in this paper in summary form); the main body of the paper consisting of your arguments and evidence; and a conclusion.
You need to do independent research beyond our class book and consult other scholarly books and articles. A minimum of 4 sources (not including our required class text) must be consulted. You will be allowed only one conventional Internet encyclopedia or website source for your paper. A bibliography of Wikipedia sources is not acceptable as serious university level research.
Analyze all sides of the issue, including arguments that contradict your thesis. Your main focus should be on the rationality of ideas, theories, and evidence, not justifying your personal ideology. A creative writing style should be able to capture the reader’s attention in the first paragraph and keep it throughout the paper. Sloppy errors in spelling, grammar, and sentence structure will undermine the credibility of your paper. Proofread your papers. Proper citations and a separate bibliography (works cited page) are required. You are free to choose whatever citation style that suits you. Just be consistent.
Since well researched and well written papers are the key to success in this course (accounting for 75% of the overall grade), I would strongly recommend that you already complete the English component of your General Education/Liberal Arts Objectives (especially Critical Reading and Writing) before taking this class.
Plagiarism (using another person’s ideas, written work, or internet website information, and claiming it as your own by not citing the source) will result in a failing grade. Academic dishonesty is an issue that many students do not take seriously. Please take it seriously.
Cutting and pasting information from internet websites is not serious research and writing. Do your own writing. I am looking for clear, concise arguments linked to the research you have done. Anecdotal storytelling and ideological rhetoric (long rants) weaken your paper. Finally, turn your work in on time. Late papers will not be accepted without prior approval on my part (which requires a serious excuse). If I do grant a late paper extension, it will only be a one-time exemption for the entire semester.
Questions Critical Research Paper
1) Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that human nature was essentially good and that civilization, in particular modern civilization, had a corrupting influence on human behavior. Explain how and why Rousseau believed this. What was his idea of human nature? How and why does modern civilization, in Rousseau’s opinion, turn us into aggressive, self-centered, status seeking, money and consumer oriented people? Do you agree with Rousseau? Finally, do you think it is possible to live a simple, relatively self-sufficient life close to nature?
First talk about his view on humen nature why is it good? Or why is it bad. Secoundly talk about why the society is bad? Agree and disagree on that. Modern society, he lived there. Small commiuty
Plesae right a thesis in the first pahargraph. I need a phargraph of thesis not only one sentence.
