A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS

BY Melissa Williamson Class of 2004

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

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“If it weren’t for my horse, I wouldn’t have spent that year in college.”

Every time I hear this quote by comedian Lewis Black I want to roll on the floor,

laughing. Black goes on to say he overheard this and if you think about it for more than three minutes, blood will shoot out your nose. Or you could have an aneurysm. This is very much like figuring out where to start when you get the dreaded assignment of writing a research paper. If you think about it too much, your head might explode. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen or felt it myself (not literally of course). Rather than thinking of writing a research paper as an “explosive” experience, take it in steps.

Acknowledgments Thank you to everyone who inspired or helped me to write and edit this book:

Mary Levitt, English department instructor and my mentor during this process

Linda Kaufmann, Sue Denault, and Dan Daniels in the library for directing me to valuable information

Claire Smith in Learning Services for the final read through and publication

Emily Wheeler, a wonderful teaching assistant and classmate, for her database information

Christina Bird, my dear friend and fellow writer in Virginia who wrote some bad examples for me – elated she knows that everything she wrote for me is wrong!

Meg McDowell for writing about this manuscript and my experience in the Writing Center in the IEP newsletter – and for being a helpful friend and co-worker in the Center

Sarah Stutzman, my best friend at this college who is willing to read anything I throw at her – also she’s a mecca of inspiration

And finally, my mom, Lauri Williamson, for accidentally taking my stuff and attempting to help me finish the final manuscript, and I thank her for her suggestions – note to self, don’t let Mom take my stuff…just kidding, Mom

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Chapter 1: Thinking of a Topic

Step 1: Understanding the Assignment So your professor gave you an assignment: write an argumentative research

paper. The topic is free. Don’t panic. Instead, break it down step by step.

Step 2: What Do You Need to Do Now? It’s an argumentative research paper. Most are. Usually when you write a paper,

you’re arguing for or against a topic. The research should support YOUR ideas to explain why you agree or disagree with the topic.

What is a topic? Basically, the topic is the subject you’re writing about. This subject may be narrowed later (as outlined in Step 5).

Step 3: Finding a Topic

Since you have a free topic, you can choose just about anything controversial. If you can’t think of any ideas, there are a few places to look:

Look on the front page of any newspaper. Major newspapers are wonderful

sources of world and national news. Free issues of The New York Times, Boston Globe, and USA Today are all over campus. Check for these in your dorms if you live on campus (by the front doors in the Towers and Hoosac and in the Townhouse Greenhouse) or by the front doors to the cafeteria. Usually you can find a headline that sparks some sort of an argument.

Think about what you’re interested in. If you’re a sports nut, perhaps explore the impending NHL lock out. Or if you’re a music fan, think about why you will continue to download music from the Internet. If you put your mind to it, you can find a topic just about anywhere. Just go on the Internet news sites or the major newspapers and check out the headlines with your favorite subject. (My favorite place to go on the web is Yahoo! News <http://news.yahoo.com>.)

Go on the Internet and search for key words in a search engine. These key words can be broad for now. If there’s an issue you want to know more about, you can search for it. Maybe you can find an organization that deals with the issue you’re interested in. Most organizations will have links to sites and information. For example, I was writing a paper on Gothic literature. I typed in “Gothic literature” into the Yahoo! Search <http://www.yahoo.com> engine and found the pages I used for the bulk of my project. I used the third link on the list called “Literary Gothic Page.” It is a directory of resources. I basically looked around and clicked on links I thought I might want to use. The links took me to different parts of the site and to other sites as well. It was a nice resource to use since I didn’t have to do all the work. This was my main site to look for information regarding my project. Another great search engine is Google <http://www.google.com>.

Check your textbook from the class you’re enrolled in. I remember from my college writing classes I took, and was a teaching assistant for, that most texts used in class contain articles on controversial issues. Sometimes your professor

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might suggest you write about the article you read for that particular week. If you’re interested in a particular essay, explore it!

Step 4: Write Your Topic Down

This is very important! It sounds like a “duh” moment, but if you don’t write your idea down on paper, you might forget it. College students often have horrible memories…especially when they’re busy. Also think about why your subject is worth writing about. A good argument will come out of asking yourself why you want to write about it.

Step 5: Narrowing the Topic You do not want to write on something broad. There are a trillion things you can

say about gay marriage, or the defense efforts against the Iraqis, or the theme of Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex. You want to make a subject specific so you can focus your argument.

