Ling 700

Term Paper Assignment

Choosing a topic

By now we’ve covered a variety of topics in core areas of linguistics at a superficial level. The term paper provides you with an opportunity to explore a topic in more depth. For the term paper assignment you may pick any topic that has come up in the class, or you may explore a language topic that you are interested in, but the class has somehow managed to overlook.

Developing a topic

Once you have a topic for your paper, you should make an appointment to discuss it with me. IMPORTANT - see me BEFORE Oct. 25th to start discussing your paper. I will help you find articles that offer a linguistic perspective on your chosen topic. I will also help you formulate an outline for your paper. Your goal in writing the paper should be to demonstrate how current linguistic research has dealt with the topic and provide an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of this research. I encourage you to suggest ways to improve research on your topic, but this is not required. You may conduct your own experimental study depending on the topic you select.

The paper

Your paper should be at least 10 pages long with full references to the books, articles and web pages you use for your paper. The paper should begin with a clear statement of your thesis topic and provide an overview of how you have approached the topic. The paper should discuss some of the research that is being done on the topic and your assessment of this research. You will have the opportunity to present a preliminary version of your paper during the last week in class. The final version of your term paper should appear in the Linguistics Department office by 5 p.m., Wednesday, December 15th.