An
interesting argument: Remember you must be analytical,
not just descriptive. Set up a tension or a surprise
at the beginning and then discuss it. Do not spend all
of your time (or even most of it) summarizing or describing.
Evidence of research: Your professor wants to
see that you have read and analyzed a number of sources
and woven them together in interesting ways. She wants
assurance that you have learned something.
Clarity
and organization: Your paper should make sense;
the paragraphs should be organized to support the overall
argument.
Technical
details: Appropriate citations, readable prose,
minimal (or zero) typographical errors, and good grammar.
What
Shouldn't Be in Your Paper
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is copying someone else's work without acknowledgement
in an attempt to pass that person's words and/or thoughts
off as your own. Plagiarism will be treated to the full
extent of the George
Mason University Honor Code.
Personal
opinions (when the assignment does not specifically
call for them)
