How to Write a Paper 1. Get an idea (something that caught my interest in class) 2. Gather more information from acceptable sources (books & articles) 3. Read the articles from step 2 4. Think about the issue from step 1in light of new information from step 3 5. Prepare an outline 6. Write the paper Should I write it myself or cut and paste from the web? If I am caught, I will get a cheating F (2 cheating Fs = expelled from university). So, if I use someone else’s idea I will cite Soldat (2009) thinks…or cheating is bad (Soldat, 2009). 7. Prepare References page Author’s name (year published). Title. published where: published by whom Soldat, A.S. (2009). How to write papers. Abu Dhabi, AD: Alhosn press. If from web: author’s name, when published, what’s it called, when I downloaded it and where from, Deutch, N.C. (2007, May). All about being late in Germany. Retrieved April 13, 2010, from Facts about Germany website: http://www.germany.com/All about being late in Germany.html 8. Come up with a catchy title 9. Prepare the PowerPoint slide presentation based on the key point of each paragraph or a couple of related paragraphs (about 5 slides in total) 10. Get an A+ Outline: Being Late for Class* 1. Introduction: What is my paper about, what is the topic? a. What is being late? i. Cultural perceptions of what is late 2. Body: What are my arguments, what do I have to say? a. Effects of being late: i. On me ii. On other students 3. Conclusion: What does it all mean, what do I believe? a. The practice must stop or society will collapse! *This is also how you structure each paragraph in your paper. Late papers: Papers lose 2 marks each day they are late (after 5 days the paper is worth 0) Is It Really Better Late Than Never? Alexander S. Soldat 201110001 Al Hosn University Is It Really Better Late Than Never? Students arriving late for class is a constant problem at Al Hosn University (AHU). It is such a problem that it makes me wonder if the old adage ‘better late than never’ is true. I will consider what it means to be late and then discuss the effects of tardiness on students and finally on society. What do I mean by being late? Normally, not sitting at my desk at the time that the class is supposed to start would be considered late. Interestingly enough, AHU only considers a student as being late if they arrive more than 10 minutes after the class was supposed to start. Different cultures define what is late according to different standards. Deutch (2007) reports that in Germany, arriving even one second after the scheduled time would be considered extremely rude. In Gulf countries, on the other hand, ‘please be here at 7’ means that you should arrive ‘any time after 7’ (Fatima, 2009). Apparently, what constitutes being late varies from place to place. Being late has negative effects on the student who is actually late. Soldat (2008) suggests that if a student is not physically present to hear the lecture, it becomes impossible to remember the material at exam time. On the surface, this statement may seem a little too strong but if we consider the argument in detail we realize that it could be true. To answer an exam question correctly I have to remember from class what the professor said the correct answer was. How can I remember something that I never hear the professor say because I was parking my car or was stuck in traffic? Being late clearly means a lower exam mark for the student who is late. If I am late for class I will also harm the chances to succeed of my classmates. Bigbrain (2010) claims that a late student trying to get to her seat will distract the students who are already present and thus cause them to fail to remember the correct answer when they write the final exam. My tardiness will therefore reduce the chance to pass the course for other students as well as me. So what is the cumulative effect of being late on society? Our doctors and lawyers will know less than they should because they were late themselves or because they were distracted by the students who were late. When some of them become teachers and teach the next generation of doctors and lawyers, they will have less to teach them. And they will of course be teaching students who are either late or distracted by late students. So that eventually there is going to be nothing that anyone knows or can learn. Unless the practice of showing up late for class stops we will all be sick and in jail. References Bigbrain, V.B. (2010). Effects of distraction. New York, NY: Erlbaum. Deutch, N.C. (2007, May). All about being late in Germany. Retrieved April 13, 2010, from Facts about Germany website: http://www.germany.com/All about being late in Germany.html Fatima, H.B. (2009). Arab culture. Abu Dhabi, AD: United press. Soldat, A.S. (2008). How we think. New York, NY: Erlbaum.