A Practical Guide to Preparing Your Final Draft Have you included a Title page with your name, course name and number, date, and title of the paper? Have you numbered your pages? Have you carefully proof-read your paper for spelling and punctuation? Have you used your computer’s spell-checker and then checked your paper over yourself for anything the computer might have missed? Are there paragraphs that seem to be too long (say, a page or more), or which seem to deal with two distinctly different ideas? If so, find a way to split such paragraphs into smaller paragraphs. Are there paragraphs which seem to short (say, a sentence or two) for no recognizable purpose? If so, join the short paragraph with another nearby paragraph or move it to another part of the paper. Have you looked at your transitions? Look at the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Do you lead your reader through the paper, preparing him or her for what is to come and making clear connections and distinctions between one paragraph/section and the next? Have you examined your paper for excess repetition? Does any particular word appear too often? If you find that you are using very similar thoughts, ideas, or sentences over and over, can you group them together or add a new spin the second or third time around? Have you varied your sentence length and structure? Do you avoid using the same word to begin several sentences within the same paragraph? Does your conclusion do more than simply repeat the introduction? Have you used material in your conclusion that might work better if it were moved to the introduction? Does your conclusion leave the reader something to think about? Have you provided dates and place names and other details where they would be helpful? Have you given your paper a unique and helpful title? Have you accurately and consistently cited your sources, using the Chicago/Turabian style required in your School? Have you been sure to cite quotes, paraphrased material, and summaries? Have you used a sufficient variety of sources, according to the wishes of your instructor? Have you mixed those sources instead of using just one for several pages at a time? Do you use signal phrases (or “lead-ins”) to prepare your reader for quoted material? Will your reader fully understand why you’re using each particular quote? Have you checked to be sure that your quotations are not unnecessarily long? Can you delete portions of the quote or use ellipses to shorten any overly long quotes and still make the same point? Have you set off (correctly indented) any quotes longer than three full lines? Have you underlined (or italicized) book titles? Have you used quotation marks for article titles? If you have done these things, you are well on your way to a good paper. !!! http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/resources-template.php?id=17 Page 2 Format for Research Papers To recap the Format of the Paper: • Title Page of the Paper. The title of you.

1. A Practical Guide to Preparing Your Final Draft
Have you included a Title page with your name, course name
and number, date, and title of the paper?
Have you numbered your pages?
Have you carefully proof-read your paper for spelling and
punctuation? Have you used your computer’s spell-checker and
then checked your paper over yourself for anything the
computer might have missed?
Are there paragraphs that seem to be too long (say, a page or
more), or which seem to deal with two distinctly different
ideas? If so, find a way to split such paragraphs into smaller
paragraphs.
Are there paragraphs which seem to short (say, a sentence or
two) for no recognizable purpose? If so, join the short
paragraph with another nearby paragraph or move it to another
part of the paper.
Have you looked at your transitions? Look at the first and last
sentence of each paragraph. Do you lead your reader through
the paper, preparing him or her for what is to come and making
clear connections and distinctions between one
paragraph/section and the next?
Have you examined your paper for excess repetition? Does any
particular word appear too often? If you find that you are using
very similar thoughts, ideas, or sentences over and over, can
you group them together or add a new spin the second or third
time around?
Have you varied your sentence length and structure? Do you

2. avoid using the same word to begin several sentences within the
same paragraph?
Does your conclusion do more than simply repeat the
introduction? Have you used material in your conclusion that
might work better if it were moved to the introduction? Does
your conclusion leave the reader something to think about?
Have you provided dates and place names and other details
where they would be helpful? Have you given your paper a
unique and helpful title?
Have you accurately and consistently cited your sources, using
the Chicago/Turabian style required in your School? Have you
been sure to cite quotes, paraphrased material, and summaries?
Have you used a sufficient variety of sources, according to the
wishes of your instructor? Have you mixed those sources
instead of using just one for several pages at a time?
Do you use signal phrases (or “lead-ins”) to prepare your
reader for quoted material? Will your reader fully understand
why you’re using each particular quote?
Have you checked to be sure that your quotations are not
unnecessarily long? Can you delete portions of the quote or use
ellipses to shorten any overly long quotes and still make the
same point?
Have you set off (correctly indented) any quotes longer than
three full lines?
Have you underlined (or italicized) book titles? Have you used
quotation marks for article titles?
If you have done these things, you are well on your way to a

