ACC 7440
Research Paper

Each student will write a research paper in the course.  The final paper will run from 5 to approximately 8 pages long, double spaced. There is no problem with longer papers, but be sure your writing is succinct, tightly packed, and scholarly.  The paper is written with the using footnotes -- not endnotes, and not parenthetical in-text references -- and will include a cover page and a references (i.e., bibliography) page.    The cover page and the references page do not count toward the minimum 5 page requirement.

Step One: Student Proposal of Five Possible Issue Questions

Issue Questions.  The student will submit five possible topics, each in the form of an issue question, on the Digital DropBox on Blackboard for consideration. Five proposed issue questions will be submitted by the student on Blackboard (on the Digital DropBox) or before the assigned date. The instructor will attempt to select an issue question from the list, and will "fine tune" the issue question so that the student's research experience will be a valuable one.  If the instructor is unable to craft a suitable issue question from the list of five topics timely submitted by the student, the instructor will give the student the opportunity to submit another set if issue questions,

The student should select proposed issues in which the student is interested.  For example, proposed issue questions that relate to the student's personal life, job experience, etc., are often more interesting than other topics.  The student should, in pursuit of good issue questions, peruse the textbook, the Internal Revenue Code, and any and all other sources available to the student at the libraries or elsewhere.   Also, peruse the Web, perhaps starting with LegalTrac, ABI/Inform  and Academic Universe. 

Unacceptable proposed issue questions include:

• Questions that do not require research. This includes any basic questions that can be answered by a cursory reading if the Internal Revenue Code, a CCH Master Tax Guide, a tax textbook, or any other tax reference material that is readily available at any local bookstore.
• Questions that are directly addressed by substantial authority such as the Internal Revenue Code, federal tax regulations, court cases, IRS rulings, etc.
  
• Questions that are outside the subject matter of this course, that is, questions that do not address the tax aspects of financial or estate planning.
  

Acceptable proposed issue questions include:

• Questions that point to a gray area if the tax law. That is, questions for which there is no authoritative answer. Instead, students can develop, from substantial authorities, factors and circumstances that can point to one possible answer, and, from substantial authorities, factors and circumstances that can point to the opposite possible answer.
• A well researched and argued paper in this course will provide factors that lead to both possible answers, but will also arrive at a well developed specific conclusion in response to the question.
  

Constructing Issue Questions::

• Each issue question should start with the words, "To what extent and under what conditions and circumstances ..."
• Examples:
• To what extent and under what conditions and circumstances is relief from joint and several liabilities for spouses permitted under section 6015 of the Internal Revenue Code?
  
• To what extent and under what conditions and circumstances are the costs and expenses of this course deductible by students who are not working as accountants, attorneys, financial planners, CLUs or similar professionals?

Step Two:  Student's Receipt of Assigned Topic

Each student will receive feedback from Prof. Spalding. Within one week after the due date of the Digital DropBox "five issue questions" assignment, look for the feedback in the notes on the MyGrade tool on Blackboard once the points for this assignment are posted on the MyGrades tool. That feedback will:

• Assign one of the five issue questions as submitted; or
• Assign one of the five issue questions as edited by Prof. Spalding; or
• Require the student to try again with five new issue questions.  This can happen when:
• All of the issues submitted have already been assigned to other students on a first-come first-assigned basis; or
• The student did not properly submit five issue questions constructed in the manner carefully described above.

Reasons for non-selection of proposed issue questions proposed by students include:

• The question is too broad, and would require a doctoral-level of research; or
• The question is a public policy question within the domain of political science, public finance or other legislative or administrative policy, rather than a specific, controversial tax issue faced by individuals, trusts or estates; or
  
• The question is easily answered by reference to the text or other secondary materials, and would not lead to a good research experience (or a good research paper grade).

Step Three:  Research

Research.  The student's term paper will include at least ten footnotes, and will reference at least two types of resources (tax journals and law review articles), as follows:

• Three Scholarly Articles from Tax Journals.  The student should read and make specific reference to at least three scholarly article from one or more tax journals (other than law reviews).  A feature article from a journal such as Journal of the American Taxation Association,  The Tax Adviser, Taxes - the Tax Magazine, Journal of Taxation, The Tax Lawyer,  The Practical Tax Lawyer, or the "Tax Column" of the New York Law Journal will fulfill this requirement. Several tax journals are also included in some of the Restricted Databases that may be used by students on-site at the Wayne State University Libraries.
  
