Model research paper. I will put a good example on file in the Journalism Reading Room. Look at it for style and format as well as content. I hate those flimsy little plastic things. I usually throw them away.
Paper covers and other fancy forms of presentation are mere annoyances.
Save your money. Just staple or paper clip the pages together. And don't come to class the day that paper is to be turned in expecting me to have a stapler. You are a student in a college of journalism and communications. You are supposed to be a writer.