Research Outline, Abstract, Bibliography

Paper Outline, Abstract, and Full Bibliography

For this assignment you will turn in the outline for your paper (a version of it will become your Table of Contents in the final paper, with dot leaders and page numbers).   Your outline should be specific enough to guide you in your research and to show the reader how the paper will be structured.  It needs more detail than points that read merely  “Biblical Foundations” “Arguments in Favor” “Arguments Against” etc.  (such an outline indicates that you have not been reading and researching your topic–you don’t want to leave that impressions).  Be detailed.

The Abstract should be typed in Times New Roman, 12 point font, and double spaced.  (It need not have footnotes–and shouldn’t.) It should be a summary of the paper.  Here is an example of an abstract for a paper on another topic (not ethics):

This paper will begin with a survey of the historical background of Rastafarianism, in African and Traditional Caribbean Religions.  It will then set this religion within it context, focusing particularly on the influence of colonial domination on the development of Rastafarian belief.  The paper will end with a critical evaluation of key Rastafarian doctrines from a biblical perspective.

Notice how easy it is to tell what the paper will be about (though no details are found.  One can imagine what the outline might look like–an Introduction, a section on African religions, a section on Caribbean religions, a section on Rastafarian teaching in its modern context, and a biblically based evaluation.  If the researcher has worked diligently up to this point, each of those sections will have two to four main points under them in the outline.

Finally, you will include the full bibliography. By week six you should have found most, if not all, of the sources you intend to use in your paper.  List these in a properly formatted (Turabian style) bibliography.   (If, in fact you end up using a couple of other sources, as you complete the paper, it is alright to add those sources to the bibliography when you produce the final paper in week eight.).

All of this should be in a single document, in Times New Roman 12 point font.