Basic Guidelines for Research Papers

1. Introduction
What is the problem or topic you wish to investigate? How will you approach this research? Why is this of interest to you and why
should we be interested in this topic? This is you “contract” with the reader. Here you say what you will be doing in the remainder of the
project so define carefully your interests and the parameters (scope) of your projected work.
Also remember to keep the project focused. Don't wander off as you collect material.

Identify why you are writing the paper. State how you plan to approach your topic. Explain briefly the major points you plan to cover in
your paper and why readers should be interested in your topic.

If you need ideas for a paper look at the topics in assigned reading material. Is any specific sub-topic of interest to you?

A web search is also useful as a source of ideas. I would like for your topic to be stated in the form of a question, as this will guide your
research by keeping you focused on looking for the answers to this question. Choose a topic which interests and challenges you.

Your attitude towards the topic may well determine the amount of effort and enthusiasm you put into your research.

2. Literature Review
A literature review basically lays out a narrative of what has been written about this topic.

This section should:

 First, identify the major studies that have been done on this subject.
 Second, you need to identify and cite other sources that you found particularly interesting and useful as you researched the
topic of your paper.

3. Body of your original research or case studies

This narrative should be comparative (you compare what different researchers and writers have to say) and analytical (you should
make your own comments and assessments of what the existing material reveals and also what is missing from the material you have
identified in your view).

 As you gather your resources, jot down full bibliographical information (author, title, place of publication, publisher, date of
publication, page numbers, URLs, creation or modification dates on Web pages, and your date of access) on your work sheet,
printout, or enter the information on your laptop or desktop computer for later retrieval. If printing from the Internet, it is wise to
set up the browser to print the URL and date of access for every page. Remember that an article without bibliographical
information is useless since you cannot cite its source.

4. Conclusions
Summarize your major findings. Make certain that you directly connect this section to the introduction you wrote and to what you said
you were going to do in this research. Look at the introduction and make sure that you have clearly stated in that section what you
intend to do in this work.

5. Sources used
List, using the MLA citation method, the sources you consulted for this project. Footnotes can be put at the bottom of each page [1)
or you can cite by putting the source after the reference (Schmidt, 2003, p. 345) and then list the sources alphabetically at the end of
the paper.
Other Tips:

 Number Pages: You must number all pages.

 Font: use standard size and style font. Use conventional margins left right and at top and bottom.

 Quotations: Nothing is quite as effective as a few really significant quotations from authorities on whatever you are
researching. (Remember that hard though it may be to accept this fact, you are probably not an authority yet!). A few well-
chosen quotes that reinforce the major thesis or conclusions of your project are very useful. Make sure that you FRAME the
quotation with your own thoughts. Tell us what you are about to quote and then give us context after the quotation. Do not
just let it “speak for itself”. It won’t.

CHECKLIST:
1. Is my thesis statement concise and clear?
2. Did I begin each paragraph with a proper topic sentence?
2. Have I supported my arguments with documented proof or examples?
3. Did I use any run-on or unfinished sentences?
4. Are there unnecessary or repetitious words?
5. Did I vary the lengths of sentences
6. Does one paragraph or idea flow smoothly into the next?
7. Are there any spelling or grammatical errors?
8. Are my quotes accurate in source, spelling, and punctuation?
9. Are all my citations accurate and in correct format to ensure that I am not plagiarizing?
10. Did I avoid using contractions?
11. Did I use third person as much as possible? Avoid using phrases such as "I think", "I guess", "I suppose"
12. Have I made my points clear and interesting but remained objective?
13. Did I leave a sense of completion for my reader(s) at the end of the paper?
14. Did I follow my outline? Did I miss anything?
15. Have I made my intentions and points clear?

Re-read your paper for grammatical errors. Use a dictionary or a thesaurus as needed. Do a spell check.

Correct all errors that you can spot and improve the overall quality of the paper to the best of your ability.

THEN Get someone else to read it over. Sometimes a second pair of eyes can see mistakes that you missed.

TERM PAPER GRADING

25% - Requirements of paper met (thesis topic cleared, length, works cited)
25% - Feedback from Quality Writing Center (minimum of 2 visits. First visit prior to April
10) – Documentation submitted to Blackboard
50% - Content of paper, grammar, structure