Discussion Questions

1. Consider something you learned recently. How do you know it to be true? If you wanted to prove its accuracy to someone else, how could you do that?

2. Who do you consider to be an expert in society? Why do you trust their opinion?

3. What is "academic integrity"? How does ATU define it? (Hint: look at the syllabus). How would you define it in your own words?

So You Want to Write a Term Paper?

Writing a research paper is a rewarding process that lets you dive deeply into a topic that interests you. Part of reaping that reward is taking on the responsibility with good planning, academic honesty, and clear goals. This document will assist you in setting yourself up for the greatest success possible.

Sometimes it is helpful to set up a negative definition when trying to define something. A research paper is not:

• A summary of what can be found in Wikipedia/Grove/encyclopedias

• A play-by-play of what happens in a piece of music

• A vague description of a time period or historical figure

A research paper is:

• A persuasive essay that seeks to convince the reader of the position of the author

• A document framed by a thesis statement by which it is guided

• An opportunity to honestly frame the author’s arguments and the arguments of others whom they have read in the literature and whose work they use honestly within their own writing

Where do I begin?

1. Your first step is to choose a topic. If you have been provided a list of topics, read them carefully. Consider whether the topic appeals to you because of its focus (e.g. sacred music, form, world history, text setting). Listen to the music for the topics that appeal to you and ask yourself if you think you could stay interested in that music for a few months.

2. Once you have chosen your topic, you need to round up your sources. If your list of topics also has a list of sources, that will make your work much easier! Begin by gathering those. You are likely to encounter four main types of resources.

a) Print books. These are physically located in the library. If your list of sources indicates that the book is on course reserve, you must go to the circulation desk while the library is open and ask for that book. You can then use it in- library for two hours at a time.

b) Ebooks. Some books that are on course reserve are also available as Ebooks. Search for the book on the library website, and click on the green “View eBook” button under the cover of the book. If you are off-campus, you may need to enter your credentials. You will then have a PDF copy of the full work which you can read at your convenience.

c) Scores. The scores necessary for the study of your topic will likely be accessible on IMSLP (the Internet Music Score Library Project) or CPDL (Choral Public Domain Library), and can be searched on those websites and downloaded.

d) Articles. Articles can be accessed by searching on the library website, too. Click on the green “View full text” button on the article’s listing. You will be redirected to a digital library such as JSTOR or ProQuest. As long as you enter your credentials, you should be able to download your article to your device and use it from there.

3. While you are gathering the sources listed on the topics page, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to glance at any similar titles that catch your attention. They might deal with the same composer, period, genre, or piece of music. Jot down the name, author, year, journal (if applicable), call number (if applicable), and publisher (if applicable) in case they become useful later. The most high-quality sources to add to your collection are peer-reviewed, meaning that they’ve gone through a process where other scholars make sure that they’ve been well-researched and are accurate and responsible. Sources like Encyclopedia Brittanica, Wikipedia, and blogs are very helpful for gathering ideas, but you shouldn’t use them as the basis for ideas for your paper. You will now want to begin constructing your biography. Carolyn Doi at the University of Saskatchewan has put together a fantastic resource to consult on citing musical sources. 

A few pointers:

• Remember to always include the ‘Publisher, Year.’ after the author’s name and the title in a book citation.

- Provide as much information as you can find about an article (journal title, volume,

issue, year, page numbers).

• Be meticulous about formatting. Fortunately, the library website allows you export citations quite easily. Look them over to confirm that they are correct (metadata can be wrong), and then ensure that you preserve proper formatting.

• Bibliographies use hanging indents, where the first line is flush with the margin and the rest of the citation is offset. You can accomplish this in any word processor.

• You can make your life even easier at this point, before you start any writing, by transforming all your bibliographical entries into footnote format. The Chicago Manual of Style explains how to do that. Note that footnotes do not use hanging indents!

Doing Your Research

Your next step, and the one that may take the longest, is to gather up relevant information from your sources. If you are organized and diligent during this step, the rest of the process becomes much easier! Different people use different methods for keeping track of their notes from their readings. The best method is always the one you will use.

Writing an Outline

Once you’ve rounded up all your research, you are ready to begin writing your outline. The basic format of a paper outline for a standard undergraduate eight-to-ten-page paper goes something like:

Introduction (200 words)

• Opening idea (big picture, introducing the concept)

• Thesis statement (essentially a rephrasing of the topic: what you will convince your reader about)

• Introducing the arguments (list them, in order)

First main idea (700 words)

• Introducing the main idea

• Providing evidence based on sources

• (possibly) analyzing the music to support the ideas

• Briefly concluding the section and/or segueing into the next idea

Second main idea (700 words)

• "

Third main idea (700 words)

• "

Conclusion (200 words)

• Restating your arguments and your thesis

• Concluding idea (zooming out to the big picture, personal touch, comparing to another topic) This will be filled in with every point your plan to make in your final version. And, every data point that you cite needs a full footnote citation. The only exception to that is score examples, which do not need to be cited unless you are referring to prose from the preface, for instance.

The Final Paper

By the time you submit your outline, you are almost done your paper. Once you receive feedback and make any necessary adjustments, you are ready to begin writing the final paper. In essence, all you need to do is remove the bullet points, provide more detail where you feel it fits into the flow of your ideas, and include any relevant examples from the score (screenshots are fine). Add a title page (following the format of the example paper), and submit.

Students are often confused about these formatting scenarios, so here are the solutions.

• What if I have a quote that is very long? The way this is formatted is as a “block quote.” Start a new paragraph, set the text to single-space, and with the entire quote selected, hit “tab” to indent it. Take out the quotation marks, and put your footnote at the end.

• How do I introduce a quote? Avoid just sticking a quote in without context. Use a simple framing, like: As Robertson states, “Avoid just sticking a quote in without context.”

• Where do my footnotes go in the sentence? Avoid putting footnotes halfway through a sentence or doubling up footnotes at the end of a sentence. If you need to cite two separate sources, those should probably be two separate sentences. Footnotes go outside punctuation at all times.

Academic Integrity

Plagiarism is a serious offense and carries consequences up to and including receiving a zero on the assignment, receiving a zero in the course, and being expelled from the university. Plagiarism is when you represent someone else’s ideas, words, terms, or research as your own. It is stealing.

Fortunately, plagiarism is very preventable. Do not use more than 5 words consecutively of another person’s writing without quoting them. Properly cite every idea that is not originally yours. When in doubt, cite and quote.

If you have questions about academic integrity and plagiarism, the Tech Learning Center has resources for you.