I was interested in the media portrayal of “outsider” culture and how the media has influenced the way society looked at the underground culture after what happened at Columbine. To make my topic specific I thought about:

The events of the shooting at Columbine. The history of other school shootings. Who or what the media blamed, i.e. Marilyn Manson’s music and violent

video games. How the media portrays punks and Goths. The aftermath of Columbine. I was a junior in high school at the time and I

knew a guy who wore a trench coat to school everyday. The school’s new policy would not let him wear it anymore.

What this list generates may be a narrower topic you can pursue further. We’ll

discuss this later when we get to writing the thesis sentence (Chapter 4, Step 15).

Step 6: Figuring Out If This Is the Right Topic If you want a topic to work, see if you can answer these questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? These questions are called journalist questions.

If you can answer at least one of those, most likely, you’ll have a topic that works. Keep in mind that it may not work. Always write down a back-up idea. Many writers start a topic but cannot finish because the topic may not have enough information behind it, or the topic does not work for the writer. Keep your ideas flowing. I tried to answer the journalist questions: Who: The media; Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris What: Aftermath on television; School shooting Where: On TV; Columbine High School, Colorado When: 1999 Why: The media seemed to have blamed this shooting on every societal influence, except the young men themselves. How: There are many articles and TV programs discussing how the outsider culture influenced this shooting.

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Chapter 2: Brainstorming

Step 7: A Couple Things to Think About… Just so you know where you’re heading when you start to write, consider a couple things:

Who is your audience? You need to figure out who is going to read this paper. It’s usually a professor. Sometimes you can write your paper geared toward introducing your topic to someone who knows everything or nothing about the subject. Figuring out the audience you’re writing for will determine how much you need to introduce the topic. How much background information would you need? Will your professor know a lot or little about your topic?

What is your purpose?

For a research paper (Chapter 1), I talked about writing a paper in which you are arguing for something. So, if you’re writing to persuade someone to believe your position, then that is your purpose. If you’re writing it for the sake of research, then you’re simply looking to pass information to others.

How long does it need to be? Many professors will give directions for how many pages or how many words you need to have for the paper. Chapter 8, Step 28 (under the heading In Revision, number 7) will outline some helpful hints for lengthening or shortening paragraphs. I always liked to say, “Write until you feel it’s done.” Unfortunately with long papers, writers tend to babble or BS sections of the paper. It’s better to write until you feel it’s done, saying all you need to say, even if it is not enough for the assignment.

Step 8: Practicing

The best advice I ever received for my writing is to freewrite first. Freewriting is the process of sitting down and writing without any constraints. Remember: one picture is worth a thousand words, so if you need more, just illustrate your ideas with long examples. This is best done with a pen or pencil and paper. You put your pen to the paper and write. Don’t worry about misspelling anything or using a word incorrectly. Just write.

Take whatever topic you have and write down everything you know about it. This may bring up personal experiences, words you don’t know the definitions for, or an idea for your purpose. Practicing is the tool to (making something work) perfecting any skill.

Step 9: Writing a Topic Sentence for the Essay

Writing the topic sentence for the essay is one step behind writing your thesis statement. The topic sentence will probably change when you conduct research. Then, it will become a thesis. We’ll get into this later.

For now, writing a topic sentence is simple. Think about what your main idea is. For the example I’m using, I thought about a lot of ways to narrow my topic down. I want to look at what the media blamed in regards of the school shooting at Columbine High School. So, for a topic sentence I can write:

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The media placed blame on (many ideas of) the “outsider” culture after the shooting at Columbine High School.

This topic sentence says three things: Who: the media What: blaming “outsider” culture Why: because of the school shooting at Columbine.

This is a good starting point to begin organizing my ideas.

Step 10: Organizing Your Ideas

Starting to write something is a task. Freewriting is a nice way to get a first draft started. But if you can’t do that, try this:

Make a list. This is like writing a grocery list. Write down the main ideas or

tools that you’ll need to expand on your topic. For example: Blamed: Marilyn Manson’s music Violent video games like Doom and Quake Trench coat mafia Nazi culture Violent movies Internet Black clothing Punk culture Goth culture

Not blamed: The shooters themselves The parents Psychological effects, such as depression, ridicule, bullying, hatred Questions to research: How many known school shootings have there been before and after Columbine? How many shooters are there at a certain place? Is it just one or two? Where does it happen? Rural areas? Big cities? Who are the targets? Were they male or female? Does ethnicity and race matter? Age?