3. good paper. !!!
http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/resources-template.php?id=17
Page 2
Format for Research Papers
To recap the Format of the Paper:
• Title Page of the Paper. The title of your paper should be
brief but should adequately inform the reader of your general
topic and the specific focus of your research. Keywords relating
to parameters, population, and other specifics are useful. The
Title Page must include the title, name, course name and
number, and Professor’s Name.
I. Introduction, Research Question, and Hypothesis: This
section shall provide an overview of the topic that you are
writing about, a concise synopsis of the issues, and why the
topic presents a “puzzle” that prompts your research questions,
which you will include. This section will be 1-3 pages. This
section can be preceded by an epigraph that creates interest in
the topic. Ensure that you follow proper format for epigraphs!!
You did this section in HW1.
II.Review of the Literature: All research projects include a
literature review to set out for the reader what knowledge exists
on the subject under study and helps the researcher develop the
research strategy to use in the study. A good literature review
is a thoughtful study of what has been written, a summary of the
arguments that exist (whether you agree with them or not),
arranged thematically. At the end of the summary, there should
still be gaps in the literature that you intend to fill with your
research. It is written in narrative format and can be from 5-7
pages depending on the scope and length of the paper. You did
this in HW2.
III. Methodology and Research Strategy: This section
provides the reader with a description of how you are planning
to conduct research. It explains what research approach you

4. have chosen, and where you will seek data to test your
hypothesis. It describes any special considerations and defines
any limitations and terms specific to this project, if necessary.
This section can be brief or more complicated, depending on the
project, written in 3 - 5 pages. You considered what approach
and data collection method would be right for your projects in
HW1.
IV. Findings and Analysis: This section provides the results
of your research and the analytical arguments that will make as
a result of your findings. In a quantitative project, this section
would provide the results of the data collection and an analysis
of what it illustrates in empirical terms. This section should
also provide the evidence that proves (or disproves) the
hypothesis. This section could be 3 - 5 pages depending on the
length of the paper and scope of the project. The outline will be
short.
V. Conclusions: This section will contain the concluding
analytical arguments based on what research has revealed to
answer the research question. Like any conclusion, it should
provide a synopsis of the project, the strategy, and the results
and what they add to the body of knowledge. This section
should also offer suggestions for avenues of future research for
other scholars, as all knowledge is evolutionary. This section
can be 3-5 pages depending on the scope of the project. The
outline will be short!!
VI. References (or Bibliography): This section will contain all
references, cited in Turabian format and alphabetically
arranged. Entitle this section as either “References” or
“Bibliography” depending on the type of citation you use in the
rest of the paper. You should have been compiling these and
adding to them as you’ve gone along. They should be error
free!!!
CONDUCT A CHECKLIST OF THE FINAL DRAFT!!

5. I LOOK FORWARD TO READING YOUR PAPERS!!
2
Directions for 500Level Research Paper
At this level, you are learning the core concepts of the
discipline and you will produce a graduate level paper that
presents a research “puzzle” relevant to the subject matter of
this class. The paper will be 10-15 pages in length.
The requirements for this project will mirror the requirements
for all graduate papers. The paper will be typed in 12 pt. Times
New Roman, Calibri, or other standard font, with margins of 1”
all around. It will be double-spaced except where the format
calls for single spacing, for example, block quotations and the
list of complete citations. Citations will conform to the
Turabian format whether you choose to use the
Parenthetical/References style or the more traditional Foot- or
end-notes/Bibliography style. To recap the Format of the Paper:
• Title Page of the Paper. The title of your paper should be
brief but should adequately inform the reader of your general
topic and the specific focus of your research. Keywords relating
to parameters, population, and other specifics are useful.
ALWAYS use a Title Page for graduate work! Your title page
will include the title, name, course name and number, and
Professor’s Name.
I. Introduction, Research Question, and Hypothesis (1-2
pages): This section shall provide an overview of the topic that
you are writing about, a concise synopsis of the issues, and why
the topic presents a “puzzle” that prompts your research
questions, which you will include. This section can be preceded
by an epigraph that creates interest in the topic. We encourage
the use of epigraphs, but please follow the proper format for
epigraphs!!
II.Review of the Literature (3-5 pages): All research projects
include a literature review to set out for the reader what

