1 RESEARCH DOCUMENTATION You have been asked to write a research paper. What does this mean? Writing a research paper means: 1. You will choose a topic to write about and then begin to find articles, books, and other resources that have already been written about you topic. 2. You will determine a thesis (somewhat like coming up with a hypothesis for a science experiment) that you want to prove through your research reading. 3. You will then read your sources and pull information from them to support your thesis statement. 4. As you write your paper, you will give credit to the writers (those who wrote the resources you have read) who have contributed to your paper. Giving credit to the writers is what documentation means!! Different groups have chosen different sets of rules to follow when giving credit to writers. Three common styles of documentation are used at ECC. APA (American Psychological Association) This style is often used in social science and related courses. * MLA (Modem Language Association) This style is often used in English and humanities courses. * Turabian (Also known as Chicago Style) This style is often used in history and political science classes. * * Be sure to follow your instructor's directions about documenting. Just because a discipline may often use a particular style does not mean that all instructors in that area use that style. You always write for your reader and your instructor is your reader, so do what your instructor asks you to do!
2 INFORMATION YOU NEED FOR DOCUMENTATION No matter what style of documentation you are using, you must show certain information. This information includes: 1. Author's full name, if available 2. Title of article, if information comes from a periodical (A periodical is a publication that comes out on a regular basis such as a magazine, journal, or newspaper.) 3. Title of publication or book 4. Date of publication (This will be a copyright date if you are using a book.) 5. Publisher's name 6. Place of publication 7. Page numbers 8. Internet address, if applicable. Items 4-6 are usually located close to the front of the book or periodical. If you are using the computer to look up sources for your research, much of this information can be printed out from the search. Be sure to take advantage of this service. Ask a librarian or lab assistant how to get "citation" information. There are two places within your paper that you must cite your sources: 1. Within a paragraph when you paraphrase, directly quote, or use a borrowed idea, you must show where that information came from. This is referred to as in-text citation. 2. At the end of your paper, you will create a page called a "reference page," "works cited page," or "bibliography." How you show these citations will depend on the style you are using. For information about how to cite various sources, you will need to obtain a good reference manual. These are available free in The Learning Center.
3 In-Text Citation APA BASIC RULES "In the text of your paper, place a note in parenthesis to identify the source of every passage or idea you must document" (Hairston & Ruszkiewicz, 1996, p. 677). The basic form of documentation shows the author/authors, a comma, and the date. When a citation is contributed by two authors, the last names are joined with an ampersand, not the word "and." If you refer to the author within your sentence/paragraph, you will only put the year of publication in parentheses. These parentheses may be placed immediately following the author's name. If you are paraphrasing, it is not necessary to cite a page number, but you may do so if you wish. Example: (Van Mierlo, 2000, p. 22) If you are quoting directly, you must always give a page number preceded by p. or page numbers preceded by pp. Reference Page Every source you quote or paraphrase in your paper must also be shown on a reference page. (The reference page may sometimes be referred to as a works cited page or bibliography although the words "works cited " generally apply to MLA style and the word "bibliography" may entail more.) Your reference page will list your references in alphabetical order by author's name. The first line of each reference begins at the left margin and additional lines will be indented five spaces. All entries are double-spaced. Here's how one entry on a reference page might look: Van Mierlo, C. (2000). How to construct a reference page using various citation forms. New York: Appleby. Notice: Only the first initial of the first name is listed. The date of publication is in parentheses followed by a period. The complete work is underlined along with the period that follows Only the first word of the work is capitalized. A colon follows the place of publication. The publisher is followed by a period.
4 MLA BASIC RULES In-Text Citation "In the text of your paper, place a note in parentheses to identify the source of every passage or idea you must document" (Hairston and Ruszkiewicz 591). The basic form of documentation shows the author/authors and the page number. When a citation is contributed to two authors, the last names are joined by the word "and." If you refer to the author within your sentence/paragraph, you will only put the page number in the parentheses. This will appear at the end of the paragraph inside the last period. If you use a long quotation (four or more lines), the citation will go outside the period and the quotation will be indented one inch from the left margin. Works Cited Page Every source you quote or paraphrase in your paper must also appear on the works cited page. Your works cited page will list your references in alphabetical order according to the author's last name. If an author's name is unavailable, you will list the article. name or book title in order with the authors. The first line of each reference begins at the left margin and additional lines will be indented five spaces. All entries are double-spaced. Here's how one entry on a works cited page might look: Van Mierlo, Christine. How to Construct a Reference Page Using Various Citations Forms. New York: Appleby, 2000. Notice: The full first name is listed followed by a period. The title is underlined followed by a period. A colon follows the place of publication. A comma follows the name of the publisher. The date is followed by a period.
