The research paper should review a topic in employment law that is of particular interest to you. For this assignment, you are to go to the library don’t forget the Keller library and seek out at least 10 articles and/or court cases on the topic. Articles should come from scholarly journals.
Midterm Assignment-The Outline
Your first task will be to write an outline approximately 2-3 pages in length which is due the very beginning of week 5. The purpose of the outline is to give students an opportunity to organize their research in a useful manner and to provide the blueprint for the final research paper. Further, outlining your paper will help you gain a better understanding of your ideas by arranging them according to their interrelationships. If, in this planning stage, you carefully arrange your ideas, it will provide a basic structure for the body of your paper, and make the job of writing your paper much easier.
Submitting an Outline
Students are expected to accomplish four tasks in the Final Draft: * draw on the Topic Page to state your thesis * analyze the primary evidence in three paragraphs; * compare the information you provide in your analysis of the primary sources with the secondary sources; and * offer a thoughtful conclusion.

Narrowing the Topic
After you have selected a topic of interest to you, an important task will be to narrow that topic. Probably the most common mistake in writing a review paper (besides procrastination) is to try to write about a topic that is too broad. For example, the topic of discrimination has generated a multitude of court cases and articles. These studies cover a range of issues such as male, female and national origin. To try to write a 10-page review paper about any one of these areas, let alone all of them, would be next to impossible. It would be better to narrow this topic to make it more manageable. The Thesis
The narrowing of your topic can be achieved by developing an idea that can serve as your thesis. A thesis is not a fact, which can be immediately verified by data, but an assertion worth discussing, an argument with more than one possible conclusion. The thesis sentence will appear in the introduction of your paper and expresses the task or goal you intend to accomplish. Thus, the thesis informs the reader (me) of your goal, and helps you to narrow in your own mind the focus of your paper.
The Literature Search
After you have formulated your thesis, you need to track down court cases and research articles. There are a number of ways to do this. One way might be to simply go through recent court cases on findlaw.com. After finding cases, you might look through the reference section and find earlier cases that address your topic. However, the most efficient way to find research articles is to use a databank that may be available through the university. A computerized data bank, allows you to look up articles and cases by topic, author, or using other key terms.
Final Paper- Research Paper Length and Format
The research paper should be at least 8-10 pages, and should be written according to the American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines. These guidelines can be obtained from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Additional information about APA style can be obtained at the APA Style Resources page.

. A typical research paper would be organized as follows. Remember, in your final draft, you delete the outline, i.e., I, II. A. B. and so on, and just use paragraphs.
Title
By [Your Name]
I. Introduction
Purpose: Here students will accomplish three tasks: introduce the subject, give some background, and offer a conclusion. Students need to launch their introduction with a sentence that captures the readers attention. Then, students need to provide historical context in order to illustrate the three themes they will explore in the research paper. Finally, students will conclude the introduction with a dynamic thesis that explains the argument of the paper.
Directions: Use your topic page to frame the research paper. Think of the introduction as a way to set the stage for your reader. Emphasize the data that will help the reader understand the three main points that you will explore in later evidence paragraphs. For the Final Draft, you need to revise the final sentence of the introduction. Instead of stating why the research matters, as you did for the Topic Page, now you need to tell your reader what you learned. Tell your reader what you think is the most important thing they need to know. So, conclude your paragraph with a dynamic thesis statement where you tell the reader what you think and why.
II. Analysis
A. Literature Review
Purpose: Here students will use the secondary sources from the Annotated Bibliography to provide historiographical context. Students will explain how the secondary sources treat the themes stated in the introduction. The purpose of this paragraph is to give the reader a sense of what other historians have said about the topic.
Directions: Focus on your Topic and use the information from the sources in the Annotated Bibliography to talk about how other historians have dealt with the same themes. You should be able to use your discussion of the secondary sources in the Annotated Bibliography to expand on the historical context covered in the introduction.
[Outline format]
1. Topic sentence
2. Sentence with quote from secondary source with end note.
3. Sentence with quote from secondary source with end note.
4. Sentence with quote from secondary source with end note.
5. Sentence with quote from secondary source with end note.
6. Sentence with quote from secondary source with end note.
7. Concluding thought
Use at least five (5) quotes from at least four (4) different secondary sources in points 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft. See the Documentation requirements below for the proper format for citing your sources.
B. Evidence
Purpose: In the next three paragraphs, students will examine the themes discussed in the introduction by offering evidence drawn from the primary sources. These paragraphs give the student a chance to show the reader the evidence they have collected and how that evidence supports their contention in the thesis statement.
Directions: Collect selected quotes from the primary sources that illustrate the first of the three (3) points made in the introduction and which support the thesis statement. Organize your evidence as follows:
[Outline format]
1. Topic sentence
2. Quote from primary source with end note.
3. Quote from primary source with end note.
4. Quote from primary source with end note.
5. Quote from primary source with end note.
6. Quote from primary source with end note.
7. Concluding thought
Use at least five (5) quotes from at least four (4) different primary sources in points 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft. See the Documentation requirements below for the proper format for citing your sources.
C. Evidence
Purpose: See B. Above
Directions: Collect selected quotes from the primary sources that illustrate the second of the three (3) points made in the introduction and which support the thesis statement. Organize your evidence as follows:
[Outline format] 1. Topic sentence
2. Quote from primary source with end note.
3. Quote from primary source with end note.
4. Quote from primary source with end note.
5. Quote from primary source with end note.
6. Quote from primary source with end note.
7. Concluding thought

Use at least five (5) quotes from at least four (4) different primary sources in points 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft.
D. Evidence
Purpose: See B. Above
Directions: Collect selected quotes from the primary sources that illustrate the third of the three (3) points made in the introduction and which support the thesis statement. Organize your evidence as follows:
[Outline format]
1. Topic sentence
2. Quote from primary source with end note.
3. Quote from primary source with end note.
4. Quote from primary source with end note.
5. Quote from primary source with end note.
6. Quote from primary source with end note.
7. Concluding thought
Use at least five (5) quotes from at least four (4) different primary sources in each point 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft..

E. Evaluation
This is most important paragraph in the Final Draft. Here, you will evaluate your evidence and compare that to the analysis provided by the secondary sources. Does your research support, contradict, and/or modify the existing literature? Your research might do some of all three. Show how and why with specific examples from the secondary and primary sources.
[Outline format]
1. Topic sentence
2. Quote from primary/secondary source with end note.
3. Quote from primary/secondary source with end note.
4. Quote from primary/secondary source with end note.
5. Quote from primary/secondary source with end note.
6. Quote from primary/secondary source with end note.
7. Concluding thought
Use at least five (5) quotes from at least two (2) different primary sources and two (2) different secondary sources in points 2-6 above. You may include more quotes and add the number of points you intend to make in your Final Draft.
III. Summary
In this paragraph you must summarize your paper. Briefly restate your purpose, summarize your main points, and offer some final thoughts.