Fall+2009+Research+Paper

=**__Class Files__**=

__**Final Paper Due Date: 12/03/2009**__
If students have any questions or problems, they should ask me either in person or via email before the assignment is due.
 * __ASSIGNMENT__ – Students are to research a Video Game Console.** The purpose of this is to have students evaluate various aspects of the video game industry in terms of real-world examples of real-world gaming products. **Students are to select any video game console, Dreamcast or earlier, and write an in-depth evaluation of said console.**


 * __ The Paper will be graded in 2 parts __ : the rough draft will count as 25% of the paper grade, and the final paper will count as the remaining 75%. Therefore, if you fail to turn in a rough draft, you will receive a 0 on the draft, meaning the highest grade you can //possibly// receive on the paper will be a 75%, or a mid-range C (and this is only if you do PERFECTLY on the final paper!).**

**Failure to have an approved paper topic by 09/17/2009 will result in a grade of 0 for the paper!**

__The full paper grade (Rough Draft and Final) will count as 30% of your overall final grade.__
__**GUIDELINES**__ **–** Consoles can not include Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Irix, Solaris, Amiga, or any other “Modern” Personal Computer. Gaming computers (such as Commodore 64 and Adam computers), however, are allowed. Add-ons (such as Sega CD or 32-X) may also qualify as their own consoles. Please see me if you are unsure whether or not your selection qualifies as a valid selection.

Papers must be typed and have a cover-page. **__Grammar and spelling will be graded__**. Using "conversational" English, including saying "I," "me," "you," etc. is generally not acceptable in research papers, and will be marked down.

There is no minimum or maximum paper length. Use as much space as is required to contain all required information. Bear in mind, however, that a single page, or even two or three, will almost certainly **__NOT__** be enough to convey all the necessary information. Additional pages for images are optional.

**__Papers must include the following information:__**

 * 1) **Detailed description of the videogame console, including, technical specifications, storage medium (cartridge, CD, disc, game-card, etc.), and controller information.** __NOTE: technical specifications must be explained, not just listed__. So, things such as processor speed, RAM, etc., must be defined and explained in terms of how it helped or hurt the console itself. This prevents students from simply regurgitating information without understanding it. __Failure to explain how any particular specification contributed to the system and compared to other systems will result in a lower grade on the paper__. If you are unsure about what any specification means, look it up!
 * 2) **Information about the company that created the console, and any events leading up to the console's release (as well as the actual release date of the console).** This will help establish an understanding for how a console came about, as no console just appears out of thin air. __This includes company history__ (where the company came from and how it came to make game consoles) __as well as how the specific console came into existence__ (why it was conceived and what it was intended to do).
 * 3) **Descriptions of __at least__ one game for the system, of your choice.** The game itself must also be thoroughly analyzed, and should include an evaluation of how the game either helped or hurt the console. __Students should try to choose games that were important to the specific console, not just a game that they, personally, enjoyed__. Discussing more than one game is allowed, as long as at there are descriptions for each, and reasoning for choosing the games
 * 4) **Descriptions of the console's leading competitors, both competing consoles and the companies that made them.** These descriptions do not need to be as in-depth as the description of the main console, but must include information that establishes why the console/company was considered competition, what features and/or specifications of the competition were beneficial/detrimental compared to the main console being researched, and how the competition impacted the main console.
 * 5) **Whether the console of choice was a failure or a success.** Reasons and thorough explanations must be provided to explain why the chosen console failed or succeeded. __Students should not just rely on their own opinions of the console and should provide concrete reasons for the console's status__.

All required information can and should be interwoven throughout the paper in a logical way, rather than separating the paper into discrete sections for every piece of information. In other words, there should not be a "description" section, "competition" section, "game" section, etc. Instead, the paper should be a fluid, cohesive paper.

