•Instructional reasons
•Guide students in developing a thesis (Stacks & Karper, 2001)
•Demonstrate scope and quality of student research (Lyons, 2005)
•Place research in a context (Stacks & Karper, 2001 ; Lyons, 2005)
•Provides opportunity for critical thinking (Engle, Blumenthal, &
Cosgrave, 2005, Lyons, 2005)
•Deter plagiarism (Harris, 2004)
•