5 TURABIAN BASIC RULES In-Text Citation You may be instructed by your professor to either use footnotes, which appear at the bottom of the page on which your citation is used, or endnotes, which will be on a separate page at the end of your paper. The basic form of documentation shows the author's name in natural order (first, middle and last names), followed by a comma, the name of the work (underlined and followed by a period). The place of publication, colon, publisher, comma, and date are in parentheses followed by another comma. Then the page numbers you have cited are listed, followed by a period. Each citation is numbered in consecutive order. The number will go at the end of the citation and at the beginning of the note. Example: According to Christine Van Mierlo, "There is more than one way to cite sources, depending on your instructor's preference. "1 If the above quote appeared within your paper and you were using footnotes, the footnote would appear at the bottom of the page as shown below. Notice: A dividing line is placed above the footnote to separate it from the text. If you are using Microsoft Word, footnotes can be automatically formatted using the "Insert" button on the toolbar. End Notes Page If you are using endnotes instead of footnotes, the information will be listed like a footnote but will appear on a separate page entitled "End Notes." Endnotes will appear in consecutive order as they appear in your paper. As with footnotes, if you are using Microsoft Word, endnotes can be formatted using the "Insert" button on the toolbar. When doing footnotes/end notes, you may use the term "ibid." when you are citing the same source twice consecutively. If you are citing the same source but from different pages, you will use the term "ibid." followed by a comma and the page number. Appleby, 2000), 28. 1 Christine Van Mierlo, How to Construct a Reference Page Using Various Citation Forms. (New York:
6 Bibliography A bibliography is different from an endnotes or works cited page in that it lists all the material you have found and read in preparing your research paper. In other words, it will probably be longer than either of the other pages. The citations in the bibliography are placed in alphabetical order according to authors' names. Example: Van Mierlo, Christine. How to Construct a Reference Page Using Various Citations Forms. New York: Appleby 2000. Notice: The individual author's name is listed last name first, first and middle names followed by a period. The title of the work is underlined and followed by a period. Place of publication is followed by a colon. Publisher and date are followed by a period. (There is no punctuation between these two items.) Each entry starts at the left margin with other lines indented five spaces. Entries are single-spaced; there are double spaces between entries. How to Cite Various Sources You will; no doubt, use many different kinds of sources such as books with one author, two authors or no author. You may use periodicals such as newspapers, magazines and journals. You may use reference materials like encyclopedias and government documents. You may also have the option of interviewing people who are knowledgeable about your topic. Obviously, each of these will require a different kind of citation. Listed below are materials available at the ECC library that will give you information about how to do this. Some sources are also available in The Learning Center. Be sure to document correctly. Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6 th ed. NY: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003. Troyka, Lynn Q. Handbook for Writers. 5 th ed. NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 5 th ed. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1987.
7 When to Underline, When to Use Quotation Marks An easy way to remember which titles are underlined and which are placed in quotation marks is: If it is a complete work, underline it. If it is an article, chapter, or any other portion of a complete work, place it in quotes. CHOOSING A TOPIC When choosing a topic, of course, you must first know what the requirements for the paper are. Be sure you understand what your instructor wants from you. Secondly, you will need to choose a topic within the requirements that is of interest to you - either something that you already have some knowledge of or something that you want to learn. You may need to do some brainstorming. Sit down and write all the things you can think of regarding a particular subject. Then begin to ask yourself what you know about these things and what you would like to know more about. You may want help with brainstorming. You can either schedule an appointment with your instructor, ask for an English appointment in The Learning Center, or just have a friend help you come up with ideas. It is important that you limit your topic so that you can cover it well within the assigned number of pages. For example, if you are told to write an eight-page paper, you certainly wouldn't want to tackle the subject of "hunger in the world." This topic would require too many pages and far too much research. You could possibly talk about "hunger in America's inner cities " or "hunger in Ethiopia " within the allotted number of pages.