**Students can use the textbook as a source; however, additional sources will be required**. **However, all Internet sources should be verified for legitimacy, and must, at the very least, have a clear author and creation date. When in doubt, do not use the site.**

__**Wikipedia, like any Encyclopedia, is NOT a valid resource for a research paper. All Encyclopedias (including Wikipedia, HowStuffWorks, etc.) are a collection of information from other resources. Original resources should be used when gathering information.**__

**__Rough Draft Requirements__**

 * The rough draft (__due 10/15/2009__) is intended to show what direction you are taking with the paper, so that you can receive advice from me on how both on how to progress and on what needs improvement. ****__The rough draft is not a simple fill-in-the-blanks list of information__**__**The minimum amount of information that the rough draft MUST contain is as follows**__
 * 1) Basic description of the console
 * 2) Basic information about the company that created the console and why the particular console was created
 * 3) Mention of chosen game, and an indication of why the game was chosen (no description of the game required at this stage)
 * 4) Mention of the console's competitors, including the names of consoles and companies that made the console
 * 5) Brief discussion of the failure or success of the console
 * 6) Proper citation of the information given, and a list of sources acquired so far

All of this information can and should be expanded upon in the final paper. However, the more detail you have in the draft, the easier it will be for me to give you advice. __**If you include all of the above information, written in proper format, and including proper citations, you should receive a high grade on the rough draft.**__


 * __ Citation Format __**
 * Papers must use proper notation format to cite sources, as well as contain a list of sources in the back. ** The style of notation is up to the student, though MLA or Chicago style is preferred. Any valid notation style can be used, however. ** SEE EXAMPLE AT THE END IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF HOW TO CITE. **


 * NOTE: ** Information on notation styles can be found at the library and online. Two examples of online descriptions of notation styles are:

MLA: @http://www.docstyles.com/archive/mlacrib.pdf

Chicago: @http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html

All Internet references must include a full URL, as well as any other information dictated by the notation style (site creation date, access date, etc.).


 * __ If a student is unsure of how to write a research paper or how to use proper notation in a research paper, they can use the writing services provided by the college __** . Further, I can help with many writing questions.

N**__ote: ALL information taken from a source MUST be cited__**. This includes direct quotes and paraphrased ideas. If you copy something exactly from a source, you MUST put it in quotes, specify in the paper where the quote comes from, AND include a citation for that source.
 * ANY VIOLATION OF THIS IS CONSIDERED PLAGIARISM, AND WILL RESULT IN A 0 ON THE PAPER AND POTENTIALLY FAILING THE ENTIRE COURSE. **

If you take an idea from a source, but put it into your own words, you still MUST include citation for where the idea comes from. The ONLY time you can write something in a paper without citation is when the idea is common-knowledge, or if the idea is entirely your own, taking no knowledge from another source.

A brief example of proper and improper usage of sources will be discussed at the end of this document.

Selections for consoles MUST be submitted to me prior to the end of class on **__September 17__**. ** No late submissions will be accepted for any reason **. Selections will be vetoed if they violate the non-console rule, or if a particular console already has 2 students doing a paper on it.
 * __ Due Dates __**


 * Students will receive a 0 if they do not submit a topic on time. **

Students can submit a topic online or in-person.

Once a topic is submitted and approved by me, students should start working on their paper.

** A Rough Draft of the paper is due at the beginning of class on October 15. **

The rough draft not only ensures that the topic you think you are doing and the topic I think you are doing are, indeed, the same, but it also gives me an opportunity to see whether your ideas are cohesive and on the right track, and then let you know accordingly.

Papers will be due on the Thursday before the last week of full class (**__December 3__**).


 * Any paper on a topic that was not approved will not be graded, and will receive a 0. **

__All questions regarding paper guidelines or grading must be asked prior to the final submission date__. ** Students have the full semester to work on this paper. As such, there is no excuse for poor quality. **


 * Good luck! **

__**Explanation of Proper vs. Improper Use of Sources**__
Let’s say you have a book called “Video Game Information,” written by a man named John Doe, and wish to use this source in your paper. Further, let’s say you want to talk about Nintendo as a company, and use this book as a source of information on Nintendo. You already know that Nintendo makes video games, but you have to refer to the book for some other information, specifically a sentence on the 8th page of the book that says “Nintendo’s roots can be traced back to the late 1800’s, when it began its life as a company that created Hanafunda, or Japanese playing cards.”

