Optional
Paper
Your paper’s body should be between 2,000 and 2,500 words. (This comes out to 8-10 typed pages.) I
prefer (but do not require) that you use the APA or Chicago style. Whatever you
use, make sure it is double-spaced, in 12-point type with one-inch margins.
Spelling and grammar are important, and points will be taken off (up to a
maximum of 15 points) for spelling and fundamental errors in grammar. (See my
friend Timothy Terrell’s web site for some tips:
http://webs.wofford.edu/terrelltd/booboos.html.) Your paper should
demonstrate knowledge of several of the concepts taught in this class, and
should make use of at least half a dozen sources (apart from your textbook). I do not want your opinions as much as I want
evidence that you have researched your topic and have attempted to apply
economic thinking to it. Suggested
topics are listed below. No two students
will be allowed to write papers that have substantially the same topic. All topics must be cleared with me. When you turn in your topic, I want a
half-page, typed, single-spaced paragraph explaining what the paper will be
about, followed by a proposed outline. This assures me
that you have given your topic some thought.
Topics are due October 19th, but will be accepted earlier. An insufficient description of a topic, or a
late topic, will result in five points being subtracted from your paper
grade. If you decide to change your
topic, turn in a new half-page as soon as possible—and if you have not turned
in a topic, I will not accept a paper from you.
Your paper is due on November 23rd.
My primary purpose for allowing a term paper is to encourage students to write for their grade and to practice writing at a college level. The paper option is not extra credit, so I strongly advise you not to attempt a term paper simply because you may not have performed well on the first test and think this option will help you raise your average. Students who choose to write a term paper option will be graded on a 450-point scale, with the paper being worth 100 points.
Possible Topics
° Rent Control
° Do
Free Trade Agreements Promote Free Trade?
° Drug
Legalization
° Price
Gouging During States of Emergencies
° Have
Price Controls on Steel Imports Helped the Alabama Steel Industry?
° Antitrust
and Monopoly: Can Monopolies Exist in the Long Run?
° Cartel
Theory and OPEC
° Napster and Property Rights
° The Concept of the "Living
Wage"
° Forest
Fires and Property Rights
To be absolutely crystal-clear: You Do
Not Have To Choose One of the Above Topics!
Late Papers
If, when the paper is due, you are
very ill and can hardly move, you must have a friend turn it in or make a
valiant effort to crawl to a computer and e-mail it to me as an attachment (in
Word for Windows format, please). If you
send the paper by e-mail, you should set up your e-mail to send you
confirmation of delivery, as these attempts have sometimes failed. It is your responsibility to ensure that the
paper is in my hands or on my computer in time—if I can’t see it, it’s not on
time. (Remember that server overload can slow email deliveries.) You will lose 10 points for being late, up to
24 hours. I cannot accept late papers
beyond 24 hours past the deadline.
Internet Sources
For the purposes of this class,
single website counts as a single Internet source, no matter how many articles
you get from that website. So if you go to www.nber.org, and use ten articles
from that site, that’s one source. This is to ensure breadth of research.
Cite the Site!
How to cite a website address in a
bibliography using:
APA format:
Lastname, First
Initial. (Publication date). Article
Title. [Online type (e.g. Online book, Online
article, Online abstract)]. Web site. Retrieved month
day, year from the World Wide Web: URL
For
example:
Reinhart, James R., and Jeffrey J. Pompe. (June 1999). Preserving
Beaches. [Online article]. Political
Economy Research Center web site. Retrieved
For more
information on the APA form of citing information obtained from the Internet,
see http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html.
Chicago Manual style:
The footnote will look like this:
1. Firstname Lastname,
"Article Title," Web site, day month, year [Online type]; available
from URL; accessed day month, year.
The corresponding citation at the end
of your paper will look like this:
Lastname, Firstname. "Article Title."
Web site, day month, year. Online
type. Available from URL; accessed day month, year.
For example:
1. James Reinhart and Jeffrey Pompe,
"Preserving Beaches," Political Economy Research Center web site,
June 1999 [Online article]; available from http://www.perc.org/beaches.htm;
accessed 28 June, 1999.
Reinhart, James, and Jeffrey Pompe. "Preserving
Beaches." Political Economy Research Center web
site, June 1999. Online article. Available from http://www.perc.org/beaches.htm; accessed
If you have the Adobe Acrobat reader,
there is a handy 2-page guide to Chicago Manual citation, including web site
citation, at the
There are other citation styles that
you may also use, but I prefer that you employ either the APA format or the
Chicago Manual style. If you choose not
to use these formats, it is important that you are consistent in whatever
format that you choose.