PHYS 280 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Research Paper Versions 1 and 2 (RPv1 and RPv2)

RPv1

Main Task: Write the Initial Draft of Your Research Paper, Incorporating Your Colleague’s Response from the Research Paper Collegial Response; Include  a Writer's Memo

RPv2

Main Task: Write the Revised Draft of Your Research Paper, Incorporating 
Instructional Feedback; Include a Writer’s Memo 

 

Your RPv1 and RPv2 will be graded by these rubrics: RPv1 rubric and RPv2 rubric. Your research paper will be graded by a TA, who may or may not be your writing lab TA.

 

Overview

Produce two successive drafts of a 5–6 page research paper in which you  analyze and explain at length a problem in global security from both political science and engineering perspectives and conclude briefly with suggestions for solutions to that problem. You may emphasize the perspective of the political scientist or engineer that you’ve adopted for the project, but you must integrate both perspectives in your discussion. Your research paper should emulate the concerns, style, and substance of articles published in the Illini Journal of International Security. 

Your article should address a research question that involves both technical and policy issues in an important way. The balance need not be 50%-50%, but both types of issues must be important and discussed. When addressing some questions, it may be natural to discuss the technical and policy issues separately, with one or more sections devoted to each. For other questions, it may be more natural to interweave the discussion of technology and policy. Follow whichever approach works best for your research question. 

RPv1 and RPv2 must

• include a thesis statement in the introduction that answers a focused research question developed from one of the assigned topics (or an approved alternative topic).
• provide an integrated technology-policy discussion, one that (roughly) balances the two perspectives, developed in collaboration with your secondary author
• follow a problem-solution structure, with a possible solution or solutions to the problem discussed briefly but persuasively in the conclusion
• provide a thoughtful, informed, and accurate analysis of your answer to the research question
• show clear and effective organization through the use of topic sentences at the beginnings of sections, subsections, and paragraphs that follow a logical outline
• incorporate material from and properly cite no fewer than six acceptable and independently researched sources, consistently using a citation style of your choosing 
• follow all other assignment guidelines

RPv1 must

• read as a complete, researched, copy edited, and proofread version
• take into account feedback you have received on the research proposal

RPv2 must

• demonstrate thoughtful and substantial revision
• take into account feedback you have received on the initial draft

 

RPv1 Development Process

1. Research (Author, no AI): Analyze the sources found for RPPv1 and RPPv2. If necessary, find additional sources to support your argument.

2. Drafting (Author, no AI):  Write a high-quality first draft including all required parts of the paper (cover page, introduction, body, conclusion, references; see below for more details). Expand on your RPPv1 and RPPv2; incorporate instructor feedback and your colleague’s response from the Research Paper Collegial Response. 

3. AI Analysis (AI assisted): Upload your paper to your AI chatbot. Ask the chatbot to critically analyze your paper and produce a counter-argument. In particular, ask the chatbot to critique your policy recommendations and the strength of your argument. 

   • Prompt: explain in detail what this assignment is; consider uploading some directions to give proper context. Explain the purpose of the policy recommendation. Upload your sources. Ask your AI chatbot to analyze your paper and create a counterargument based on the sources you uploaded. 

4. Editing Draft (Author, no AI): Critically analyze AI’s comments on the strength of your argument. Decide whether AI’s suggestions hold merit, and make appropriate changes to strengthen your paper. Similarly, examine your chatbot’s counter-argument to your policy suggestions. If AI brings up valid points, present the counter-argument, and then counter the counterargument (read this: Counterargument | Harvard College Writing Center). Addressing the counterargument should only add a couple of sentences to your conclusion. The purpose is to forestall opposition to your policy suggestions by explaining why your suggestions remain valid despite a plausible argument to the contrary.  

   • Note: Usually, counterarguments should be presented in the introduction or body of your essay. However, since this is a research paper instead of an argumentative essay, we ask that your policy recommendations be mentioned in the conclusion. Therefore, your brief discussion of counterarguments should also appear in your conclusion. 

   • Important Note: make a copy of your first draft and edit the copy; ensure that you keep your first draft for submission below your final draft.

5. Verification: Verify all AI-suggested references and facts.

 

In Writer’s Memo: 

1. AI disclosure statement
2. Share the link to your AI-prompts or copy and paste the conversation
3. Analyze AI’s responses. Were its suggestions correct? Did you find them to be helpful? Did it present any incorrect facts? Did it point out a weakness in your argument that you missed? Did it actuallycritique your paper? 
4. Explain in detail how you used AI’s suggestions, or why you decided to not use them.
5. explain (1) what you believe the strengths of your draft are and what remains to be developed or improved and (2) how you have attempted (so far) to integrate the political science and technical perspectives in your draft's treatment of your topic.

 

Research

Independent Research: Your research paper must, as its name implies, be based on your own library research on the research question you have developed. It must go much deeper into this question than we have gone or will go in the course lecture-discussions (for guidance on what we will cover during the remainder of the course, see the Slides page from last year). It must rely on independent library research and not on any of the materials on the course slides or in this semester's assigned readings (two or less references from the assigned readings is allowed, however). Click here for some tips on "reading for research."