• In particular, the following journals are available within the "Tax Law" collection of the "U.S. Legal" subject area of  Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe (i.e., click on U.S. Legal tab on the left of the main menu, then click on the Tax Law link, and then select the following journals):
• ABA Tax Lawyer: Includes authoritative articles and analysis of legislation, decisions, developments and trends in the area of taxation of interest to the legal practitioner
• AICPA Tax Adviser: Contains full length articles discussing the most current and up-to-date tax information of importance to AICPA Tax Division members and to others interested in current trends in taxation.
• Practical Tax Lawyer: Concise, practice-oriented articles to assist lawyers with all aspects of tax law. The articles are written by practitioners and are reviewed by an expert board of editorial advisors who are members of the ABA Tax Section and are appointed by the Section
• Tax Analysts Publications: Tax Analysts' Exempt Organization Tax Review, Insurance Tax Review, Letter Ruling Review, Natural Resources Tax Review, State Tax Notes Magazine, Tax Notes International Magazine, Tax Practice and Controversies Magazine and Tax Notes Weekly Magazine.
• Other tax journals are available from other databases as follows:
• In the EBSCO Business Source Complete database: National Tax Journal; International Tax Journal; Journal of Property Tax Assessment & Administration; Virginia Tax Review; M&A Tax Report; Tax Lawyer;  Journal of Tax Practice & Procedure; Journal of Taxation of Financial Products' Journal of State Taxation; Journal of Taxation and others.
• In the ProQuest Research Library database: CPA Client Tax Letter, Tax Management Memorandum, Tax Management Real Estate Journal, Tax Management Financial Planning Journal, Journal of Taxation, Taxes and others.
  
• In the ScienceDirect database: Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation.
• Or, simply try each journal, one by one, by entering the name of the journal at the Online Journals page of the Wayne State University Libraries, and search or browse each journal separately.
  
• Three Law Review Articles.  The student should read and make specific reference to at least three tax articles from law reviews such as the Wayne State Law Review.  Law review articles are available online from the Hein Online database, and also from the Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe database at the Law Reviews link under the US Legal tab at the left of the main menu.  Some law reviews are also included in the WWW Virtual Law Library.
• A word about Google Scholar: Google Scholar is sometimes a good place to start, but not a good place to finish. Google Scholar works best from a campus computer, because if an article is available in a restricted database at Wayne State it is often not necessary to manually re-enter the journal and article information on the at the Online Journals page of the Wayne State University Libraries in order to retrieve the article. Google Scholar is not a good place to finish because it does not access the full range of tax and law review articles that are available at the Wayne State University Libraries.

Step Four:  Piecemeal Submission of Research Progress on Discussion Board. .

RESEARCH SUMMARY: Bibliography, Last Five Paragraphs, and Outline.   Toward the end of the semester, students will submit on the Discussion Board, and also as a Word file on the Digital DropBox, the following information as scheduled in the Schedule of Assignments.

Research Summary Part One:  Bibliography Information. The preliminary bibliography (submitted prior to the actual research paper) will be organized and labelled with at least six sources as follows:

• Scholarly Tax Journal Articles (3 minimum)
• Law Review Articles (3 minimum)
• Other Primary and Secondary Sources (no minimum)

Research Summary Part Two: Last Five Paragraphs and Outline. Along with the references (above), a draft of the last five paragraphs and an outline, will be posted on the Discussion Board per the Schedule of Assignments, as well being submitted on the Digital DropBox. The last five paragraphs and outline:

• Should deal directly with the assigned issue, and not with the history, philosophy, or general background of the issue.  Assume that the reader already has an interest in, and a general knowledge of, the topic.
• Should begin with a statement of the purpose of the paper. This statement is the thesis or proposition, and can be a restatement of the issue question (but this time in the form of a sentence) as assigned.
• Should not state the obvious.  For each sentence in each paragraph, ask yourself, does this state the obvious?  Is this sentence absolutely necessary for me to convey my critical analysis of the subject?
• Should emphasize substantive content and not mere words.
• Should not overstate the non-obvious.  Assertions of fact and declarations of  that which is assumed to true (but is not self evidently true) should be accompanied by page references to references.  When in doubt.
• Should include headings and subheadings so that the organization and outline of the entire paper is obvious to the reader.
• Should convey a scholarly tone.  Dramatic exclamatory statements and flourishes, strings of provocative questions, and similar journalistic and stylistic devices are neither desirable or appropriate.  State the purpose of the paper, and immediately proceed toward a scholarly presentation of the reasoning used to make the point of the paper.  Again, assume that the reader already has an interest in, and a general knowledge of, the topic.
• Should reach a conclusion that adds to the body of knowledge.  The conclusion should be the result of your analysis of your research, and should provide new insight into your topic (that is, should add something to what is already known and published regarding your topic).
• Should reflect thoughtfulness and logic, and include deductive or inductive reasoning, or possibly a combination of the two.  Careful and thoughtful induction and deduction are proper, but "reduction" (the mere restatement or paraphrasing of the words and ideas of others) and "seduction" (the distortion, overstatement, or dramatization of findings, often for the purpose of making a political point, bolstering a previously held opinion, or attempting to cover up the fact that rigorous inductive and deductive reasoning--or scholarship in general--are lacking from the paper) are inappropriate

Note Regarding the Early Submission of Conclusion.  It might seem unusual, at first blush, to submit the the last five paragraphs so early in the semester.  However:

• These are draft paragraphs, so they will probably be different from the paragraphs of the final research paper.
• The conclusion of the paper should, like the beginning of the paper, flow from the issue question. Therefore, the student is fully capable of arriving at a tentative conclusion that directly responds to the issue question even if, as stated above, the paragraphs change once the final research paper is completed.
• The conclusion of a paper should always "tie" to the introduction of the paper.  In the context of the issue question assigned, the student is as capable of writing a conclusion as an introduction.
• The student should have completed a large portion of the research by the time the student submits the last five paragraphs.  A tentative conclusion to the paper should not, therefore, seem "mysterious" or "unknown" to the student at that  point in time.

 Step Five: Oral Presentation of Research Results

Presentation of Research with Handout.   As noted on the Schedule of Assignments, time will be alloted so that each student can present her or his research.  The student has two options for this:

• In Person.  The student's five minute oral presentation will consist of a recitation and explanation of the issue, a description of the rationale and logic used in responding to the issue, a summary of the student's research efforts and results, and, separately, a summary of the student's conclusion(s).
• The presentation, including the five minute time limit, should approximate the presentation that would be made if the student had been hired as a consultant and was given five minutes to summarize the findings before the organization's board of directors. No Powerpoint slides, overheads, or other graphics or other features are required or permitted.
  
• The student will also be prepared to answer questions from the instructor and from other classmates regarding the issue and the research.
• The questions (and answers) should approximate the type of questions that might be asked by members of an organization's board of directors (e.g., the questions should not inquire about research or matters outside the very narrow confines of the student's topic as presented).
• The presentation should be confined to the ethical issues and analysis.  The paper itself should involve 75% ethical analysis and 25 % legal and other analysis, but limit your presentation to a fallacy-free ethical analysis of your issiue -- as assigned -- that reflects Toulmin argumentation.
• The student should arrive at the presentation with ten copies of his or her handout, so that there is enough for Prof. Spalding and the other students in attendance. If there will be more than nine or ten students attending, Prof. Spalding will email the suggested number of handouts to the in-person presenters approximately one week prior to the presentation. If no such email is received, do not inquire about this; just bring ten copies.
  
• Video Presentation.  Alternatively, the student may produce his or her own digitized five- to ten-minute presentation and upload it as a attachment (in addition to her or his handout), on the Discussion Board prior to the date and time noted in the Schedule of Assignments.
• The content of the video presentation is identical to the content of an in-person presentation (above), and should run between five and ten minutes.
  
• The video should only show the student speaking.  No Powerpoint slides or other graphics or other features are required or permitted.  The video should provide the same thing that an in-class presentation would provide:  the student speaking.  Any graphics or other creative devices should be confined to the one-page handout.
  
• The presentation must be uploaded in a "movie" format generally compatible with Windows Media Player or RealMedia (e.g., .wmv).  If you are not sufficiently familiar with this technology (or are otherwise unable to produce a simple five- to ten-minute video recording of your presentation), find someone to help you or, simply plan to attend and make your presentation during the in-person presentations as scheduled in the Schedule of Assignments.
  
