Per your course syllabus and few early announcements posted in the course shell for the past several weeks, one key deliverable for this course is your Research Paper – a key component of any graduate level course, that is worth 30% of your final grade. With other words, assuming you did everything perfect in this course, but not delivering this paper per given requirements, the most you can get in this course would be a 'C' grade!

Thus, let me remind you again the requirements of this paper and especially HOW it will be graded:

1. First, I remind you that this assignment is an INDIVIDUAL paper. Obvious similarities between submitted papers will result into that both (or more) papers will be rejected, thus BOTH (or more) students getting an 'F' grade or 0%!

2. The first test on your paper will be running it through the Turnitin or similar system; Blackboard uses SafeAlign) and the paper will be returned with one the following color codes:

	Light blue: 0% matching text
	Dark blue: 1-24% matching text
	Yellow: 25-49% matching text
	Orange: 50-74% matching text
	Red: 75-100% matching text

The only acceptable levels are below 25%. All papers scoring between 25 – 49% will be penalized with 50%, thus you will earn the most 15% of the final course grade.

Papers scoring more than 49% will be rejected entirely, thus you will receive 0% of your final score. In addition, your name will be submitted to the Academic Affair Office for further action/penalty.

All of the above mean, in simple English: USE YOUR OWN WORDS, DO NOT COPY&PASTE! However, you can use in-text citations (see APA guidelines), IF PROPERLY referenced.

3. Next, your paper will be rated for following the given structure (see the Research Paper/Project Guidelines). Any deviation from that structure will be penalized, thus you will be losing points.

4. Follow the APA style guide, AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE. Please refer to the APA Style Guidelines and Plagiarism in your course content/Blackboard shell. Again, any deviation from that guideline will be penalized.

5. Only after the 3 items from above will be FULLY satisfied, the paper will be red and assessed for: Content, Quality, Length, Organization, Mechanics (grammar, spelling). etc.

6. Again, this paper is due on the last day of the class. NO exemptions!

Please do not fall (as some students do) in the trap/belief that a "nice looking paper," or long, or using good graphics, pictures, tables, etc. will be good enough to weigh more than the 4 above items.

Thus, once again, please take this research paper very seriously, it represents you as a graduate student and it's worth 30% of your final grade therefore, it may be the difference between passing or not this class!