Step 11: Creating an Outline Next thing you can do is create an outline. These can be simple or more

complicated. There are three different types of outlines: informal, formal, and sentence. 1. An informal outline takes its shape when you first write down your main idea and then write down categories (or questions like I have done below) and think of examples for each category. This type is good when you don’t know what you want your essay to prove yet. (This takes the basics from the list above.)

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Main Idea: The media blamed (many ideas of) the “outsider” culture after the shooting at Columbine High School. Who or what was blamed?

Marilyn Manson’s music Violent video games like Doom and Quake Trench coat mafia Nazi culture Violent movies Internet Black clothing Punk culture Goth culture

Who or what wasn’t blamed?

The shooters themselves The parents Psychological effects, such as depression, ridicule, bullying, hatred Bowling (from the documentary Bowling for Columbine)

2. Formal outlines can become more complicated. For a formal outline see Diana Hacker (see my Works Cited Page, page 32, for documentation) pages 11-12.

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Chapter 3: Researching

Step 12: Researching Using MCLA Resources There are several resources available at our college that you could use to begin

researching.

Freel Library

1. Reference section (Main floor in the back left hand corner) There are so many good resources in this section. You can start your

research here and find nearly anything within these stacks or bookshelves. Of course, these cannot be taken out, but there is a copier right near this section. Take advantage of the copier. It’s 15 cents per copy.

(The following places and books most used in the reference sections were provided to me by one of the reference librarians. Other good librarians to talk to are Linda Kaufmann and Allen Morrill.)

The best place to start looking is in the dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies and indexes on nearly every subject. The Z section and the Index Area are where you can find most of this information.

There’s the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature in the Index section. This is probably the most under-used reference. It’s a good resource for finding out the historical context of a piece of literary work.

The Contemporary Author’s Index is a master index for a series of books containing information about particular writers. You can use the index to look an author up and it will tell you where you can find information about them.

Also, the Index Area is where you will find indexes for information on book reviews, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Education, Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences, and Business references.

Valuable sources exist within the sections. The G section contains an excellent series titled Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations in which you can find anything and everything you might want to know about a specific country.

For ethnic studies, check out the E section. These contain various encyclopedias and handbooks on various cultures.

Just look around in the various sections. You can find handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and such to find bibliographic information to then go look up in the computer card catalog.

2. Magazines (Main floor in the back right hand corner)

If there is a subject you’re interested in/writing about, I’m sure there is a magazine for it. The library has a pretty good collection of recent and old magazines. Many of these are on the shelves or on microfiche. (Printing off microfiche costs too. It is 10 cents to print off an 8 ½” x 11” copy. These prices are posted on the microfiche machine. If you don’t know how to use one, ask the periodical staff at the desk. They are extremely helpful and gave me insight on the state of the periodical section.)

Most of the titles kept in the magazine section are popular news magazines like Time and U.S. News & World Report, and Rolling Stone, or disciplines-based magazines like Scientific American and Psychology Today. Most of the others are research types. Since we have access to Ebscohost

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(which I will get to later), many magazine articles can be found in full text. However, psychology, medicine and some science journals may not be in full text on the computer database. So, these can be found on the shelves.

3. Newspapers (Same place as Magazines)

Current newspapers such as USA Today, the Boston Globe, and the North Adams Transcript are kept for about a month on the newspaper shelf in the periodical section.

The New York Times is also an excellent resource. This newspaper is mostly on microfiche and goes back to 1903. According to the periodical librarian, because of budget cuts, some newspapers and magazines may have gaps in the years we have on the shelves and on microfiche, or we do not carry them anymore. Such is the case with Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, and the Wall Street Journal, which are found on the microfiche.

4. Books (Upstairs)

On the main floor, you can check the computers by the periodicals to find books on your subject. It’s a good idea to have a piece of paper and a pen on you. There usually isn’t something to write on and with at the computer station.

Most of the books are upstairs with the exception of Juvenile fiction, which is located on the bottom floor, directly to the left. Many of these books are more detailed than you might want. Sometimes you can find a good resource and sometimes you can’t. Try books and see what you find.

