Overview of Paper Requirements Dr Gehling’s INFO2070 class The paper you turn in for this iNFO2070 class must be an original work, written by you.

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The final paper you turn in to me should not have been submitted to another instructor (at AUM or any other school) for credit in another class for a past, the current, or a potential future term. If you are currently employed, your paper should not include any information that might be considered proprietary, confidential, or might jeopardize your job, your company's competitive advantage or our national security. If you paper describes a case study (i.e. how something is done), I prefer that you not mention the company or agency involved by name unless it directly relates to specific points reported in your paper. Instead I encourage you to try to use phrases such as "a southeastern law firm (or whatever type of business)" or "a software developer located in the Southeastern United States". You should indicate industry or type of business, but unless you receive written permission, you should not name the organization/business. Contact me if you have questions. Research Topic Selection I am not asking for a long paper, but your topic should be of interest to you AND in some way relate to the various topics we are covering in this class. Remember, you are going to have to "live" with the topic for the entire semester, so do not pick something that you are not interested in or will quickly become bored with. In addition, your topic must be directly related in some way to the use of Information Technology. Contact me soon if you are having a problem deciding on a topic. When considering a topic, think of yourself as someone reading your paper for the first time. Does the paper's conclusion have a "so what" factor? By this I mean will it be of any interest to anyone other than you and hopefully me? A topic that is easy to do might not necessarily be the best approach. However if you have a special knowledge or interest in some area of information technology, let's talk about it. In any case I strongly suggest you choose an information technology topic related to something that you have an interest in, but might not know much or anything about. (Remember, this is supposed to be a "learning" experience). Format of Paper • • • One-inch margins. (Left/right sides, and top and bottom of the page). Double-spaced. (This does not mean triple or space-and-a-half) Length of paper. (Not including the cover page, if you do one, reference section, or any appendices) should be NO LESS than 4 (four) pages long. (Do the math... Your paper, if single-spaced, should be about half of that or around 2 pages long). Use a basic font (Arial, Times-Roman, or one similar) set to be no more than 11-points in height. Indent first line of each paragraph OR do not indent and skip a line between each paragraph. (I prefer you skip a line). Insert a page number on EVERY page. Submit as a WORD DOC or DOCX file. (DO NOT SEND IT TO ME AS A PDF!)

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Project timeline This is OPTIONAL, but if you want me to do a quick review and provide comments to a draft of your final paper, send (email) me a draft of your paper NO LATER THAN A FEW WEEKS

Overview of Paper Requirements Dr Gehling’s INFO2070 class PRIOR TO THE DUE DATE. This will NOT affect your score for this project if you do not send me a review draft. The rough draft (if submitted) and your final paper should e-mailed to me as an attachment... DO NOT turn in a hard (paper) copy of your paper. I know this is a lower-level class, but if you are scheduled to graduate at the end of this term, please try to send me your paper a few days before the deadline.

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Unless you are having extreme circumstances (such as you give birth when the paper was due, you are called up for military service, you are in the hospital, or something similar) I will not grant any extensions. Procrastination can and will become your enemy. I know you have a lot to do for (a) other classes, (b) your family, (c) your job, (d) your social life, or (e) all of the above plus more... So establish target dates for yourself during the term is force yourself to avoid trying to do this whole project the weekend before it is due. So if you procrastinate it is your problem, not mine. If you do not know it already, now is the time to learn time management. Grading Criteria for research papers submitted to Dr Gehling. (See the link to the College of Business Writing Rubric I have included on this project’s page in BlackBoard.) A… superior paper is one that addresses itself to all aspects of the technology related to the subject(s) of the paper. The paper is well organized. Any calculations, graphs, charts, and figures that are included are show appropriately and neatly and are relevant to the paper and not just used as filler. The paper displays a high level of technical competence, critical thinking, and judgment. In addition, the paper should meet all the requirements (including format) as outlined above. The author of the paper meets all the deadlines as specified at the start of the term. B... This grade will be given to a paper that displays an above average competence of the subject being presented in the paper; there are only a few problems in the development and/or presentation of the subject; topic presented does not completely meet criteria for the paper. Final paper must be turned in on or before deadline. C... This grade will be given to a paper that displays an average level competence of the subject being presented in the paper; there are more than a few problems in the development and/or presentation of the subject; topic presented does not completely meet criteria for the paper. Final paper must be turned in on or before deadline. D... This grade will be given to a paper that displays a technical incompetence of the subject being presented in the paper; serious problems in the development and/or presentation of the subject; topic presented does not meet criteria for the paper, or failure to meet more than one of the requirements outlined in the previous sections of this document. F... This grade will be given to papers having more than one serious problem or are turned in after the deadline.

Overview of Paper Requirements Dr Gehling’s INFO2070 class ZERO... The grade of zero will be given to papers that contain any form of plagiarism. This grade is also assigned to individuals who do not turn in a paper by the deadline for the term and who to not have an approved reason for an extension. Bibliography (references) I prefer that all references/citations listed in your bibliography and used in your paper be formatted using the APA (American Psychological Association) style standards. There are various sites on the Internet that will provide you with examples on how citations for different sources of reference material should be formatted. A good site to find this format information is http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apa-crib.html. Make sure that you properly format the citations for all website references that you use. I suggest that you print a copy of the webpage when you find it. Given that many websites are dynamic and might for various reasons the page, information, or even website might not be there when you go back to find and print it later. DO NOT USE THE TEXTBOOK FOR THIS COURSE AS A REFERENCE.. Avoiding Plagiarism Your paper should be an original work written by YOU. However, I do mind someone you trust (spouse/friend) reading it over for grammar and spelling errors before you send it to me.

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A website that does a good job of explaining what is considered "plagiarism" and how to avoid it is http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html