Reference Requirements: Your RPv1/v2 reference list must include:

• at least 6 carefully chosen sources (do not go under)
• at least one relevant book, chapter from a book, or peer-reviewed paper.
• no more than two of the assigned readings
• no more than two newspaper articles from high-quality newspapers (see below)
• no lecture-discussion course slides
• only approved online documents (see below)

You are strongly encouraged to read and cite articles in professional and scholarly journals, such as Arms Control Today, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Foreign Affairs, and International Security, or high-quality magazines that address current affairs, such as The Atlantic.

You may use the online documents posted on the Reading Assignments page and documents posted on the web sites of the U.S. government and the nongovernmental organizations listed on the Course Documents page. You may not use any other online resources without express written permission from one of the instructors. For every online reference included in your list of references, you must include the complete URL and the date and time that you last consulted that reference.

You may use one or two newspaper articles from high-quality newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, and the Wall Street Journal, for current events (within the last six months or so) if they are essential to your thesis, but be cautious: the facts may change substantially during the semester.

Supporting Citations: Just as in your previous, required essays, all statements or numbers that are not common knowledge should be supported by an in-text citation. Every citation must point to a source listed in your reference list.

Common Knowledge: Just as in your earlier Required Essays, statements that are common knowledge need not be cited (e.g., "the United States is in North America"). Information may be considered common knowledge if it is surely known by University of Illinois undergraduates who have not previously taken and are not currently taking Physics/Global Studies 280. Another rule of thumb is to consider a piece of information that appears in at least three sources without attribution to be common knowledge. All other statements of fact or opinion must be cited.

Citation & Reference Form: Your paper must use the APA citation (in-text parenthetical) and reference (works cited) system, since that is what IJOIS requires. See Paper Formatting (below) for more on IJOIS style requirements.

Reference List: List all the sources you have cited in a separate reference list, provided on a separate page. The reference list in this paper is not a bibliography (a survey of literature on a particular subject).

• Begin your reference list at the top of a new page immediately following the conclusion of your research paper. Title the page, “References” (centered, bolded). Any pages with figures or tables must follow the reference page.
• The reference list must contain an alphabetized list of the works that you have cited in the body of your paper, and formatted according to APA style. Most entries are alphabetized by the lead author's last name.

 

Writing

Originality: The majority of the text in your research paper must be your own words written specifically for this assignment. You may also use ideas and text provided in the RPCR from your colleague, who serves as a secondary author on your paper.

You may not ask AI tools to create any part of your paper. Relying on AI to write your paper defeats the purpose of this assignment and denies you the opportunity to learn valuable writing, reading, and analysis skills. Using text you have prepared for a previous or current writing assignment in this or any other course is not permissible, even if the text is placed inside quotation marks or paraphrased and properly cited, for three reasons. First, Physics/Global Studies 280 is a writing course and the research paper is supposed to be an exercise in original writing. Second, students are not yet authorities on any of the relevant subjects and therefore are not appropriate primary or secondary sources for the research paper. Third, doing so is a violation of Article 1, Part 4 of the University of Illinois Student Code.

Audience: In writing your essay, assume that your audience is that of the Illini Journal of International Security. In addition, you may assume from our course context that the audience is familiar with the material that has been presented in the course lecture-discussions and in the assigned readings. You do not need to define terms that have been defined in previous essays or provide citations for these terms. You must define other terms and provide citations for these definitions, but you do not need to place any standard definitions inside quotation marks.

Structure of the Paper:

Cover page: Your research paper must have a cover page preceding the body of the paper. The cover page should not be numbered. It must include the following three elements:

• A header block with all the usual required information in the required format.
• A short, descriptive title. The title of your research paper should be more focused than the topic that was listed as the title of your research paper proposal, but it should be brief (100 character maximum).
• A half-page (no longer) abstract that describes the question addressed in your paper and summarizes your conclusions and recommendations. For advice on writing an informative abstract, see the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill Writing Center’s abstracts handout (the “problem” form probably works best for this assignment; IJOIS also asks that the abstract “entice” readers to read the full article). For a model abstract for RPv1/2 and a list of strong and weak abstract qualities, see here.

Introduction: The first section in the body of your paper should be an introduction to the paper. It should begin at the top of the first page following the cover page, which should be numbered page 1. The introduction should not be longer than 1.5 pages. Its purpose is to interest and engage the reader, provide context (e.g., “Iran has just tested a nuclear weapon”), and spell out your approach to the research question you are addressing. Do not list the sections in your paper or summarize your recommendations in the introduction; this paper is too short for that to be appropriate.

Body: The body of your research paper is defined as all of the pages in the paper except the cover page, the references page, and the figures and tables pages. Only the pages from the body of the paper count toward the 5-page minimum / 6-page maximum page requirement.

Page Numbering: Designate the first page of the body of your paper as page 1. Number pages continuously through to the end, including reference pages and any pages for figures and tables. Only the cover page is unnumbered.

Headings: Divide the body of your paper into several sections, using boldface headings. Use as many sections as you need, but note that dividing the body into more than five sections is probably excessive for a six-page paper. Avoid sections that are only one or two paragraphs in length. Do not label the introduction with a separate heading.

