I need help writing a research paper on corruption in South Africa Post-Apartheid. Guidelines are below and topics are attached.

RESEARCH PAPER guidelines and suggestions:

Length of Paper = 8 pages (5-6 pages in the body & 2-3 pages for the annotated bibliography)—please include a word count at the end of the paper. Start here for Research sources => https://library.fresnostate.edu/

Due Friday 4/22 after spring break.

Point Breakdown

o Title page with creative title & epigraph (a quotable quote) 5 pts.

o Part 1 – Abstract, 200-word summary. Place the abstract after a title page = 20 points

o Part 2 – Author’s note – self-reflection, 150 words = 20 points

What do you think the major strengths of your paper are? What are the most valuable things you learned from the assignment? Do you have any urgent unanswered questions about your topic, and why?

o Part 3 – Intersectionality, South African Identity & Prospectus w/2 sources & 2 subtopics (125 words minimum from discussion board 4) = 20 points

o Part 4 – Body of the paper = 5-6 pages of original analysis with documented citations = 100 points

o Part 5 – annotated bibliography/4 academic sources minimum + Clark-Worger = 35 points (2-3 pages, 100 words minimum per source) You must use Clark-Worger as a source!

REQUIREMENTS & Tips

=> Final paper = Minimum pages of body = 5 and maximum = 7 which is 1250-1750 words

=> Annotated Bibliography = 125 minimum word description of each source so your final bibliography should be at least 2½ pages long for 5 sources or 3-4 pages long for 7-8 sources.

=> Brainstorm a creative title to catch the reader’s attention.

=> Consider including an epigraph, a creative quote below title which complements title

=> Do not repeat large amounts of information already covered in the course such as in course readings. Research implies new discovery. If you are behind on or you have skipped readings, you may have not have a strong grasp on what’s already been covered, but basically, don’t go over and over the basics of apartheid because we already did that.

=> Introductions should not necessarily contain a lot of data & research or data analysis but should give an overview/summary of the entire paper & state main thesis. Consider rewriting the entire first page when you have finished your paper because your ideas will have evolved and changed from when you first started.

=> Use a minimum of 4 academic sources for the final paper (i.e. journals and books from Madden Library.) Please do NOT use only or mostly Internet sources – they’re not peer-reviewed, are frequently unreliable and give much less depth than traditional research. In our digital age, you can find scholarly articles online, but it’s safer and really easier to go through Madden Library first because those sources are already vetted by librarians who are professionals at doing research.

=> Try not to use research sources more than 25 years old. If you do, then analyze the source critically and consciously within its historical context and not just as another source for your analysis. Research implies NEW discoveries so try not to repeat information already covered in required course readings as much as you can.

=> Please use proper format for bibliographies – don’t make up a format. You must use an approved academic format such as MLA, Chicago or APA. You can use any format as long as you’re accurate and consistent.

=> Re: plagiarism – do NOT use exact lines from sources without quote marks – develop your own ideas and quote sources only when definitely necessary. Even when paraphrasing your sources, you still need to record citations to document where you collected your information. It will be a requirement to submit your papers to Turnitin which is an online anti-plagiarism program.

TIPS for the writing process: Analyze a particular issue that explores South African history and culture. Find 4-7 peer-reviewed scholarly articles or books for your final paper. You should not use more than one course reading as a source because research implies new discovery. 1) Try doing an outline of your paper to clarify logic/structure & identify topics/subtopics to include in your introduction. 2) Check for repetition of ideas – you want to push your analysis forward, not stand still. 3) Avoid any/all sweeping generalizations about race, class or culture in your own analysis. Please make an effort to replicate South African spellings for identity groups. Just check your sources for this. 4) Try to go narrow and deep. Looking too broadly will weaken your analysis. 5) Leave out first person language “I”/personal experience – it sounds too casual and as an anecdotal narrative, it may clash with academic sources. Put the focus on your topic first, not yourself. Explain lessons about South Africa, with all its complexity.

TIPS for incorporating quotes in your writing, and for paraphrasing: Too many quotations, too many voices, can overpower your own. Quotations should fit into your argument, not appear out of thin air. They should be grammatically consistent with the rest of your essay. If punctuation, pronouns, and verb tenses don’t flow with your own words, paraphrase and cite the needed material, or make minor changes within the quotation, surrounding them with brackets [ ]. All quotations should be unobtrusive. Quote only sentences, passages, or words that are especially succinct, memorable, or powerful. Remember, you must indicate a source even when paraphrasing. Keep paraphrasing to a minimum because it is your ideas, your argument that counts to convince your readers. Adapted from: http://theliterarylink.com/usingquotes.html

PURPOSE of the annotated bibliography–The standard bibliography details the citation information of the consulted sources: author(s), date of publication, title, and publisher’s name and location (and for articles: journal title, volume, issue and page numbers). The primary function of bibliographic citations is to assist the reader in finding the sources used in the writing of a work. To these basic citations, the annotated bibliography adds descriptive and evaluative comments (i.e., an annotation), assessing the nature and value of the cited works. The addition of commentary provides the future reader or researcher essential critical information and a foundation for further research. Whether an annotated bibliography concludes an article or book—or is even itself a comprehensive, book-length listing of sources—its purposes are the same:

• To illustrate the scope and quality of one’s own research
• To review the literature published on a particular topic
• To provide the reader/researcher with supplementary, illustrative or alternative sources
• To allow the reader to see if a particular source was consulted
• To provide examples of the type of resources available on a given topic
• To place original research in a historical context

TO SUM UP: In your annotations you should evaluate, summarize and assess your sources in relation to your research project. How does the source contribute to your research? You can go back and revise as you progress in your research. Modified from (http://guides.library.ucsc.edu/write-an-annotated-bibliography)