The Term Paper: Guidelines Length: 2000-2500 words Formal Details Font size: 11 or 12, preferably "Times New Roman" Spacing: Leave plenty of space between the lines, preferably medium spacing Margins: Approximately 3 cm Submission: You need to submit your term paper in printed format and as a file (it will be uploaded on Turnitin, a programme that checks for plagiarism) Organisation of the Term Paper - Formulate a research question as a basis for your argument (you can also begin by making a claim or expressing a hypothesis). - Develop an argument; this means, you need to interpret, explain and argue, rather than just summarise what others have said. - Avoid simple plot summaries. - Make sure that your paper is structured logically. - Check that your sentences follow on from each other; this is, check for coherence. - Avoid subjective statements. Instead support your interpretations with evidence from the text or arguments from scholarly background sources: "this phrase can be interpreted as xyz because …" Remember the phrase "no evaluation without justification". - Note that good papers move been general comments and specific discussions of details. Language and Presentation - Keep in mind that the standard of your English accounts for 50% of your mark. - Check that your sentences are complete. - Read your paper through carefully before submitting it so that you can avoid basic grammatical errors (agreement, tense inconsistency, spelling). Quotations - Quotations from literary works and scholarly background sources need to be identified by quotation marks. - Give page numbers in brackets after quotations from individual literary works. - Type out any quotation accurately (mistakes in your quotations are embarrassing). - Remember that quotations need to be interpreted; this is, you need to explain why you quoted a particular passage. (Rule of thumb: your interpretation should be longer than the passage you have quoted.) - You need to refer to at least 4 scholarly essays. - All quotations need to be acknowledge appropriately. Plagiarism will not be tolerated! - The analysis of "The Bamboo Stalk" novel by Soud AlSanousi: It is a World literature course, so the teacher wants us to highlight the idea of the two cultures which are Philippine and Kuwait. In addition, she wants us to discuss the (theme/social problem/family relationship/ similarities and differences ) in these two cultures.