Assignment Instructions
Your essay will be automatically uploaded to Turnitin.com and an originality report will be generated for you. No action is needed on your part. Please contact your instructor if you have questions about this process or your report.
Submissions with an originality ranking of 25% or more are not acceptable. Please review:
http://apus.libanswers.com/writing/faq/2325
MANDATORY PROJECT COMPONENTS
Submit using the Capstone template you have been using which is also located in “Resources.” The minimum length is twenty pages not including the front and back matter but it can be larger.
Sources from Wikipedia are “NOT” to be used, as they have been deemed unreliable.
NOTE: For maximum scoring you must follow APA format guidelines (http://www.apastyle.org/). To assist you in writing your papers/projects, appendixes one – five are provided. Those that do not follow the APA guidelines will be penalized.
SCORING NOTES: All papers will be graded against the Research Paper/Project Evaluation Rubric under Evaluation Criteria (next syllabus section) and the APUS Undergraduate Level Rubric located in appendix seven.
WARNING: ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: PLAGIARISM AND CHEATING:.
The University System supports and promotes academic honesty and personal integrity. Cheating can take the following forms:
- Submitting another person’s work
- Writing a paper for someone else
- Working in a group effort without faculty consent
- Buying a paper from a research service
- Getting outside help or giving outside help without a teacher’s expressed permission
Submitting the same work for credit without approval (e.g. submitting the same assignment twice for different courses)
ANY VIOLATIONS OF THE ABOVE POLICY WILL RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC “F.”
Common Writing Concerns
The capstone study is a formal document and must follow traditional conventions accepted in formal writing including:
- Do not use personal pronouns, such as I, us, you, etc. Use the third-person.
- Do not use contractions such as don’t, shouldn’t, didn’t, etc.
- Use abbreviations sparingly. Commonly-accepted abbreviations are Mr., Mrs., etc. You may also abbreviate discipline-specific titles such as “The Global War on Terror” (GWOT). The proper convention is to spell out the title completely on first use followed by the appropriate abbreviation in parentheses. You may use the abbreviation alone and sans parentheses thereafter.
- Avoid cliches and colloquialisms, such as: crystal-clear, out-of-the-box, etc.
- Write in the active voice.
Spelling Errors and Proofreading
Remember that while Microsoft Word and most other major word-processing programs contain a spell-checking function and a function which identifies, and can correct, some grammatical errors, they do not identify all such errors. If a word is incorrect within a sentence but is spelled correctly, it will not be identified as a problem. For example, consider the words, “not and knot.” You must proofread your work manually as well as electronically in order to ensure a quality product.