For Econ 308 – Resource Dependency and Economic Diversification in Gabon: Challenges and Prospects

Term Paper’s Topic: 

Resource Dependency and Economic Diversification in Gabon: Challenges and Prospects

Term Paper Description

Due: Thursday of Week 8

There is a term paper requirement for this course that is designed to sharpen your writing, research and critical analysis skills. The topic shall be one of your choosing and follow these guidelines:

• The paper should begin with a concise statement of the problem/topic
• Summarize your position with an anticipation of the conclusion
• The body of the paper should be the data and narrative to support your position and conclusion
• There should be a concluding paragraph or statement

Your tern paper should follow these guidelines:

• Include at least three graphs developed in our course.
• A narrative which centers on 8 pages in length not including appendices
• Have a title page and bibliography
• At least 7 sources not including the text
• Word processed using double spacing and a 12 point font

The purpose of the data exercises is to ensure that you are familiar with the methodology of collecting economic/financial data from the Web and analyzing it. These exercises include collecting the required data, creating a graph or table to present this information, and no more than three double-spaced pages of analysis of the data.

The point of view that you should take in addressing each topic is that your audience (see above) is ignorant of what this data represents and how it is measured. Your task is to explain what the concept is what it intends to measure, how it is measured and to what uses the data can be utilized. For example the unemployment rate is a statistic in very common use and it is intended to measure the percentage of labor force (which itself is a very specific metric) is currently not working and is actively searching for work. Uses of this statistic are to find ways and means to reduce it, to allocate unemployment insurance, to gauge inflationary pressure, etc.

Due Date: Thursday of last week of class

General Guidelines for All Written Work:

All written projects should conform to standards of formatting and documentation, including proper citations and references found in an acceptable college-level writing guide such as APA or UMGC’s Guide to Writing and Research.

Please note that starting from the Fall 2020 semester the UMGC moved to the 7th Edition of the APA Style. The links to the 7th Edition of the APA Style methodology are posted in Content – Course Resources – Writing Resources.

Written projects:

1. Must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font, with one-inch margins
2. Must have the title page in APA-7th style
3. Must have in-text citations in APA-7th edition style
4. Must have reference list in APA-7th edition style. Please note that you must reference the data you are using for the project
5. Must be prepared using word processing software (Microsoft Word preferred)