8 GATHERING INFORMATION When you start looking for information, begin with your textbooks. When you have found as much information as you can from these books: Use the library! Available in the library: Periodicals - You can begin by doing a search from one of the indexes (ERIC, SIRS, NewsBank, etc). These indexes are on the computers in the library and you will want to search the index that relates to your subject. Reference Materials - These are the materials housed on the middle tier of the ECC library. Material in this section will give you specific details, facts, statistics, etc. Ask the librarians how to use the reference section. They are very knowledgeable and friendly, and they want to help you! Books - To find books that relate to your subject, use the on-line catalog. Books will give you information but, you will have to wade through them to get the material you are looking for. Internet - This is the "monster" many people are currently using. You can find information relating to almost any topic on the Internet. One word of caution: Beware of your sources. Anyone can put any kind of information on the Internet - it may not be accurate! At any time during your research, feel comfortable asking the librarians for help. They are an excellent source of information and help. As you pull up information on the computer, be sure to print out the information you need for your works cited/bibliography page. Although it won't be in the proper form, all the information you need will come with the printout. (In the Library, the first twenty pages printed are free. After twenty, 10 cents a page will be charged. Printing is free in The Learning Center, but please print out only what you think you'll need.)
PREPARING NOTECARDS 9 Once you have found information that you feel may be useful in your paper, you will want to prepare note cards. It is a good idea to complete two sets of note cards: one set will be bibliographic information; the other set will contain the information you are going to quote or paraphrase in your paper. Bibliography Cards These cards will contain the information you need for citing: author's name, title of article/book, name and place of publication, and date of publication. Maxine Hairston and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Handbook for Writers. 4 th ed. NY: HarperCollins, 1996. Note Cards - Information At the top of the index card, place the author's name. This will correspond to your bibliography card so you will know where the information came from but you won't have to duplicate it. Your information cards will contain the information you want to use, so you need to be very careful when you begin preparing these. First, you must decide if you want to use a direct quotation or a paraphrase or summary of the information you are gathering. If you are going to use a direct quote, you must be careful to copy exactly what you intend to use. This information will then be placed in quotes. (Only exact quotations are placed in quotation marks.) One way to make sure you pick up the information accurately is to cut it and paste it onto your index card. At the bottom of your card, place the page number(s) where this information came from.
10 Hairston and Ruszkiewicz "Photocopy or print out passages you know you will quote from directly and extensively." p. 550 Once you have developed your thesis statement and an outline, you will then go back to your cards and label them according to where you want to use them in your paper.
11 WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PAPER Now that you have a well-defined thesis statement, have collected all your information and have your note cards and bibliography cards complete, you are ready to start organizing the material and begin writing. With your thesis statement in front of you: 1. Read through your note cards and identify them according to what part of your thesis statement they will apply. 2. Sort them according to where you want to use them in your paper: Introduction Main Point #1 Main Point #2 Main Point #3 Conclusion Now you are ready to write: Your introduction will present the thesis or main idea and a preview of the main points of the paper. Your introduction should be "eye catching." That is, it should grab the reader's attention. To do this, you can use an anecdote, a description of a situation, a statement of a problem, a narrative, or even ask a question which should be answered by your thesis statement. The body of your paper can be developed in a number of ways: Sequence - which will explain steps in a process Chronological - which will discuss a series of events in the order in which they occurred. Comparison/Contrast - which will explain the differences and similarities between two or more topics. Opinions/Reasons A Combination of the above The conclusion will refer to your thesis statement and review the major points you have presented. As you write, keep in mind that your paper is a RESEARCH PAPER. This means that you have not been asked to write only your own views about a topic. Rather, you have been asked to develop an idea and then come up with other writers' ideas that support your thesis. In other words, your paper will mainly consist of words from other people besides yourself!
12 You will need to avoid using first person pronouns such as I, me, my,we, us, our, one, one's. For instance, instead of writing, "In my opinion, research papers are fun to write" you would write, "Research papers are fun to write." Paraphrasing and Quoting Thomas, Evan. "Why We Did It. " Newsweek July 24, 1994. Sample Works Cited Card Thomas, Evan. "In August 1945, the GI's waiting to invade Japan had no doubt about the wisdom of obliterating Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons. Upon hearing the news, `we whooped and yelled like mad, we downed all the beer we'd been stashing away,' one dogface later recalled." Sample Note Card Let's say you are going to use the above note card in your introductory paragraph and your topic is the attitude of Americans regarding the bombing of Hiroshima. You might start our something like this: Example of Paraphrase (Paraphrase in italics): World War II was a time of change. Men and women alike were placed in roles totally different than any other roles they had ever experienced. Women were forced into the world of manufacturing to fill jobs that men once held. Men were placed in situations where they were expected to obliterate their fellow man. Attitudes changed and America's enemy was no longer a face with a soul but a hated race, and men looked at killing as victory. This is demonstrated in the words of an old infantryman who stated that he and his fellow soldiers started cheering and partying when they heard the news of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima (Thomas 45).
