Research Paper

FINAL RESEARCH PAPER ASSIGNMENT

ASSIGNMENT: Write a research paper relating to “What is the job of a physical therapist with regards to athletes and non-athletes; moreover what is the process to becoming a physical therapist; and finally, what are the pros, and are there any cons to seeing or not seeing a physical therapist on a regular basis”? Several sources from books, videos, and periodicals should be consulted, and at least some sources should be relatively recent, i.e., from the 00s or later. This may require you to do research other than the internet. The final paper MUST include a Research Paper Proposal, an Annotated Bibliography, and the actual research paper (w/ a Works Cited Page).

LENTH OF FINAL PAPER: Your paper could be 20+ pages if you decide to do all 3 parts as explained in class.

RESEARCH PAPER ASSIGNMENT

FORMAT: The submitted copy must be typed, double-spaced, on 81/2” x 11” typing paper. Margins for text should be 1” on all sides. The font should be Times New Roman, size 12. The sheets of paper should be fastened with a staple or paper clip in the top left-hand corner. Pagination (preceded by the student’s surname) should be in top right-hand corner of every page. A cover sheet will not be necessary.

CITATIONS: Use the new MLA (Modern Language Association) parenthetic documentation style instead of footnotes or endnotes. Include a Works Cited sheet at the end of your paper. Details concerning the new MLA style can be found in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (2009 or later), in recent (2009 or later) handbooks of grammar and writing style.

Planning and Drafting

Getting Started: The first thing you need to do is decide on a research topic. Just make sure you develop a question to be answered through your research.
Topic: What is the job of a physical therapist with regards to athletes and non athletes; moreover what is the process to becoming a physical therapist; and finally, what are the pros, and are there any cons to seeing or not seeing a physical therapist on a regular basis?

Locating Resources: Regardless of your topic, you should have not trouble finding a wealth of information. Remember, this is the Information Age, and your problem instead might well be too much information. This is one of the major tasks of any research project – learning how to filter out the good information from the tons of information irrelevant to your project.

Evaluation Criteria – See Rubric and Checklist

Please make sure that your research paper…:

 Is thoroughly researched. Have you gathered an adequate amount of information to write and informed paper on the topic you have chosen?

 Has a refined thesis question that contains three parts with adequate foreshadowing of your paper’s organization.

 Is structurally sound and contains transitions between paragraphs and sections.

 Has a summary conclusion that makes your readers want to know even more about the topic you have discussed.

 Contains no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.