Introduction to Computers: Fall 2013

Term paper: Progress report

You have turned in your prospectus: this means that you have decided on a subject for your term paper, have defined a few questions that will be discussed in the paper, and have done some research on where to find information so that you can document your paper.

This progress report is the second stage that tracks your progress towards finalizing your paper. At this stage, we still do not expect a full "perfect draft": rather, we expect that you have made progress and refined the outline of your paper, as well as further your research on documents/books/web pages that will prove useful for writing your essay.

Ultimately, your essay will have the following format:

• Introduction. It should introduce the topic as well as define your analytical question/statement.
• Describe the topic: present the results of your research in detail
• Discussion or Analysis
• Make your statement: Answer the analytical question or problem you posed
• Conclusion: summarize main points & maybe go beyond: explain significance
• Bibliography

The progress report should contain two parts: a "research progress" that describes what you have found so far in your research, and an "advanced outline" showing that the outline of your paper is shaping up and that you are getting ready to generate the first rough draft of your paper.

Research progress

In this part, you should list the elements that you will need for your paper. In particular, we would like to see:

• A list of at least 5 sources you will use. It should include at least two recent articles and one book; the others can be web pages.
• Mention if you found a published review of the literature that is pertinent to your topic.
• An assessment of the validity of your sources.

Note that this is still work-in-progress: it is perfectly OK if you add more references later on or if you do not use some of the references that you included in your progress report.

An advanced outline

In this part, you will describe the current state of your term paper. Most of it can still be in the form of bullet points, but the outline should have shaped up to match the final format of the paper. This outline should include:

• Title of your term paper
• Introduction: introduce the analytical question(s) you will discuss. This part can already be organized in one or two paragraphs, in which you state your questions. Remember that "how" and "why" questions are more informative than "what" questions.
• list the arguments you want to make, with links to your research; this will probably still be in bullet points
• Discussion: list the points that need to be discussed in response to the arguments you included in your description. Again, this will be in bullet points.
• Answer and Conclusion: you might not have reached that stage yet. If you have, present briefly your current thoughts on what will be in your final paper.

Turning in your report

Your progress report should not be longer than 3 pages. 2 pages is perfectly OK! Turn in your document on Smartsite.

Grading