• Many ordinary digital cameras (and even many camera-equipped cell phones) have the capacity to make a five to ten minute video recording.  No special equipment is necessary:  a simple recording produced with an ordinary digital camera will suffice, so long as the file can be viewed with Windows Media Player or RealMedia.
• The video file must be less than 65 mb in order to be uploaded onto Blackboard.
• The .wmv format seems to be the most Blackboard-friendly, so long as the file is less than 65 mb. Some students find software such as the Blaze Media helpful as they attempt to produce or compress a .wmv file so that it is less than 65 mb.
  
• Some students have run into problems with other formats such as .mp4, .avi and .mov so these are not recommended unless the student is absolutely sure that any computer running Windows can access them,
  
• As a general rule, a ten minute video presentation recorded on a standard digital camera at 15 frames per second, recorded with (or converted to) a resolution of 160 x 120 pixels, will result in a file size well below the 65 mb limitation.  (If you are unfamiliar with this terminology, find your way to someone who is more familiar with digital cameras.)
• YouTube Option. Students who don't mind having their presentation available for the world to see may, if they wish, upload their presentation to YouTube, and provide a link on the Discussion Board instead of uploading the video file onto the discussion board. Be sure the video can be viewed online from another computer (i.e., a computer to which the original video has not been saved).
  
• This optional video presentation provides an opportunity to demonstrate your resourcefulness.  Graduate students in this course who were initially unfamiliar with producing and uploading a video presentation have found themselves consulting a variety of sources, including lab assistants at the School of Business computer labs (or other Wayne State University computer labs), the instruction manual for any fairly new digital camera, salespeople at places like Best Buy, and, well, just about any teenager (or 12 year old) who has grown up with this technology.
• Due to the extra work and resourcefulness required to produce and upload a video presentation (as compared to simply showing up to present in person), students who instead produce and upload their presentations by the deadline will earn five (5) points extra credit.

Research Presentation Handout (All Students). Prior to the presentation, as scheduled in the Schedule of Assignments, the student will provide a one-page handout (only one page, but both sides may be used, making it a maximum of two pages within Word) by uploading that handout as a Discussion Board attachment for the discussion for which that upload is scheduled in the Schedule of Assignments (as well as onto the Digital DropBox as the Seventh Digital DropBox assignment). The student's handout is an MS Word document (or .pdf file) that will include:

• The student's name at the top.
• The student's issue question as assigned.
• Any additional information the student wishes to add.
  

Some students provide an outline of their paper; others provide supplemental graphic or tabular information; others insert a page from the internet (after adding their issue as assigned); others provide a one-page handout of Powerpoint slides (saved as a Word document or .pdf file).  Be creative!  The student will not, however, read from the handout while making her or his presentation of her or his research.  As noted above, those students attending the in-person presentation of research papers should bring ten copies of their own handouts to pass out unless they receive an email instructing them to bring more than ten copies.

Step Six:  Submission of Final Research Paper

Final Research Paper.  The final term paper is submitted  twice, that is, in both of two separate formats:  (1) first, electronically by the time and date indicated in the Schedule of Assignments, by way of the "Student Drop Box" section of the "Student Tools" area in the Blackboard Site for This Course; and also (2) second, in hard copy faxed (313-577-2000), or, physically delivered to the Department of Accounting, 100 Rands House, 5229 Cass Avenue, 1st Floor, during business hours so that it can be placed in Prof. Spalding's campus mailbox.

• With regard to the Student Drop Box submission, the file should be in Microsoft Word (not, for example, Works or WordPerfect).  To be safe, save the file in a format no higher than Microsoft Office 2003.  That is, when you go to save your final version of your paper, "Save As" Word 2003, not Word 2007 or later.
  
