The optional paper for
Money & Banking is not being offered for the current semester.
Optional Paper
Your paper’s body should be between 2,000 and 2,500 words. I prefer (but do not require) that you use the APA or Chicago style. Whatever you use, make sure it is 1.5 or 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, turned in with it explaining what the paper will be about. This assures me that you have given your topic some thought. Topics are due October 15, 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. Your paper is due on November 30th.
This paper is worth 100 points and changes the total points possible for your final grade from 450 to 550 points.
Possible Topics
° Free Banking
° History
of the 1st and 2nd Banks of the
° The
Origins of Central Banking
° Internet
Banking
° Why
Do Banks Fail?
° Why
° Hyperinflation: Causes and
Consequences
° Modern
Barter Markets
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 June 28, 1999 from the World
Wide Web: http://www.perc.org/beaches.htm
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 James Madison University library:
http://library.jmu.edu/library/guides/citation/chicagostyle.pdf
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.