INDS 600

Discipline Integration Paper Instructions

You will write a 3,800–4,400-word research paper (title page, bibliography, and citations not included in the word count) on an interdisciplinary studies topic surrounding the integration of your 2 areas of study. This is a course on interdisciplinary research—and you take it to apply these lessons to your academic career and to what you do or will do in your field. For your Discipline Integration Paper, you may write about any integrative topic relevant to your areas of study or suggested in your coursework, and that you think holds value for you as you pursue a career or further your education.

Remember, you choose the topic or issue for the paper as long as it integrates your 2 areas of study by adding to the field of interdisciplinary studies. You will utilize your work and instructor feedback from the Annotated Bibliography and Discipline Integration Paper Outline to build this assignment.

Your Discipline Integration Paper must have the sections below. All  of them should be formatted according the current format of your declared Area of Study I.

• Abstract• Introduction/Thesis or Argument• Literature Review• Integrative Approach (how you reached a position on this subject—in this case, your literature review)• Results/Recommendations• Suggestions for Further Research/Study• Conclusion• Bibliography (the works cited in your paper)

Note: Not all sections are created equal. Some of the above may be a paragraph or 2, while others may be a few pages.

At least 15 academic, peer-reviewed articles are required along with citations from your textbook and the Bible. The sources you use must be less than 5 years old. The research you conducted during previous coursework throughout this course and utilized in our Discussion Board Forums can be used for the paper (though not taken word-for-word and must be rewritten to fit the context of this assignment). There must be a focus and flow that integrates all of the research together.

SafeAssign

Safe Assign software is an educational tool that shows students the originality of the work they are submitting. Since any research paper you write will include ideas or quotations that do not belong to you, it is important that you not only give credit where it’s due. However, also strive for originality. The overall score is an indicator of what percentage of the submitted paper matches existing sources. This score is a warning indicator only and papers should be reviewed to see if the matches are properly attributed.

• Scores below 15 percent: These papers typically include some quotes and few common phrases or blocks of text that match other documents. These papers typically do not require further analysis, as there is no evidence of the possibility of plagiarism in these papers.
• Scores between 15 percent and 40 percent: These papers include extensive quoted or paraphrased material or they may include plagiarism. These papers should be reviewed to determine if the matching content is properly attributed.
• Scores over 40 percent: There is a very high probability that text in this paper was copied from other sources. These papers include quoted or paraphrased text in excess and should be reviewed for plagiarism.

Submit this assignment by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday of Module/Week 8.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement, or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’s level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’s level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.