You may write a term paper on any topic having to do with public library service to children or teenagers. Clear your topic with me in advance if you are unsure. A suggestion: narrower topics may turn out to be more interesting than very broad ones, and open-ended questions are usually more fun than foregone conclusions. Some possibilities:

• Service to homeschoolers (broad); helping homeschooled children in the upper elementary grades with their science fair projects (more specific), taking into account family beliefs on evolution and other scientific theories (potentially more interesting).
• Bibliotherapy (very broad); using books to help kids deal with moving to a new community (more specific); helping immigrant children of a specific culture with issues related to relocation (more specific in some ways, but also broader in some interesting ways).

For more ideas, check the suggested readings or browse journals like Public Libraries or Journal of Youth Services; or ponder some of the recurring questions on PUBYAC, PUBLIT, or other professional discussion lists.

Criteria for grading:

Papers will be graded on the basis of content (40%), organization (35%), and mechanics (25%). 

4. Above the Standard (B+ or A-)

• Content 
  • Central question relevant to course and interesting; topic clearly defined
  • Well-developed, meaningful rationale for exploring topic
  • Sources used (e.g., journal articles and URLs) relevant and authoritative; research findings are included and critiqued as relevant
  • Conclusions interesting, useful, and logically based on evidence and arguments presented in paper
• Organization 
  • Coherent; includes information needed for intelligent layperson to follow argument
  • Balanced; emphasizes main points, subordinates details
  • Logical; arguments hang together, and ideas are developed; full sentences and well-developed paragraphs predominate
  • Individual; own text predominates over quotes and bulleted lists
• Mechanics 
  • Sources are cited appropriately (for figures, details, and unique ideas as well as direct quotes)
  • Grammar and spelling correct; language is used clearly and effectively
  • All relevant requirements are met

3. Meets the Standard (B)

• Content 
  • Central question relevant to course; topic defined
  • Meaningful rationale for exploring topic
  • Sources used (e.g., journal articles, URLs) relevant
  • Conclusions interesting, useful, and logically based on evidence and argument
• Organization 
  • Coherent; includes information needed for intelligent layperson to follow argument
  • Balanced; emphasizes main points, subordinates details
  • Logical; arguments hang together; full sentences and well-developed paragraphs predominate
  • Individual; own text predominates over quotes and bulleted lists
• Mechanics 
  • Sources are cited appropriately (for figures, details, and unique ideas as well as direct quotes)
  • Grammar and spelling correct; language is used clearly 
  • All relevant requirements are met

2. Approaches the Standard (C+ or B-)

• Content 
  • Central question may not be adequately related to P-6 collection development; topic may be vague
  • Rationale may be vague or unpersuasive
  • Sources used may be less relevant
  • Conclusions may be trite, superficial, unrelated to evidence, or dependent on evidence and argument insufficiently developed in the paper
• Organization 
  • May lack information needed for intelligent layperson to follow argument
  • Balance flawed; main points may be submerged in details
  • Logic flawed; arguments may be undeveloped; points may be repeated without additional evidence or insight, as if repeated assertion could substitute; sentence fragments and undeveloped paragraphs may obscure connections between ideas
  • Less independent thought; own text may serve only to link a collage of quotes and bulleted lists
• Mechanics 
  • Although there is a bibliography, sources for facts and ideas in the text may go uncited; or citations may be incomplete, misspelled, or otherwise inadequate to their purpose
  • Grammar and spelling may be incorrect; language may be used vaguely and ineffectively
  • Not all relevant requirements are met