Research Report not meeting page minimums?

The research report is a challenging assignment that can be discouraging if one's paper does not meet the page minimum after substantial work.

The first thing to check is to make sure the draft is properly formatted. It should be double-spaced, 1-inch margins on all sides, and 12 pt Times New Roman font. If the formatting is already correct and the draft is still short of 4 pages, I suggest adding examples to the body paragraphs.

Find some additional examples from either existing sources or new sources that relate to the report's subtopics. Adding examples to the body paragraph can usually be an easy way to add relevant information while extending the length of the report. 

In finding new sources online, see https://support.setonhome.org/portal/en/kb/articles/how-to-find-source-online

Note- be wary of using automatic citation tools. Many times they will not format the sources according to the guidelines expressed in the handbook section of your course manual. 

Finally, if a student's report only reaches a page below the minimum, it will not have a huge impact to his/her grade. It will be deducted some but it is not the sole determining factor. 

• Related Articles

• Can a student change topics for the research report/essay after the working thesis has already been submitted and approved?

  Students are more than welcome to switch their topic to another approved topic after they already submitted a working thesis. However, they will need to resubmit the thesis statement with the new topic for grading and approval before submitting ...

• Can a younger sibling write a research essay or report on the same saint, historical figure, or topic?

  Yes. A younger sibling can write their research essay or report on the same saint/historical figure or topic. However, the student must make sure that they do their own research.

• How to Make Source Cards for Internet Sources (Literature and Composition and Lit and Comp II- Research Essay/Report)

  Here is an example of a source card for an internet source without a specified author and with a specified author. Remember, you do not send to Seton any source cards. Source Card Code: C Author: Not specified (Editors of History.com does not count) ...

• Simplified Steps to Literature and Composition 2 Research Report

  Here is a simplified list of steps for completing your Literature and Composition 2 Research Report. You still need to read the handbook section that gives further detail on each of these steps; this is only to give you a basic idea of the process 1. ...

• How to footnote information that comes from different page or nonconsecutive pages

  For paraphrasing or quoting information that comes from the same source but different pages (nonconsecutive pages), you separate the page numbers with a comma: In the sample footnote above, the footnote states that the paraphrase and/or quote came ...