THE DEFINITION OF A GOOD RESEARCH PAPER, ECN 475/575
You should not think of these as precise grading criteria, but they do pretty accurately describe features of papers written for this course in the past. Keep these guidelines in mind as you develop your paper. If you have questions about anything indicated here, don't hesitate to ask me.
An A paper:
cites scholarly economic sources and incorporates them into its discussion
engages in original, sound economic analysis using tools learned in this course
contains no structural errors
is well-written
A B paper:
cites some scholarly sources but not as many as it could have
contains some sound but also some incomplete economic analysis using tools learned in this course
incorporates revisions suggested for the first draft, despite other shortcomings
is reasonably well-written, although it may contain structural errors
A C paper:
makes mistakes citing and referencing sources: either too few overall or too many that are non-scholarly
engages in little or no economic analysis using tools learned in this course
incorporates only some of the revisions suggested for the first draft
is not well-written and may contain minor structural errors
A D paper:
either cites no sources or references no sources (a form of plagiarism)
engages in little or no economic analysis using tools learned in this course
makes no attempt to revise problems in the first draft
contains too little material and thus is too short, reflecting a minimum of effort
An F paper:
neither cites nor gives reference to sources (a form of plagiarism)
intentionally plagiarizes sources
has nothing to say about labor economics
bears no resemblance to the first draft