Write a Research Paper. Students may prepare and submit a research paper on any topic pertaining to law, policy or management of nonprofit organizations.
Research papers should be fully developed with appropriate, specific and verifiable citations (in the body of the paper) to source material. An in-text citation usually requires the last name of the author(s), year of publication (if necessary for clarity) and the page or chapter number (whenever feasible). The page or chapter number must appear unless the reference is really to the entire work as a whole (which is not a very specific reference). A page number, if any, must appear for any directly quoted material. Do not use footnotes or endnotes. Do not use/cite any UM textbooks as sources. You may use either one of the following academic citation systems:
The American Political Science Association Style Manual for Political Science
http://depts.washington.edu/pswrite/cite.html
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
https://www.library.cornell.edu/research/citation/apa
.
A research paper should be at least 20 pages in length excluding a title page and/or abstract (which are optional) and a table of references or a list of works cited (which are required). However, there is no maximum page length. The paper should be double-spaced with standard font and margins. Research papers will be evaluated on adequacy, accuracy, depth of analysis, and compliance with format requirements. Topics for proposed research papers must be approved in advance by your instructor. Students may NOT choose any topic which is/was the subject of a term paper (or similar assignment) in any other class/course. Each student must email a written request to the instructor on or before Thursday, May 27, but no later! Thereafter, your instructor will send you an email indicating approval or disapproval of your proposed research paper. (If your proposal is not approved, you must revise and resubmit it ASAP). Completed papers are due on Tuesday, June 22.