6. knowledge exists on the subject under study and helps the
researcher develop the research strategy to use in the study. A
good literature review is a thoughtful study of what has been
written, a summary of the arguments that exist (whether you
agree with them or not), and are arranged thematically. The
literature review is not an annotated bibliography and should be
written in coherent narrative style. At the end of the summary,
there should still be gaps in the literature that you intend to fill
with your research.
III. Methodology and Research Strategy (1-2 pages): This
section provides the reader with a description of your strategy
to conduct research for this paper. It identifies your variables
and how you operationalized your research approach. It
describes the data you found and how you analyzed it for your
Analysis and Findings. This section describes any limitations
you discovered about your strategy and how you overcame
them. Given the length of the class, this section usually
identifies the independent and dependent variables and
describes how the researcher plans to analyze them to arrive at
reasonable findings.
IV. Analysis and Findings (3-4 pages): This section provides
the results of your research and the analytical arguments that
the paper makes as a result of an analysis of the variables. In a
quantitative project, this section would provide the results of
the data collection and an analysis of what it illustrates in
empirical terms. However, given the length of the term, most
projects will be qualitative. This section should also provide
the evidence that proves (or disproves) the hypothesis.
V. Conclusions (2 -3 pages): This section will contain the
concluding analytical arguments based on what research has
revealed to answer the research question. Like any conclusion,
it should provide a synopsis of the project, the strategy, and the
results and what they add to the body of knowledge. This
section should also offer suggestions for avenues of future
research for other scholars, as all knowledge is evolutionary.
VI. References (or Bibliography): This section will contain all

7. references, cited in Turabian format, properly indented, and
alphabetically arranged. Entitle this section as either
“References” or “Bibliography” depending on the type of
citation you use in the rest of the paper. You should compile
these and add to them as you’ve gone along. They should be
error free!!!
School of Security and Global Studies
Preparing the next generation of security professionals through
curriculum and teaching excellence.
Assignment Instructions
General Instructions for Assignments and Rubrics
All assignments should be written in Word and uploaded as
attachments within the Assignments section of the classroom.
Use Times 12 pt. font and double-space (Arial 11 is also okay).
Be sure to put your name and class information on the document
and put your name on the file. Insert page numbers.
Assignments will be graded using a rubric appropriate for your
class level.
Graduate Rubric 500-600 Level
Specific Instructions
For this paper you will apply the theories of socialization,
interest convergence, and behavior to analyze a particular case
study.
The requirements for this project will mirror the requirements
for all graduate papers. The paper will be typed in 12 pt. Times
New Roman, Arial 11, or another standard font, with margins of
1” all around. It will be double-spaced except where the format
calls for single spacing, for example, block quotations and the
list of complete citations. Citations will conform to the

8. Chicago/Turabian format and citations should be in-text
parenthetical citations (Author date, page). Here's the Format of
the Paper:
• Title Page of the Paper. The title of your paper should
be brief but should adequately inform the reader of your general
topic and the specific focus of your research. Keywords relating
to parameters, population, and other specifics are
useful. ALWAYS use a Title Page for graduate work! Your title
page will include the title, name, course name and number, and
Professor’s Name.
I
Criteria
Exemplary 16-20
Accomplished 11-15
Developing 6-10
Beginning 0-5
Total
Synthesis of Knowledge
Foundation of Knowledge
Application of Knowledge

9. Organization of Ideas/Format
Writing and Research Skill
Total
Click on the attachment "GradeRubric" for details about each
category of the rubric.
Supporting Materials
· ResearchPaperGuidelines.docx (31 KB)
· Format for research papers.docx (30 KB)
· Preparing the final draft.docx (26 KB)