: Academic Report
This assignment supports the following outcomes:
- Identify purpose and audience
- Analyze written materials through peer reviews
- Produce essays using the writing process
- Research an essay topic and document sources
- Value the importance of accurate reporting and critical thinking skills
Assignment Description:
Compose an Academic Report that explains what personal consumer debt in America is. Answer this question: what kind of personal debt do Americans have? Think about the different categories of debt the average American experiences and report objective, reliable information that shows readers what this looks like in our current American society. The focus should be informative. Remember:
- Academic reports reveal important points of discussion.
- Academic reports include an overview of key facts.
- Academic reports maintain an objective voice.
- Academic reports present clear and balanced research and organization.
You must use the writing process to create your academic report essay.
Some Topic Examples:
- Types of revolving debt (credit cards, for example)
- Types of loans (mortgages, payday loans, personal loans, car loans, student educational loans)
- Spending habits—what do most Americans spend their entertainment money on?
- Ratios of income to debt. What is income-to-debt ratio of the average American?
A college-level academic report requires students to present an account of an event or report the facts in a book, article, or other source as part of the report. Some research is required when writing a report, but an academic report is primarily an essay that requires students to interpret the data they gather rather than simply list that data in paragraph form. It is an exercise in critical thinking.
Steps for Success:
- Gather research; you will need facts about the types of debt on which you choose to report.
- Document the research contained in your report.
- Write a thesis or construct a statement of the controlling idea of the report based on the information you obtained.
- Construct an outline that includes your essay’s introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
- Compose the body of the report. The body of the report provides supporting detail about your topic using objective (unbiased) language that connects the reader to the main thesis.
- Conclude the report by summarizing your findings.
Deliverables:
- A well-written Academic Report essay that includes:
- 3-4 pages full pages of text, plus the Works Cited page
- Correct MLA manuscript formatting
- Correct in-text and works cited documentation following MLA 8/9 guidelines
- Two credible outside sources from the Angelina College Library databases or legitimate publications, such as magazines, newspapers, or journals. Other acceptable sources include information presented on websites, books, or interviews of known experts in the financial field One source must come from a magazine, newspaper, or journal article (2 is the minimum; you may need more).
- Two documented peer reviews
Grading Criteria:
The following grading rubric will be used to evaluate your assignment.
Academic Report Essay Grading Rubric
Resources:
General Academic Writing Checklist:
Basic MLA
- 12-point Times New Roman font throughout the entire essay (including header)
- Double-spacing throughout entire document with no additional spacing after lines/paragraphs
- One-inch margins on all sides of the page
- Heading which includes: Name, Instructor’s Name, Course Title, and Essay’s Due Date (day month year)
- Page numbering and last name in the upper right-hand corner
Introduction
- 3-4 sentences of context directly pertaining to the essay’s central topic and establishing relevance/significance
- A single, strong, specific thesis statement that clearly identifies the essay’s purpose/argument
Each Body Paragraph (some items are specific to essay type)
- Strong, specific topic sentence with a controlling idea that relates directly to the essay’s central purpose/argument and identifies what the body paragraph will discuss (no pronouns, vague language choices or quotations here)
- Quoted material/paraphrased material/summarized material that supports the body paragraph’s topic sentence
- Quotes that flow with the essay’s sentence structure and/or contain varied and appropriate lead-ins
- Quoted material that is documented using correctly aligned in-text citations
- Parenthetical citations/signal phrases that match the Works Cited entries
- Source information that is incorporated within the context of the essay
- Author comments that illustrate how/why the research supports the body paragraph’s topic sentence
- Transitions between new ideas (the final sentence of a body paragraph cannot be quoted/borrowed material)
- Content that follows a logical progression of development
- Content that follows the pattern of organization for particular essay
- Research that supports each major point
Conclusion
- Conclusion revisits and reinforces the major points of the essay
- Conclusion leaves the reader with something useful to consider or take-away
- Conclusions present no new information
Language
- The essay uses present tense (unless told otherwise by instructor)
- The essay avoids the use of first person pronouns (I, me, my, we, us our)
- The essay avoids the use of second person pronouns (you, your, yours, you’re)
- The essay avoids the use of courtesy titles (e.g., Mr. Mrs., Miss, Dr., PhD)
- The essay avoids vague language choices (e.g., a lot, things, stuff, anything, very, and other filler words)
- The essay avoids highly figurative or idiomatic language (e.g., “nip it in the bud,” “clear as day,” “buck wild”)
- The essay avoids the use of contractions (e.g., can’t, I’ve, they’re, she’s)
- The essay avoids excessive or undefined pronouns (e.g., they, this, those, that; “this” should be followed by a noun)
- The essay contains no major errors: run-on sentences, fragments, comma splices, or subject/verb agreement errors, pronoun reference errors
- The essay contains no misspelled or misused words
- The essay’s sentences are clear, direct, and concise
Research
- Works Cited page begins on the first full page following the completion of the essay and is titled Works Cited at the center, top of the page (no bold, no italics, no underline)
- All citations begin at the left margin and are formatted with hanging indentation
- All citations on the Works Cited page are double-spaced, 12 pt. type, Times New Roman
- All citations are arranged in alphabetical order according to the first word in the citation
- All citations end with a period
- All citations clearly represent published titles as major titles (italics) and/or minor titles (quotation marks)
- Blue hypertext is removed on all URLs
- Every item documented on the Works Cited page is also clearly used and documented in the body of the essay
- Number of required sources used/cited/documented is appropriate
- All citations are appropriate for an academic audience (no study-guides, SparkNotes, Shmoop, summaries/abstracts, wikis, blogs, encyclopedias, or essay writing or essay help services should be used)
Minimum Requirements
- 3-4 full pages full pages of text, plus the Works Cited page
- Addresses the assigned prompt
- 2 documented peer reviews
