Take a Stand and Defend it Project

Description

Take a Stand

Objective

The objective of the “Take a Stand” project is to foster creativity and critical thinking while enhancing your skills in finding, reading, and using scholarly research. You will learn to construct well-supported arguments, express your ideas clearly, and apply APA 7 formatting guidelines effectively.

Prompt

In this assignment, you will choose an issue related to the course curriculum that interests you and conduct research on it. Based on your findings, you will take a position on the issue and develop a defendable position statement.

Paper Requirements:

• Length: The paper must be at least four pages, not including the title and reference pages.
• Formatting: Follow APA 7 formatting guidelines for the entire document.
• Sources: Use a minimum of five scholarly sources published within the last 10 years to support your arguments.
  • At least one article within the last 5 years in support of each area of support [at least 2] for you position.
• In-Text Citations and Paraphrasing: You must include appropriate in-text citations for your sources in addition to including them on the reference page. Avoid direct quotes, instead paraphrase the key information from the source and provide the appropriate citation to avoid plagiarism
  • Paraphrasing means rephrasing the original text in your own words while maintaining the same meaning.

Paper Sections:

• Title Page: Include the page number, title of your paper, your name, course title, instructor’s name, and the date the work is due [not the date you completed it]
• Introduction and Position Statement (Approximately 30% of total page length): Introduce the topic/issue, providing necessary background and context. The last 1-2 sentences of the introduction will be your position statement.
• Body Sections (Approximately 60% of total page length): For each section, use multiple paragraphs to directly support the position statement with evidence from your scholarly research. Each section will address a specific aspect of your argument [these are included in your position statement] and be supported by your scholarly sources.
• Conclusion (Approximately 10% of total page length): Restate your position and briefly summarize your main points of support, highlighting the significance of your findings.
  • This section also typically includes directions for future research but since this isn’t a research paper, you can include your ideas about what can be done in the future or areas that still need to be addressed.
• Reference Page: List all sources cited in the paper in APA 7 format.
  • Secondary sources are sources mentioned in a primary source, but you have not reviewed directly.
  • These sources are cited in the in-text citations [e.g., Smith, 2020, as cited in Jones, 2024). In this example, Smith, 2020 is the secondary source and Jones, 2024 is the primary source [the one you retrieved and reviewed]. Only Jones, 2024 is listed on the reference page.
  • Will only include primary sources [sources that you retrieved and reviewed yourself]
  • Secondary sources are not cited here