Students are required to submit a proposal for this paper, which should include provide a clear statement regarding the topic for the paper (which should be sufficiently focused), a thesis statement, discussion of at least two significant sources (with citations), and some indication of the organization of the paper. If any of these elements are missing from the proposal, students will be asked to rewrite it.
Once the proposal is approved, students should immediately begin on drafting a fuller outline. The final paper will be graded with a rubric: quality of research and its integration and synthesis, overall coherence, development, and flow of argument, and final presentation (including spelling and grammar, format, bibliography format). For every 300 words the paper is short of the required 2,400 words, the paper will be penalized 10%; for every class session late, the paper will be penalized 10%.Students who earn a grade of A on their final papers will be invited to prepare their paper for inclusion in a booka collection of essays on the Waco siege. All students who contribute an essay will be given two copies of the book. Mr. Ivey, a graduate student in the English Department with skills and knowledge about editing and publishing will oversee the production of this book, and will provide a workshop for all students in the course.