Computer Resources

Ebscohost and Infotrac are excellent databases for finding articles from

magazines, journals, and newspapers. Ebscohost includes the widely used Academic Search Premier and

Newspaper Source. Both are excellent for just about all research papers/projects. ERIC is good for education resources. There are also excellent databases for business and psychology listed there.

Infotrac includes databases for magazines, journal, and newspaper research. Mostly, I like Infotrac for the literary criticism. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find Contemporary Literary Criticism – Select. This is very useful, especially for English majors. 5. To reach Ebscohost on campus (courtesy of teaching assistant, Emily

Wheeler): 1) Open Internet Explorer. 2) Go to http://campus.mcla.edu 3) Click on the OUR LIBRARY & THE INTERNET link. 4) Click on the EBSCOHOST quick link in the center of your screen. 5) Check the databases you wish to search, as appropriate to your subject, and click

the CONTINUE button. 6) Type your keywords into the search bar. Use Boolean search terms (AND, OR, NOT)

as appropriate.

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5a. To reach Ebscohost from off campus:

1) Open your Internet service. 2) Go to http://www.ebscohost.com 3) In the user name box type: greylock 4) In the password box type: hoosac 5) If you have problems with this, call the library for more information at 413.662.5321.

This is the Circulation Desk. They can help you. *Tip: Be sure to check one of two boxes down below where it reads Limit your results. Definitely check FULL TEXT. The box for MCLA is good to check too. That way, you can find the paper resource for this article in the Freel Library.

6. To access Infotrac from on campus:

1) Open Internet Explorer or your Internet service. 2) Go to http://campus.mcla.edu 3) Click on the OUR LIBRARY & THE INTERNET link. 4) On the left side of the page, click on the DATABASES link. 5) Now click JOURNALS. 6) You will find the link to EBSCOHOST and InfoTrac on this page. Click on the

InfoTrac link. 7) Choose a database and click START SEARCHING. 8) Type your subject into the search bar.

Step 13: Internet Research Internet research can be pretty tricky. You have to consult valid sources. These

include major magazine and newspaper websites like Time.com or WashingtonPost.com.

When going into a search site like Google <www.google.com> or Yahoo! <www.yahoo.com>, good resources are websites with a .edu, .org, and .gov pathways.

Also, check some .com websites. Professors or directors of some big organization maintain websites. Personal websites and student work usually isn’t a good idea to use. Some student work may be okay. Students post work they have written as part of a dissertation for a Master’s or Doctorate degree. Just check these. Usually your judgment is the best judgment.

Step 14: Note Taking Tips When looking at sources, make sure to take quotes and document them with a

page number. You’ll need it later. Also, go ahead and write down as much information there is with the resource. For books, write down the author, title, publisher, publishing city, and date of publication (or if it’s an MCLA library book, at least write down the full call number).

For newspapers and magazines, write down the author, title, name of newspaper or magazine, date published and what page(s) the article appears on.

For Ebscohost and Infotrac, I suggest printing out the articles if you can. All your information will be at the top. All this information will be used later when you write a Works Cited page (Chapter 6).

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Chapter 4: Beginning to Write

Step 15: The THESIS In a typical assignment, a thesis statement consists of four parts; you have a

main idea and three reasons, which you will use to develop and prove your main idea. You want to make sure you’re using YOUR idea and not someone else’s. So,

don’t repeat someone else’s main ideas. Besides, if you wrote a topic sentence, you already have a main idea. So, make sure not to put many facts into your thesis. Instead, save them for evidence to back up your position.

You do not want to have a broad thesis, either. This is why I like to write in the three reasons to back up a thesis. Doing this will focus your thesis sentence. Professors can’t stand a vague thesis, so be specific. That’s the easiest advice I can give.

Here’s an example: For a paper I’m working on, I wanted to write about how the media placed blame

on the “outsider” culture for some school shootings. A large gap in this research was that the media does not look at the lives of the shooters. I wanted to question what the media blames and what they ignore in order to shatter the stereotypes surrounding school shooters. In chapter 2, I wrote the topic sentence: The media placed blame on (many ideas of) the “outsider” culture after the shooting at Columbine High School. In order to make my idea into a thesis sentence I start with a small list: 1. I started with an introductory element. This will introduce the topic briefly before I get

to my main point. Since I am discussing the time period around the school shootings at Columbine, I want to add some background material to start off my thesis.

