The papers should be in American Psychological Association
(APA) format; consisting of title page, abstract page, main body (introduction,
main theme, conclusion), and reference page. Briefly, the research paper must
be double-spaced and typed left justified on regular 8.5″ x 11″ paper
with margins of 1″ (top, bottom, left, right). The paper should be typed
in Times Roman 12 point font and should be a paper of the appropriate number of
pages. The paper will have at least 4-6 references and should be written in the
third person (i.e., limit the use the word “I” in your paper).
References should be from journal articles. Books or book chapters (including
your text and all dictionaries) are NOT to be used as references since these
are typically not as up to date as the previously mentioned articles.
Additionally, personal interviews are not considered an acceptable reference.
All papers must be typed in Word.
This is a professional paper and colloquialisms (e.g.,
“a lot of” vs. “many”; “bugged” vs.
“upset”; “doesn’t have a clue” vs. “does not
understand”; “all the time in the world” vs. “much
time”) and contractions (e.g., they’ve, aren’t) should be avoided. Also
avoid lengthy quotations. Your instructor does not want to read an entire paper
of pure quotes. Part of your job is to read and interpret the references.
Additionally, back up what you say with
references/documentation. Do not say things like: “Males have worse
attendance records than females” without a reference to back it up. Say
instead, “Blanton (2004) reported that males have worse attendance than
females.” Be sure that you cite the references in the body of the paper
and then list the references in alphabetical order on the References page of
your paper. Significant grade reductions will occur for poor punctuation,
grammar, or spelling, or for insufficient references, or for incoherent/awkward
or run-on sentences. Papers less than the appropriate words will be
significantly penalized. Significant grade increases will be given for
particularly creative and well written papers. Please make your paper readable.
The average college student should be able to read and understand your paper. A
good test is to find a college student without an extensive background in
business and have it read by them.