MPA 215 State and Local Government

Research Paper Guidelines

For the research paper, you should choose a research question to explore at the state or local level. The topic needs to be approved by me so please sign up for a topic as soon as possible.

FORMAT
Your paper should be typed, double-spaced, 12 font, with approximately 1-inch margins top, bottom, and on the sides. Pages should be numbered. You should submit a research paper that is about 8-10 pages and a works cited list (bibliography). Depending on the topic, you should include a variety of sources, including newspaper articles, books, websites, and journal articles (total minimum number of sources 10) in your works cited (you should use APA format – see guidelines on the website at http://www.apastyle.org/faqs.html). You should use an in-text citation format (i.e. (Brown 1996)) rather than a footnote or endnote style.

CONTENT
Your paper should include the following components:
(1) Introduction.
You should include a short introduction (1 or 2 paragraphs) that discusses what your paper is generally about. What is the topic of your paper? Why is it an important topic? What is the purpose of your paper? What problem are you addressing? What is the research question that you are seeking to answer? YOU SHOULD HAVE A SENTENCE OR TWO THAT DESCRIBES GENERALLY WHAT YOU WILL BE DISCUSSING IN THE REST OF YOUR PAPER (This is called a mapping statement).

(2) Body
This section should review relevant research and studies that have been done related to your research question. How do they inform your study? What evidence did these studies examine? Is it relevant to your research question? What data could you examine (within the confines of a semester) that could shed light on the issue?

You should also discuss the weaknesses of the evidence you found or why your question may not be adequately answered.

(3) Conclusion
Summarize what you set out to do in your paper. What was the purpose? Did you answer your research question. What would you still like to find out about your question. What are the explanations for what you found?

Other suggestions:
a. Use subtitles in your paper to signal a change in content.
b. Structure your paragraphs so that there are topic sentences and supporting sentences to back up the topic sentences.
c. Make sure you read these guidelines again when you do your paper.
d. The writing center on campus can help with your memo. I suggest that all of you set up an appointment with them to go over your paper even if you think you are an award-winning author.
e. You should cite any information that you do not know on your own. *****When in doubt, cite the source where you got the information.
f. The following citation format is provided for your convenience.
This is how you should cite sources in your memo: (Carlton 1990)

g. If the author is unknown, you should cite the source in the following format in your paper.

(Cato Institute 1999)

In the works cited list, it should be formatted in the following way:

Cato Institute. (1999). Gun control manufacturers revolt. (political organization where article was found). Retrieved August 2, 1999 from www.catoinstitute.com.

h. Wikipedia and other encyclopedias do not count as a source. You can use your textbook, but it does not count toward the 10-source minimum.