GRIP Term Paper

 

For your term paper, choose a topic that discusses the associations between aspects of the meaning and purpose in life, social conflict and injustice, the relief of human suffering, and the promotion of inner and outer peace. Use the descriptions and previous analyses of your internship experience to write about your specific topic in detail. You may write this paper as an individual paper, or 2-4 students can write this paper together as a group term paper. If students work together on this paper, the paper will be based on ALL of your internship experiences. The final term paper should be 8-15 pages long for an individual paper and 15-25 pages long for a group term paper and include significant references to the books we have read. At least five different references per group member (books or journal articles – NOT web sites) should be cited in the paper. The paper is due on July 30 during regular class time and is worth 44% of your final grade. To receive a grade on the paper, you will need to submit the paper together with the GRIP volunteer log, signed by you and your agency supervisor.

 

I will grade the term paper according to the following criteria:

Form

-       Is the paper typed and double-spaced?
(Exception: lengthy quotes should be single-spaced and indented on both sides.)

-       Is there a title page that includes the title, your name, and the course title?

-       Is the paper organized in a logical way (i.e. introduction, method, results, and conclusion)?

-       Were headings and subheadings used?

-       Does the paper have 1-inch margins on the left, top, and bottom of the page and a 1.5-inch margin on the right side of the page?

-       Is the font size either 11 or 12?

-       Except for the title page, are all pages numbered?

-       Does the paper contain any grammar and spelling errors?

Content

1.    Introduction

-       Describe your topic.

-       Explain how your paper is related to the books we have read in class and other theoretical or empirical work in this area.

-       Give an overview of your paper.

2.    Method

-       Describe exactly what you did to get your “data”, i.e., your internship/service learning experience.

-       Describe the setting where the internship/service learning experience took place and the people you worked with in detail.

3.    Results

-       Describe your findings in detail. Give evidence from your reflection journal entries to illustrate your points. Be explicit! Quote from your journal entries.

4.    Conclusion

-       Present a short summary of your major findings and insights.

-       How do those findings relate to the literature we read in class? Do they confirm or contradict prior theoretical and empirical literature?

5.    References

-       List all the articles and/or books that are cited in the paper, using APA reference style. You should have a minimum of five references or five references per group member (i.e., academic books and journal articles). Web pages do not count!

 

If you encounter any problems pertaining to your internship/service learning experience and/or the term paper (e.g., volunteering, writing the reflection journal entries, choosing a topic, or writing the term paper) come and talk to me.