• You will upload your file onto the Blackboard system by "Sending" it to Prof. Spalding via the Student Drop Box function at the Student Tools area of the Blackboard website for this course.  Name the file as follows:  lastname-paper.doc.
• Enter "Research Paper from <your name> " in the Title section of the file information and the Comment section of the file information, and add the section number for this course in the Comment section of the file information.
• Do not submit the file in a .ZIP format or similar compressed format.
• Also fax, or deliver a hard copy of your paper.
• The delivery location is the Department of Accounting, 100 Rands House, 5229 Cass Avenue, on Main Campus during business hours. When you arrive, ask a student assistant or administrative person to place your paper in Prof. Spalding's mailbox. Do not shove your paper under an office door.
• The fax number is (313) 577-2000.  If you plan to fax your paper, do not ask for, and do not expect, a confirmation of the receipt of your fax; if you are unsure about sending a fax, choose another delivery method (e.g., hand delivery, Fedex, etc.).  Also, if you plan to fax your paper, do not wait until the last minute to fax your paper, as the fax line will likely be busy and you will miss the deadline.
• The final term paper should be neat and professional in appearance.
• Use 12 point courier type, double spaced, with one inch margins all around.
• The final paper should generally run from 5 to 8 pages long, double spaced. There is no problem with longer papers, but be sure your writing is succinct, tightly packed, and scholarly.

• With regard to the Digital DropBox submission, the file should be in a Word or  Rich Text (.rtf) format. Do not submit the file in a .ZIP format or similar compressed format.  Make sure that footnotes are not "lost" in the process of converting the file to an appropriate format.

The final term paper should be neat and professional in appearance.  Use 12 point courier type, double spaced, with one inch margins all around.  Footnotes should be at the bottom of each page, and not in "endnote" format.  The final bibliography should include only those sources that were used by the student but that were not cited in the paper (and were therefore not referenced in any footnotes).  The style guide for the paper (including style of footnote citations) is The Bluebook:  A Uniform System of Citation, 19th Edition (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law Review Association).  Known as "The Harvard Citator," this book is the style guide for basic legal citation format that will be used for the research paper.  The Harvard Citator is available for purchase at most college and law bookstores, and is available for use at the Neef Law Library.

Pages should be numbered.  A cover page should include paper title, issue question as assigned, student's name and student number, course section (call) number, and date.  Of the 200 points, 150 points pertain to the content and the quality of thoughtfulness and research, and 50 points pertain to the quality of writing and the overall professionalism of the paper.The following suggestions will help students enhance their grade on the research paper:

•  Develop your topic so that your conclusion provides "new information," that is, an understanding about something new that is the result of your carefully constructed analysis, regarding your topic.
• Consider an opposite conclusion that could also be reached with regard to your topic, and address the opposing arguments that could lead to that opposite conclusion.
• Emphasize reason and ethics, and ignore appeals to the emotions.
• Use pro-and-con charts and other supportive devices from the Writing Argumentative Essay article as you deem necessary and appropriate.
• The Research Paper itself will be more similar in form to the Thesis/Support Essay format than the Argumentative Essay, and will serve as a more highly developed (and more rigorously researched) paper than an Argumentative Essay.
• The qualities and characteristics of the last five paragraphs, above, such as the use of headings and subheadings, should also be included in the Research Paper itself.
• The paper should reflective rigorous inductive and/or deductive reasoning, and should therefore NOT constitute a "reduction" (the mere simplifying, paraphrasing, or summarizing of the  thoughts and ideas of others) or a "seduction" (the diversion or conversion of the paper into an unsubstantiated poltical or personal polemic).
• The final Research Paper should be well-written.  For example:
1.  Avoid alliteration.  Always.
2.  Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3.  Avoid cliches like the plague.  (They're old hat)
4.  DON'T use bold, underlines, italics, CAPITAL LETTERS, font changes, and other stylistic flourishes simply for EMPHASIS!
5.  Ampersands & abbreviations, etc. are N.A.
6.  Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7.  It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8.  Contractions aren't necessary.
9.  Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10.  One should never generalize.
11.  Eliminate quotations.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
12.  Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
13.  Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly
superfluous.
14.  Be more or less specific.
15.  Understatement is always best.
16.  One-word sentences?  Eliminate.
17.  Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
18.  The passive voice is to be avoided.
19.  Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
20.  Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
21.  Who needs rhetorical questions?
22.  Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
23.  Eschew obfuscation.
24.  Don't use a big word where a diminutive one will suffice.
25.  Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
26.  You should not address your writing to the second person (i.e., you should not use the word "you").  I don't recommend that you or I use the first person, either (i.e., I should not find the word "I" or "me" or "my" when I read your paper).
27.  The word "feel" is not "fair", so don't use either word.

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Last Revised 03/20/2012 by  Prof. Albert D. Spalding, JD, CPA/CFF