You can write that Nintendo makes video-games, without requiring a source, since this is common knowledge. You can also write a commentary on Nintendo, perhaps that it makes quality video games or that its long history has given it an exceptional amount of experience, and, again, not need a citation, since this is an idea, thought, or interpretation of your own. However, if you refer to Nintendo’s history specifically (which is not common knowledge) or any specific part of a source (such as the aforementioned sentence from the aforementioned book), you need to cite where you obtained that information.

So, you can write:

**One of the biggest contributors to the modern day video game field is a company known as Nintendo.** This does not need a citation, as it is considered common knowledge.

If, however, you wrote the following, you would have a problem:

**One of the biggest contributors to the modern day video game field is a company known as Nintendo. What is not widely known is that Nintendo’s roots can be traced back to the late 1800’s, when it began its life as a company that created Hanafunda, or Japanese playing cards. By creating entertainment products, from simple cards to more elaborate, modern video games, Nintendo has gained invaluable experience in the field gaming. This has helped Nintendo to be one of the most influential and innovate gaming companies in the world.** In the above writing you copied a portion of the book directly (the section beginning with “Nintendo’s roots” through “playing cards”), without giving any indication that this portion was taken from another source. ** This is known as plagiarism, and will result in a 0 on your paper, as well as possible removal from the class. **

There are various ways to correct this, two of which will be described here.

First, you can keep the directly copied portion, but put the section in quotes, and indicate where the portion comes from. So, the sentence would become:

**One of the biggest contributors to the modern day video game field is a company known as Nintendo. Nintendo’s earlier history, however, is not widely known. In his book “Video Game Information,” John Doe describes Nintendo’s history as a gaming company by writing, “Nintendo’s roots can be traced back to the late 1800’s, when it began its life as a company that created Hanafunda, or Japanese playing cards.” (Doe 8) By creating entertainment products, from simple cards to more elaborate, modern video games, Nintendo has gained invaluable experience in the field gaming. This has helped Nintendo to be one of the most influential and innovate gaming companies in the world.**
 * By placing the copied section in quotes, stating where the quote comes from, and placing a citation after the quote, you have properly used the needed section from your source, and avoided plagiarism. ** Note that the citation includes the author’s last name, and the page on which the quote appears in the author’s work, as is required by one of the many, many rules of the MLA format (there are many other citation rules not mentioned here, which should be referred to when writing your paper, and there are many other citation formats that may be acceptable).

Notice that the last two sentences (beginning with “By creating” and ending with “in the world”), evaluating Nintendo as a company, does not require a citation, since it only contains your own thoughts, ideas, and opinions.

The above example is fine, but using a quote in this way is a bit dry and uses a quotation when paraphrasing would probably work better for the flow of the paper. Here is a second example of how plagiarism could be avoided in this case without using a direct quote:

**One of the biggest contributors to the modern day video game field is a company known as Nintendo. Despite Nintendo’s current status as a leading corporation in the field of electronic games, it did not actually begin its life as a video game company. Rather, Nintendo was founded in the late 1800’s as a company that produced Japanese playing cards, also known as Hanafunda. (Doe 8). By creating entertainment products, from simple cards to more elaborate, modern video games, Nintendo has gained invaluable experience in the field gaming. This has helped Nintendo to be one of the most influential and innovate gaming companies in the world.** This example also avoids plagiarism and flows better than the previous version. All of the information conveyed in the original source is presented here, but it has been reworded and converted into a form that better fits into the research paper. This is known as paraphrasing. Paraphrasing also typically involves leaving out certain unimportant information, in favor of including only that information which furthers the ideas of the paper. The example here included all of the information from the original source, however.


 * Notice that even though the original thought was not taken word-for-word from the source, it still requires a citation ** (written as Doe 8) to indicate where the idea was taken from. **If a citation were not included, this would imply that the information was your own (and not taken from another author), and would thus be considered plagiarism.** In short: when in doubt, include citation.


 * Also note that if anyone uses the example given here in his or her paper, it will result in an instant failure. ** You can still use the information about Nintendo being a playing card company (and should use such information if writing about a Nintendo product), and you can still state an opinion about how the company's roots influenced its later history, but you must cite it from a proper resource (not this handout), and you must use your own wording and ideas to enhance it.