corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Your paper should have a title. As with many aspects of your paper, be as creative as
you like.
2. You absolutely need a thesis! Try to go beyond the readings and really think about your
thoughts/opinions on the topics we’ve discussed.
a. Example of a thesis that may need some work: “Friedman was a very important
figure in economics.”
b. Example of a thesis that sets you up for an engaging paper: “This paper will
argue that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can and should exist within a
society valuing free enterprise and individualism. This is contrary to Friedman’s
belief that CSR is inherently driven by socialist collectivism which is opposed to a
truly capitalist society.” (Notice how this uses the readings and discussions from
class to takes a strong stance that will require some additional research)
c. Research is a process. As you read references and explore a topic, you’ll find
various subtopics. Continue to drill down into subject matter until you are learning
something that you feel you can communicate. Writing on a narrow topic will
often be easier than a broad topic.
Formatting
1. Please double space the lines—a nearly-universal standard for manuscripts that better
permits annotation and editing. Page numbers are also useful for the reader and editor.
2. Use paragraphs to split up your thoughts. Each paragraph should be indented.
3. Don’t be afraid to use section or paragraph headings! Headings are a great way to
organize your paper and let the reader know what they should expect.
Sources
1. Ideally, your sources are peer reviewed (this means they are reviewed before publishing;
that is, not an opinion piece or blog).
a. You can cite opinion pieces or blogs as long as you are using them to point out
what popular opinion is trending toward, not as empirical evidence.
b. Any source worth citing will make the author’s name readily available. If you
cannot readily locate the author’s name, do not use the source.
2. Stick to one citation format (APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, AEA).
3. Utilize the resources you are paying for! (The UCSB Library).
a. The UCSB Library has a wealth of information that you’ll have to pay for once
you graduate.
b. Use the library search engine (or Google Scholar) to find peer reviewed articles
or books. (Hint: using these search engines makes it really easy to cite your
sources because they have citations ready to be copy and pasted on the results
page)
4. You should read enough of each source that you understand the context of the work and
are reasonably assured that you are representing the author’s meaning and intent. Cite
a source when you draw on knowledge you gained from that source.
5. Do not attempt to reword passages from sources (a grey area of plagiarism). You should
be able to read the source, set it aside, and form your own thoughts and sentences. Of
course, feel free to include direct quotations (with citations) to supplement your work.