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All your written assignments must have the following:
- A cover page consisting of a completed and signed Commitment to Academic Integrity Form (you “sign” it by typing your name). Assignments without this form filled out correctly will automatically be marked Incomplete. See the posted templates containing a sample cover page.
- Double-spaced text.
- Use 12pt, “Cambria” (the default MS Word font), or another similar serif-type font.
- Tab indentation starting each paragraph.
- A title page (see the section on title pages).
- APA-style (a) in-text citations and (b) list of references (see the section on citing your sources).
The point of these requirements is to allow me to focus on the contents of your writing without being distracted by your skills (or lack thereof) in design.
Don’t panic! I’ve posted templates satisfying all these requirements.
Photo: Lechatnoir / iStock by Getty Images.
Title Pages
Your title information should occur at the top of the second page of your assignment, after your completed Commitment to Academic Integrity Form. This information should consist of the following:
- Your assignment’s word count,
- The assignment’s name,
- A descriptive and meaningful title, and
- Your name.
The word count should be at the top left, while the rest should be centered. Everything should be single-spaced in the same font, size, and style as the rest of your assignment.
For example:
Word Count: 275
Foundation Assignment #2
The Misogyny of Chocolate
By Troy McClureThe history of chocolate starts with the ancient Aztecs. In those days, instead of being wrapped in a hygienic package, chocolate was wrapped in a tobacco leaf…
In order to be descriptive and meaningful, the title should provide an indication about the assignment’s contents—and you will have a much better idea of that once you have completed the assignment. So do the title last.
Photo: Colleen Hayes / NBC.
Citing Your Sources
You are required to properly cite all your sources (see the course academic integrity policy). Do this whenever you find yourself quoting or otherwise using the ideas of another person. Please follow APA-style citation guidelines, keeping in mind that you must cite all sources, even if you are only putting their ideas into your own words.
Jessica Liu explains how to do APA-style in-text citations!
In-Text Citations
When you reference any source, you need to do an in-text citation with the following:
- Author, and
- Year of publication.
For example:
Misogyny is best understood as an enforcement strategy (Manne, 2018).
If you are directly quoting the source, then please also include the page number(s) when available:
“Persons of genius, it is true, are, and are always likely to be, a small minority” (Mill, 1859/2003, p. 142).
If no year of publication is available, use n.d. (for “no date”) instead, as in:
Rawls must provide a justification for his two principles (Cavalier & Ess, n.d.).
If no author is credited, use the first few words of the source’s title, as in:
He “was an British philosopher” (“John Stuart Mill”, 2020).
Jessica is back—explaining how to create an APA-style list of references!
List of References
The end of the assignment must include a “References” section. For each reference, you need to include, as they are relevant/available, the following:
- Author;
- Date of publication;
- Chapter, article, or webpage title;
- Book, periodical, journal, or website title;
- Volume and issue of publication;
- Publisher; and
- URL.
Some examples:
Cavalier, R., & Ess, C. (n.d.). John Rawls. http://caae.phil.cmu.edu/Cavalier/Forum/meta/background/Rawls.html
John Stuart Mill. (2020, June 30). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Stuart_Mill&oldid=965209406
Manne, K. (2018). Down girl: The logic of misogyny. Oxford University Press.
Mill, J. S. (2003). On liberty. In M. Warnock (Ed.), Utilitarianism and On liberty: Including Mill’s ‘Essay on Bentham’ and selections from the writings of Jeremy Bentham and John Austin (2nd ed., pp. 88–180). Blackwell. (Original work from 1859)
The reading questions posted in the course schedule include the full reference for each assigned text, which should make this process much easier for you, while providing you with lots of examples for any additional outside sources that you may use.
I also recommend visiting the APA’s website for further guidance and many examples illustrating how to format references from a variety of sources.
Citing Other People
You must also cite ideas coming from classmates, friends, family members, and anyone else. This includes help from course assistants, the Center for Excellence in Writing (CEW), and even me (if I helped you outside of our usual class meetings).
In-text citations must reference the following:
- The person whose idea it was, and
- When you got that idea from them.
For example:
States exist to protect the rights of their citizens (Fontaine, 2022).
When listing these out in the “References” section at the end of the assignment, you need to include the following:
- The person’s name,
- When you got the idea from them, and
- How you got the idea from them.
For example:
Fontaine, J. (2022, September 3). [Class notes].
Gray, D. E. (2022, September 13). [Personal conversation].
Acknowledgments
If you do receive help from classmates, friends, family, or anyone else, you must thank them for their assistance in an “Acknowledgments” section at the end of the assignment. When thanking them, be sure to also specify exactly how they helped you with the assignment.
For instance:
Thanks to Sarah Sgro from the CEW who helped me with my spelling, organization, and grammar. Thanks also to Julie Fontaine for lending me her course notes. Finally, thanks to Professor Gray for clarifying this assignment’s requirements.
If you are ever uncertain about citing sources, acknowledging assistance, or any other element of academic integrity, please ask; do not assume.