13 Example of Quotation (Quote in italics): Note: World War II was a time of change. Men and women alike were placed in roles totally different than any other roles they had ever experienced. Women were forced into the world of manufacturing to fill jobs that men once held. Men were placed in situations where they were expected to obliterate their fellow men. Attitudes changed and America's enemy was no longer a face with a soul but a hated race, and men looked at killing as victory. Evan Thomas wrote, "Upon hearing the news, 'we whooped and yelled like mad, we downed all the beer we'd been stashing away.' one dogface later recalled" (45). 1. Even though a comma splice exists in this quotation, it is not corrected because this is a direct quote, copied exactly as it was printed. 2. Although the note card contains a longer quotation, the writer chose to use only a part of it in the introductory paragraph. 3. This paragraph can now be completed by adding the thesis statement. Transitioning: Transitioning means moving from one idea to another smoothly, guiding your reader so he or she will know that you are changing topics. Various words are known as "transition" words/phrases. Some of these are: as a result because but however also besides consequently in contrast furthermore hence nonetheless in addition since on the contrary moreover so on the other hand next therefore still too thus yet for example for instance likewise in short specifically similarly to conclude to sum up first second although even though despite Some of these words/phrases will serve well for transitioning within paragraphs. Others you can use to move from one paragraph to another. Some other suggestions on moving between paragraphs include:
14 1. Repetition of key words - finish a paragraph with the key work to be used in the next paragraph. 2. Avoid starting sentences with " there is " or " there are" or "it is. "
15 WORD PROCESSING Once you have your ideas either on paper or organized in your mind, you are ready to begin typing your paper. Because writing is a process, it is much easier to prepare your paper on a computer than on a typewriter. This way, when you want to make changes, it's just a matter of going into your document and changing only what needs to be changed, not having to retype the entire paper. On the ECC campus, you have access to the Microsoft Word word-processing program in the computer lab in The Learning Center. To use the lab, you d o no t ne ed t o kno w how to us e a co mp u te r. Microsoft Word is an easy program to use, and a learning center specialist or tutor will gladly help you to get started and answer questions you may have. You do not need a disk to use this software program, but since you will want to save your work, it is best that you have a disk. The Learning Center sells disks or you can buy one in the ECC bookstore. You will need a 3.5" disk. Microsoft Word will automatically number your pages, center your titles, and insert headers/footers and footnotes or endnotes. These applications are done with a few simple keystrokes, and you can learn how to do these rather easily by asking the lab instructor. The Learning Center Computer Lab Schedule: Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. 7:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. The Learning Center Computer Lab is also open during Fall and Spring Breaks and between semesters. Call (636) 583-5193 ext.2364 for the schedule during these times. Note: If you do not know how to type, the college offers several options: 1. You can enroll in a keyboarding class offered for college credit. 2. The ACE Center Computer Lab has a typing tutorial that you can use to help you learn the right fingerings. 3. Occasionally, you may be able to take a continuing education class through the Community and Corporate Development Division at ECC that will teach keyboarding.
16 THE COVER PAGE Cover pages vary among styles of documentation. Typically, the kind of information placed on the cover page includes: 1. title of the paper 2. student's name 3. course name/number 4. instructor's name 5. date the paper is due. Most instructors are not particular about how material is arranged on the cover page, but generally students center each line. When typing the title of your paper, be sure to capitalize all important words. A, an, the, prepositions, coordination conjunctions and the to in infinitives should not be capitalized. Your title should not be underlined. Use a title to identify your instructor. See the example on the following page.
How to Prepare a Cover Page by Christine Van Mierlo Research Writing 101 Professor Gayle Checkett Fall 2000
18 THE EDITING PROCESS One of the nice features about word processing programs is the spell checking function. Once you have typed your document: 1. You can run the spell checker to catch spelling errors. 2. However, not all errors will be spotted. For example, you type blew and you meant blue, or you type there and you meant their. The spell checker will not catch your mistake because they are all legitimate spellings of words. 3. Therefore, once you have run the spell check, it is also important to proofread. When proofreading, read through the document once for content to make sure you have used the right words and your sentences are in order. 4. Then, read through the document again to check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. 5. Read the document a third time backwards to check each word and sentence individually. All of this is time consuming but well worth the effort to know what you have produced a well-constructed paper. 6. Once you have your paper the way you want it, you may want to schedule an appointment in The Learning Center for an English specialist to look at it. You can do this by calling (636) 583-5193 ext. 2485 and asking for an appointment to have your paper read. Papers for any class, not just English, will be checked.