The Research Paper (updated 3/2010)
A. Preparing the Research Paper
In preparing your research paper, you will be making use of information that is already known, rather than adding anything new to existing knowledge or opinion. Since it is a summary of what others have said or written on a given subject, you must document (give credit for) all information you use from another source. Give credit to each source in the body of the paper and on the Works Cited page at the end of the paper.
Always document the following:
· All quoted material.
· All paraphrased material.
· Summarized information.
B. Applying the Writing Process
Writing a research paper involves the same process as any other writing project, with some additional steps.
1. Select and refine your topic.
2. Identify the information needed and formulate your questions.
3. Select best sources (both print and electronic).
4. Record the sources on cards and create a Working Bibliography page.
5. Find information within sources using indexes, table of contents, charts, etc.
6. Organize information by making note cards.
7. Formulate a formal thesis statement.
8. Write a first draft, acknowledging all sources as you write. Convert the Working Bibliography to a Works Cited page.
9. Revise for focus, content, and organization. Edit paragraphs, sentences, and words. Proofread and format the final draft.
Plagiarism in student writing is often unintentional, as when an elementary school pupil assigned to do a report goes home and copies down, word for word, everything on the subject from an encyclopedia. Unfortunately, some students continue to use such “research methods” in high school and even in college, without realizing that these practices constitute plagiarism. You may certainly use other people’s words and thoughts in your research papers, but you must acknowledge the authors.
Plagiarism often carries severe penalties, ranging from a zero on the paper and failure in the course to expulsion from the school or university.
The most blatant form of plagiarism is to repeat someone else’s sentences, more or less verbatim, as if they were your own. Suppose, for example, that you want to use the material in the following passage, which appears on page 625 of an essay by Wendy Martin in the book Contemporary Literary History of the
If you write the following sentence without documentation, you commit plagiarism.
Emily Dickinson strongly believed that we cannot understand life fully unless we also comprehend death.
But you may present the material if you cite your source.
As Wendy Martin has suggested, Emily Dickinson strongly believed that we cannot understand life fully unless we comprehend death (625).
Source: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 4th edition
Paraphrasing is a way for you to smoothly integrate the ideas of someone else into your own work. When a writer paraphrases a section from a source, what he is actually doing is turning the original text into his own words. He’s not adding his own opinion, and he’s not using the original wording: he’s “translating” the original text into his own language, to flow better with his own writing.
A paraphrase is…
· your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form.
· one legitimate way (when documented) to borrow from a source.
· a more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
2. Set the original aside, write your paraphrase on a note card.
3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using the material. At the top of the card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from your source.
6. Record the source (including the page) on your bibliography card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.
Sample original passage:
Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of our final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.
Sample legitimate paraphrase:
In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim.
Sample acceptable summary:
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper.
Sources: Owl Online Writing Lab–Paraphrasing. ASU Writing Center–Online Handouts–Paraphrasing.
2. STANDARDS FOR THE FINAL DRAFT – MLA STYLE
A. Printing or Typing
1. Use only white, 8 ½- by 11- inch paper of good quality.
2. Print or type on only one side of the paper.
3. Use clear print (12 point conventional font). Times New Roman is recommended by MLA. Good print and letter quality enhance a paper.
B. Margins and Spacing
1. All margins should be one inch.
2. Indent each new paragraph one-half inch. Use the “tab” key.
3. Double space throughout the paper. This includes longer quotations.
4. Do not allow an extra space between paragraphs.
C. Page Numbers
1. Set up a header by clicking on “View” and by selecting “Header and Footer.” In the header, right align your last name, space, and click on the “number” sign on the header/footer toolbar.
2. Thereafter, all pages will be automatically numbered in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin.
D. Heading and Title
MLA recommends that a heading be used rather than a title page. Do not include an outline.
1. Beginning one inch from the top of the first page and flush with the left margin, type your name, your instructor’s name, the course title and the period the course meets, and the date on separate lines, double spacing between the lines.
2. Double space again and center the title. Double space also between lines in the title, and double space between the title and the first line of the text.
3. Do not underline your title or put it in quotation marks or type it in all capital letters.
4. Follow the rules for capitalization in section 4.B.11 of this manual.
E. Set–up for the Heading and Title
(see Style Manual Document - attached at the top of page)
(see Style Manual Document - attached at the top of page)
F. Parenthetical Documentation
MLA recommends using the author/page system of citation. When you use this system, you need to supply the author’s last name and the page number of the work, either in your text sentence or in parentheses. Readers who want to know the name of the work and the publication facts can look those up in the list of works cited at the end of your paper. Place the parenthetical citation as near as possible to the information you are documenting, either where a pause occurs or at the end of the sentence.
When should you put the author’s name in your text, and when should you put it in parentheses? To decide, consider the needs of your readers. Here are some suggestions.
1. If the name of the author is a significant part of the information you are giving, give the name in your text, leaving only the page number for your citation.
According to Van Doren (4), early American Fiction writers were often charged with corrupting the public morals.
charged with corrupting the public morals.
Here the page number is placed after the name of the author instead of after the information given because a pause occurs after the author’s name.
2. When the information you are giving or the point you are making is more important than the author, place the author’s name as well as the page number in the parenthetical citation.
The alliance adopted the free silver plank in its platform of 1887 (Hicks 132).
Note that there is no punctuation between the author and page number and that the period marking the end of the sentence comes after the parenthetical citation.
3. If you have included more than one work by an author in your list of works cited, you will have to include a brief title in your citation.
As early as 1884, both major parties recognized labor in their platforms (Destler, American Radicalism 141).
4. If you refer in your text to a whole work, you do not need parenthetical documentation.
In My Antonia, Willa Cather allows the narrator to overshadow the heroine.
5. If a quotation runs more than four lines, set it off from your text and place the citation in parentheses two spaces after the punctuation mark at the end of the quotation. Indent the quotation one inch from the left margin by using the “increase indent” icon two times.
At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, Ralph and the other boys realize the horror of their actions:
The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (186)
Note: In the author/page system, you do not put any documentation in footnotes or endnotes. The only notes you might use are content or bibliographic notes to explain a point further or to cite other bibliographic sources. If you use these, you would put them at the end of the paper before the Works Cited section. In the text you would place a super-script numeral—like this1—to refer your readers to a note at the end of the paper in a section labeled Notes:
Many observers conclude that health care in the
Technological advancements have brought advantages and joys as well as unexpected problems. 2
1 For strong points of view on different aspects of the issue, see Public Agenda Foundation 1 – 10 and Sakala 151 – 88.
2 For a sampling of materials that reflect the full spectrum of experiences made possible by recent technological changes, see Taylor Al; Moulthrop, pars. 39 – 53; Armstrong, Yang, and
1. If a quotation runs no more than four lines and requires no special emphasis, put it in quotation marks and incorporate it in the text.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” wrote Charles Dickens of
the eighteenth century.
2. If a quotation ending a sentence requires a parenthetical reference, place the sentence period after the reference.
For Charles Dickens the eighteenth century was both “the best of times” and “the worst of times” (35).
H. Works Cited
The Works Cited page lists all the materials that you have cited in your paper. It is arranged alphabetically by the authors’ last names.