Additional Format Guidelines:

• Use a separate title page for your name, date, and title. That way you can go right to work on the first actual page.
• Think before you write. When you get a useful idea, write it down wherever you happen to be. You might forget it later.
• Don't postpone all your thinking until the night before the paper is due. You probably won't come up with much.
• Write clear, simple, grammatical prose. Check your spelling. Proofread carefully. I would rather see last-minute hand-written corrections on your paper than have to wade through mounds of typos and half-sentences.
• Do your own work. Don't plagiarize. See Course Syllabus in this regard.
• This is a reflection paper, not a research paper. Don't waste time quoting from external sources. This does not mean that you should not research before writing, but it does mean that research should be the background of and preparation for your thinking. In order to have informed opinions, you need to acquire information. So:
  • Inform yourself through copious reading. Read. Read. Read. There is a whole lot of information out there.
  • Think about the issue. Brainstorm. Jot down ideas. Dictate to a tape recorder. Discuss it with your friends and family.
  • Organize your thoughts. Map them out on paper. Outline. Storyboard. Do whatever helps.
  • Write and rewrite.
  • Revise.
• Don't waste time with a long introduction, telling me what you are going to say, or a long conclusion that simply summarizes what went before. Get to the heart of the matter right away. Jump right in.
• Follow the guidelines, and make sure you do everything that is required.
• Don't try to cheat the length requirement with big margins, huge fonts, and the like. Anything short of the minimum will affect your grade.
• If you get carried away and write lots more than the minimum, that is fine with me so long as what you write is good stuff and not redundant (or repeats itself or says the same thing over and over again).
• Avoid slang and foul language (I shouldn't have to say this). Also, don't use emotionally-charged language to substitute for good reasoning.
• Staple your paper (upper left corner). No paper clips, weird folders, or plastic wrappers allowed.
• If you suffer a "mental block," try dictating to a tape recorder to get warmed up. Talk to yourself, and write it down.
• Keep in mind that this is a reflection paper, not the end of the world. Just do your best.
• See me or email me if you need help.

More Stupid Advice: How to make little sentences into big paragraphs

• State your idea boldly and clearly.
• Explain what you mean by this statement. (Ask yourself, "What does it mean?" Explain your statement with new statements or explanations.)
• Give reasons for believing this statement is true. (Ask yourself "why" and answer "because.")
• Explain those explanations and reasons.
• Defend these newly generated explanations and reasons with new reasons.
• For each statement, ask yourself "why." The word "why" always generates new statements.
• In this way, ideas reproduce and give birth to new ideas (which can be quite surprising).
• The more you question your own writing and argue with yourself about it, the more you will come up with.

I do not expect you to be writing a research paper, but if you should have a need to reference your online sources, then follow this guideline:

Way to Reference Online Sources

State the --

(1) name of the author first (if available) -- last name first,
(2) then the title of the article (in quotes),
(3) the complete work it is taken from (if indicated) in italics,
(4) Available:
(5) the Web address or URL [http or whatever],
(6) followed by month/day/year in parentheses.

EXAMPLE:

Lastname, Firstname. "Title of the Article." Name of the Complete Work It Is from. Available: http://www.???.??? (month/day/year).

See also "The Columbia Guide to Online Style" at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html.