LENGTH AND DEVELOPMENT: Each paper in our class is a 5-paragraph essay, plus there is a title page (=cover page) at the start and a Sources list at the end. The body of the paper is to be double-spaced.
The body of the paper should be five paragraphs and a total of 500-to-800 words in length. The 500 minimum is firm; you really have not adequately developed the paper if less than that. The 800-word upper limit is really a guideline—ok to go over.
Just don’t ramble. To determine length, I look at the BODY of the paper only (not title page or sources list) and consider primarily the word count. (Microsoft Word makes this easy. Just select from the first line of your first paragraph to the last line of your last paragraph.
The word-count is provided on the lower left by MS-Word.). [I do not go by number of pages because there are too many ways that gets fudged by margins, font size, line spacing, etc. However, fyi—Typically, if you follow these instructions, the body of your paper will be 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 pages in length—add a page for your title page and another for your sources list and that then gets to 4-1/2-to 5/1/2.] PAGES 2-3 BELOW: SEE SAMPLES THERE FOR YOUR TOPIC.
Your paper must have a numbered list of sources at the end combined with short in-text citations to those sources in the body of the paper. Any direct quote needs both quote marks and an in-text citation to the source. Any paraphrase or summary of information from a source requires an in-text citation to that source.
