ENGL 102 - Griffith  

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Research Paper: The Power of Words

                Your research paper should be on the general subject of language and how words affect our lives. Use the guidelines in The Bedford Researcher and www.bedfordresearcher.com to explore the subject and choose a topic for your paper. The following are suggested topics, but you are not restricted to these:

                Texting language – its future                      Will written language survive the Internet?

Gender or class issues in language           Dialects or jargon

Propaganda or “spin”                                     Endangered languages

                Overview: This will be an 8-10 page paper, with an additional page or pages devoted to the Works Cited list.  You may write either an argumentative research paper or an informative research paper; in either case, a thesis statement is necessary. There should be at least one paragraph each of introduction and conclusion. The body of the paper (about 8 pages) will include discussion of your own ideas and integration of these ideas with quotations from your sources. Your audience is a general one.

                Research: It is your job to find out what has been going on in the academic field of language as it pertains to your topic. That involves intensive reading in the Haselwood Library and on the Internet. What do scholars say about this subject? Are there differences of opinion on this subject? You might have to choose a side or adjudicate between opposing positions.

                Sources:  Ten or more sources are required.

·         Scholarly sources: 5+ (academic books, reference books, articles in databases)

·         Internet sources: 5+ (reputable websites)           Total of 10 sources or more. You need to read much more than that. Choose the best sources for your paper.