The
topic of the paper has been left fairly broad to encourage creativity.
A list of past topics chosen by students is included below.
This list is not exhaustive, and some topics may no longer be timely. The topic should relate to a topic covered in class, or
business law.
The
paper should be no less than six (6) full typed pages and no more than nine (9)
typed pages double spaced. Penalties will be assessed for failing to meet these
requirements. A penalty of 16% will
be assessed for every page, or partial page, less than the six-page minimum.
A penalty of 10% will be assessed for every page, or partial page, over
the nine-page maximum.
The
margins should be no greater than 1 inch on all sides (right, left, top and
bottom). Do not justify the
margins. The size of the font
should be 12 point.
You must chose among the following typefaces:
Times New Roman, Arial or Courier
New.
The
paper should have at least six sources. There
is no limitation on the maximum number of sources.
Just use an amount necessary for your topic.
At one least one source should come from a primary sources (e.g.,
statutes, appellate or supreme court cases, or constitutional protections).
At least one source should also come from a scholarly article (e.g. law
reviews, or other scholarly journals). The
following Web page explains how to determine whether or not a journal is
scholarly: <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/scholjour.html>.
This paper will account for 12.5% of your final grade. The paper will be graded with weighted consistent with the list below.
10%
Following instructions on this sheet—including appropriate topic
selection and citation accuracy
65%
Quality of Analysis (analytical discussion, quality of citation and
integration into the paper)
25%
Quality of Writing (proofreading, editing, conciseness, organization,
etc.)
Writing Style
Writing should generally conform to Chicago Manual of Style (14th ed.; University of Chicago Press). Spelling should conform to Webster’s International Dictionary. Another helpful guide to usage and style is the Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White (Macmillan). The Elements of Style is available for free on the Web at http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html.
Term Paper
Sections
Introduction
The introduction should set the stage for the rest of the paper.
It should tell about the paper’s subject and why the subject is
important and timely. It should
layout what must be understood in order to evaluate the thesis and explain how
the paper will lay this information out. Then
near the end of the introduction, a thesis or statement of your assertion should
be set forth.
Body
The body should layout specific facts or data that support the thesis. Then, facts or data that run contrary to the thesis should be discussed and attacked. The discussion of contrary facts should attack their importance. Manners to attack the importance of contrary facts or data are to: (1) distinguish the facts or data by showing that different things are being compared (e.g., apples and oranges); (2) attack the credibility or reliability of the facts or data; and (3) argue that the applicability of these type of facts or data to this situation, while commonly done is wrong.
Conclusion
The conclusion should bring everything in the paper together. It should provide a brief summary of the facts and how they support your argument. The paper should then explain the ramifications of the thesis being proven, including any future impacts and their importance.
Citations
Citations should conform to one of the following methods.
(1)
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of
Citation (16th ed. 1996).
This is the standard citation format for law reviews. Citations conforming to the following Web page are also acceptable. See Paul W. Martin, Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (2000-1 ed.) (visited May 18, 2001) <http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/citation.table.html>.
(2)
Author-Date System
This is the style advocated by journals published by the American Accounting Association. This works cited system uses the “author-date system” keyed to a list of works in the reference list (see below). Authors should include the relevant page numbers in the cited works.
1.
In the
text, works are cited as follows: author's last name and date, without comma, in
parentheses: for example, (Jones 1987); with two authors: (Jones and Freeman
1973); with more than two: (Jones et al. 1985); with more than one source cited
together: (Jones 1987; Freeman 1986); with two or more works by one author:
(Jones 1985, 1987).
2.
Unless
confusion would result, do not use "p." or "pp." before page
numbers; for example: (Jones 1987, 115).
3.
When the
reference list contains more than one work of an author published in the same
year, the suffix a, b, etc. follows the date in the text citation: for
example, (Jones 1987a) or (Jones 1987a; Freeman 1985b).
4.
If an
author's name is mentioned in the text, it is not repeated in the citation; for
example: "Jones (1987, 115) says ..."
5.
Citations
to institutional works should use acronyms or short titles where practicable;
for example: (AAA ASOBAT 1966); (AICPA Cohen Commission Report 1977).
Where brief, the full title of an institutional work might be shown in a
citation; for example: (ICAEW The Corporate Report 1975).
6.
Reference
to a single regulation, government promulgation, or court case should be made in
the form illustrated below. Generally, references to multiple works of the same
type (e.g., two revenue rulings) or multiple works of different types (e.g., a
revenue ruling and a court case) should be made through the use of a footnote
unless they are of a brief nature which does not disrupt the flow of the text.
The form for tax citations often encountered is presented below.
I.R.C. § 1248(a).
Treas. Reg. § 1.1248-3(a)(4).
Rev. Rul. 82-1, 1982-1 CB 417.
Rev. Proc. 82-1, 1982-1 CB 751.
LTR 8208047 (11/26/80).
43 TC 1654 (1975).
TC Memo 1943-496 (1943).
Thomas v. Smith, 370 F. Supp. 69 (DC-Tx., 1974).
Thomas v. Smith, 656 F. 2d 659 (CT. Cl., 1981).
Thomas v. Smith, 411 F. 2d 1275 (CA-6, 1975).
Thomas v. Smith, 388 U.S. 1492 (1980).
(3)
MLA, as set forth in the Little-Brown Handbook.
Reference List
(called
Works Cited under MLA)
Every paper must
include a list of references containing only those works cited. Each entry
should contain all data necessary for unambiguous identification. With the
author-date system, use the following format recommended by the Chicago
Manual:
1.
Arrange
citations in alphabetical order according to surname of the first author or the
name of the institution responsible for the citation.
2.
Use
author's initials instead of proper names.
3.
In
listing more than one name in references (Rayburn, L., and B. Harrelson) there
should always be a comma before "and."
4.
Dates of
publication should be placed immediately after author's name(s).
5.
Titles of
journals should not be abbreviated.
6.
Multiple
works by the same author(s) should be listed in chronological order of
publication. Two or more works by the same author(s) in the same year are
distinguished by letters after the date.
Sample entries
are as follows:
American Accounting
Association, Committee on Concepts and Standards for External Financial Reports.
1977. Statement on Accounting Theory and Theory Acceptance. Sarasota, FL:
AAA.
Auerbach, A., and K.
Hassett. 1990. Investment tax policy and the Tax Reform Act of 1986. In Do
Taxes Matter: The Impact of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, edited by J. Slemrod.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Bedard, J. C., and
S. Biggs. 1990. Pattern Recognition, Hypothesis Generation, and Auditor
Performance in Analytical Review. Working paper, University of Connecticut.
Boness, J., and G.
Frankfurter. 1977. Evidence of non-homogeneity of capital costs within risk
classes. Journal of Finance (June): 775-787.