Research Paper (35%)

Due Date: April 12th, 6:00 pm
Submissions: ISU NetStorage

For this research paper, you can can choose whatever topic you want, as long as it relates to some aspect of how technology is used in business or technical communication. Though the paper is not due until the second week of April, you will submit a 3-page, double-spaced research proposal for this project on March 1st, shortly before Spring Break. The proposal should be named as followed:

lastname-proposal.doc

The proposal allows me to see what topic you are starting to concentrate on and give you advice (ungraded) on how you might conduct your research. Additionally, we'll be holding a peer response workshop on April 5th, the week before the papers are due, to review one another's work to date.

Suggested length for these papers is 25 double-spaced pages with a typeface size of 12 points (no larger or smaller). You should use the citation style of the journal to which you might submit your work; if you don't have a journal in mind, just use the APA style. Whichever style you choose, you are responsible for making sure your Works Cited or References page adheres to the citation style you are using. The paper should be named as followed:

lastname-research.doc

Though you can use some Web sites as sources, you should use no more than three (3) and you should make sure these sources are relevant to your topics. Otherwise, you should use only books, magazine articles, journal articles, and organizational reports. Many of the journals for business and technical communication are available online through the ISU Library. If you have any questions about the validity of a source to be used in your paper, please bring it to class so we can discuss it.