Conclusion: The final section in the body of your paper is where you will present your conclusion. For the RP, your conclusion should be written as a single, substantial paragraph in which you recommend a definite solution or solutions (policies or actions) that the global community or some subset of that community can take to address the global security problem you have presented. The solution or solutions should follow logically from your analysis and should be presented persuasively (i.e., addressing why this course of action is desirable and feasible given your analysis). Some explanation of your recommendation(s) is appropriate, but remember to keep the conclusion relatively brief and to avoid any unnecessary summary. The conclusion should not introduce any new facts or arguments and therefore should not need to include any citations.

Figures and Tables: You may include up to two (but no more than two) figures and/or tables in your paper, unless you have explicit permission from the TA who will be grading your research paper, and then only if they are essential for understanding the text.

Be sure to refer to any figures or tables in the body of your paper (e.g., "The decrease in weapons is shown graphically in Figure 1.") If you have figures or tables in your paper, they must occupy no more than two pages and be placed at the very end of your paper, after your references page.

Each figure must be numbered and have an explanatory caption. Each table must be numbered and have a title and a brief note explaining what is listed in the table. If any figures or tables are taken from another source, that source must be properly cited.

Content Footnotes or Endnotes: Do not use either content footnotes (consecutively numbered textual comments placed at the bottom of the page to which they refer) or content endnotes (consecutively numbered textual comments placed at the end of the paper). If you wish to include information that is parenthetical, simply place it in parenthesis in the text.

Length: 5-6 pages of body text (length min/max excludes cover page, references cited, and any pages for tables/figure)

 

Order & Item		Total Pages
1 Cover Page	1
2 Body	5–6
3 References	1
4 Figures/Tables	0 –2
Complete Submission	7–10

 

Paper Formatting: In general, follow the Phys 280 Style and Format Guide on the course website, except double-space the research essay, as per the IJOIS style guidelines. In addition, follow the other IJOIS style guidelines presented below:

“Punctuation: Please include a single space after periods, commas, colons, semicolons, et al. Periods should be used for abbreviations such as “i.e.”, “et al.”, “Mrs.”, “Dr.” etc., but do not abbreviate words when unnecessary. Additionally, there should be no periods inside acronyms (UN, NATO, CIA, etc.) or units of measure (lbs, mph, etc.)

Capitalization: Letters should only be capitalized for proper nouns, such as the names of names, cities, countries, or specific places, or for organizations. For example, words such as “West Africa”, “United Nations”, “Washington DC” and “Russia” should all be capitalized. Please refrain from capitalizing when speaking of governments and/or titles in general or for directions in reference to a geographical location (i.e. northern Mali.) All letters of acronyms should be capitalized.

Quotations: Please use double quotation marks to indicate quoted material, or any wording that is not one’s own. Single quotation marks can be used to emphasize irony. Example for single quotation marks: “The so-called ‘analysts’ have been wrong on many facets of the group’s modus operandi.” Please include the punctuation marks inside the quotations, as seen above.

Spelling and Grammar: All journal submissions must be in American English throughout.

Italics: Please use italics when referring to a title of a book, work, newspaper, journal, or any foreign language term.

Dates: A comma should come after the day of the month, as well as after the year. Example: “The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), founded on April 4, 1949, was originally meant to counter Soviet influence in Europe.”

Numbers: All numbers under 10 should be spelled out; those over 10 can be put as a numeral.

Citations: All citations need to be American Psychological Association (APA) style. A Works Cited page must be included with all submissions. In-text citations need to be used throughout and must contain the author’s surname and year of publication. Example: (Smith, 2015)…

 

Final Suggestions

• Given the relatively short length of this research paper, you do not have space to recount all of the results of your reading and research. The extent of your research and the depth of your understanding will show in your overall perspective and in the quality of your analysis and explanation.
• It may be helpful to write your first draft a page or so longer than the required length of the research paper, then shorten it to the required length. This technique forces you to revise ruthlessly and cut out any sentences that aren’t essential for your argument. Then, revise and shorten the paper to tighten up wording (active vs. passive voice). Your final draft should be concise and have a tight focus. This is not necessary, but may be helpful. 
• You can carefully revise a paper this short several times, and you should. For steps to take in revising your paper and strategies for improving your writing at the sentence level for clarity and brevity and at the paragraph level, see the linked Purdue Online Writing Lab handouts.
• You should proofread the final version of your paper very carefully. There should be no spelling or punctuation errors. You may use electronic spelling or grammar checkers, but do not rely on them completely. For proofreading tips, see this Purdue Online Writing Lab handout.
• Take advantage of any feedback you receive from your colleagues and instructional staff. Use this feedback to improve your work.
• RPv2 is your opportunity to write to the best of your ability, demonstrating all that you have practiced in the course.

 

RPv2

Taking into account feedback from your first draft, revise and write your final research paper. It should follow the same guidelines as RPv1. Approach your paper like it is a peer review; critically read your paper to make revisions. There should be substantial, thoughtful revisionfrom RPv1. In your writer’s memo, describe your revision process. Describe the changes you made, from most major to least.