---

Anth 336  New World Prehistory
Dr. Darlene Applegate
Fall 2006
Guidelines and Requirements for Research Papers

---

Students must submit two copies of the final paper at the beginning of class on Wednesday, December 6. Papers will not be accepted after that date unless prior arrangements for an extension are made at least three days in advance of the due date (see full policy stated in course syllabus).

The required length of the paper is eight to ten pages.  You must have at least eight full pages of text.

The requirements regarding page layout are as follows:

• one-inch margins on all sides

• double space (unless otherwise indicated)

• indent new paragraphs

• don't skip extra spaces between paragraphs

• 10-12 point fonts only

• left justification (not full)

• page numbers in bottom center of each page except front matter

• staple once in upper left corner

You must cite all nonoriginal information. 

• You must cite anything that is not common knowledge, anything that you don't know without looking up, anything that you paraphrase from a source, and anything that you quote directly from a source.

• We are using the Society for American Archaeology guidelines for citations, which take the form of in-text parenthetical citations (not footnotes or endnotes).
 
• I take plagiarism very seriously.  You will automatically get a 5% reduction of the total points possible for every incidence of plagiarism, up to 50% maximum.
 
• You may view more specific citation information by following this link. 

You must list all reference materials used in the paper in the bibliography.

• We are using the Society for American Archaeology guidelines for the bibliography, which is headed REFERENCES in your paper.

• You may view more specific bibliography format information by following this link.

Listed below are the required paper contents and content order.

• Title page

• include the paper title, your name, date, Anth 336 (nothing else)
• double space each line on the title page
• center the information vertically and horizontally on the page
 
• Abstract

• an abstract a one-paragraph summary of your paper
• put the heading ABSTRACT centered at the top of the page
• the abstract is single spaced
• the abstract has no page number unless you have other optional front matter - see below
 
• Text of paper

• start numbering pages with page 1 bottom center
• use centered headings for each section or main point of your paper (e.g., INTRODUCTION, HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES, CONCLUSION, etc)
• don't start new sections on separate pages
 
• Bibliography of references cited

• use the AAA style
• put the heading REFERENCES centered at the top of the page
 

Listed below are guidelines for optional paper contents and content order.

• Table of contents

• part of the front matter
• comes after abstract
• number abstract page i
• number table of contents page ii
• put the heading TABLE OF CONTENTS centered at the top of the page
 
• List of Figures

• part of the front matter
• comes after table of contents
• numbered page iii
• put the heading LIST OF FIGURES centered at the top of the page
 
• List of Tables

• part of the front matter
• comes after list of figures
• numbered page iv
• put the heading LIST OF TABLES centered at the top of the page
 
• Figures (see below)
 
• Tables (see below)
 

Listed below are special guidelines for optional figures and tables.

• Directions for figures

• figures are graphical illustrations in your paper
• figures include photographs, drawings, maps, graphs, etc.
• put figures in numerical order after your bibliography
• to number the pages, pick up from the last page of your bibliography
• captions for figures are placed at the bottom of the figure and look like this

Figure 1.  Graph of relationship between age and height for Asian females (Johnson 2006).




• Directions for tables

• tables are matrices (rows and columns) of quantitative or qualitative data
• put tables in numerical order after the figures
• to number the pages, pick up from the last page of your figures
• captions for tables are placed at the top of the table and look like this:

 Table 3.  Table of stature estimation formulas for African males (Johnson 2006).

BONE	FORMULA	ERROR
femur	22.84 + 1.75 * femur	+- 3.44
tibia	18.33 + 2.30 * tibia	+- 2.90
humerus	15.99 + 1.34 * humerus	+- 1.87


 

These are additional factors I will consider in my evaluation of each paper.

• Do you have a clearly stated thesis, and does the body of the paper support that thesis?

• Is the paper well organized?

• Is non-original information cited, and is the correct citation format used?

• Is the grammar correct?

Here are some final reminders.

• Staple the paper once in the upper left corner. Do not use folders or plastic report covers.

• Be sure to spell check - you will lose points for excessive spellings.

• Be sure to grammar check or proof read somehow - you will lose points for excessive grammatical errors.

• Be sure your paper has a clearly stated thesis in the introduction. I will look for one.

• Be sure each paragraph has a clearly stated topic sentence.

• I like well-organized papers and paragraphs.

• Take pride in your work. Turn in your best effort.

---

Return to Requirements and Guidelines for Research Papers

Return to New World Prehistory Home Page

---

Visit the Western Kentucky University Home Page, Western Online
Page composed by Darlene Applegate, darlene.applegate@wku.edu
Last updated on September 9, 2006
All contents copyright (c), 2006.  Western Kentucky University.