2. Next, I wrote what my main topic is, which is the “outsider” culture was often blamed

for these shootings. 3. Then I thought of three reasons and the order of these reasons. A lot of the time, it’s

a good idea to put your best idea last for emphasis. In my case, I want to write about the gap in the research last. So, perhaps I could write:

The media blamed violent video games, dark music, and the trench coat culture.

The media targeted the trench coat culture because of the ways they dress and act.

The media did not look closely enough at the lives of the school shooters.

This is my list: Introductory element: The time period of the school shootings at Columbine Main Topic: The “outsider” culture was wrongly blamed for these shootings Reason 1: The media focused on violent video games, music, and their culture. Reason 2: The media stereotyped the entire trench coat culture. Reason 3: The media did not look clearly at the personal lives of the school shooters.

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I can shorten the elements of my list and write a thesis: After the school shooting at Columbine and others across the country, the media wrongly placed blamed on the trench coat culture by highlighting the things this alternative culture is into, by stereotyping the way these kids dress and act, and by ignoring the personal lives of the shooters. That works. I said everything I needed to say. It’s specific enough to explain the elements in more detail in the following paragraphs.

Step 16: Sentence Outline Above, I basically wrote a sentence outline. I like sentence outlines because I know what I’m going to write about in the paragraphs and what I need to answer in my paper. A sentence outline works like this: THESIS: After the school shooting at Columbine and others across the country, the media wrongly placed blamed on the trench coat culture by highlighting the things this alternative culture is into, by stereotyping the way these kids dress and act, and by ignoring the personal lives of the shooters. QUESTION GENERATED: (Your thesis will generate a question or two.) Why was the culture blamed for these things? REASON (or PARAGRAPH) 1: The media wrongly placed the blame on the trench coat culture because of the things this culture is into. REASON (or PARAGRAPH) 2: The media wrongly placed blame on the trench coat culture because of the stereotyping of the ways these kids dress and act. REASON (or PARAGRAPH) 3: The media wrongly placed blame on the trench coat culture because many did not look at the personal lives of these shooters. *NOTE: This is a sentence outline, so make sure you write out sentences. This will help when you write topic sentences for each paragraph later.

Step 17: Writing the Introduction I love introductions. They are a great way to grab the attention of the reader.

There are four ways I like to begin introductions.

1. I developed a style of leading the reader on before I actually talk about what I want to talk about. Usually I do this with an anecdote. An anecdote is a mini story. For this paper, I can write something about being in high school when this happened:

When I walked into my orchestra class that morning, Ben wasn’t

wearing his trench coat. I wanted to ask him why, but I didn’t speak to him much. I was a junior in high school and one of the freaks. I had blue in my hair and a chain hanging from my wallet. But Ben was the one with the trench coat. I loved that trench coat. Later that day, I heard some teachers talking about some shooting at a high school. That was a week ago. They’re still talking about it. Two kids in Colorado shot up their high school. They were my age. Apparently, these guys were associated with “the trench coat mafia” and my county’s public schools were banning trench coats. That’s why Ben stopped wearing his. I kept wondering why would they blame something like this on a coat?

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2. Another way to start off is with a statistic, like:

When Columbine happened, adults alike began to wonder why

they would do it. The reasons the media gave for these acts were mainly cultural in nature. But what about the shooters personal lives? “About three-fourths either threatened to kill themselves, made suicidal gestures or tried to kill themselves before the attack. Six killed themselves during the attack (Dedman 1).”

3. I also like vivid examples. This is taken from an article titled “The Outsiders.” It offers

more of a view on male adolescence, but supports/brings up some of the points I might like to address in my essay. I just like the way this is written. It is taken from the New York Times Magazine, written by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. This opening tells a story, but also creates a vivid impression.

The fight takes place in the bright light of adult view – on a weekday afternoon, on a tree-lined residential street, within sight of the police station and a block from the middle school. The smaller boy, about 12, waits until there is a safe distance between himself and the other boy, about 13. Then he sends a curse. It lands. He waits. No response. He follows with a homophobic slur. His opponent – a chubby boy nicknamed Sex Machine – finally turns around (LeBlanc 36).

4. Another way to start an introduction is with a quote. When you use quotes, begin

with something compelling. The quote I use is something the Santee, California shooter said before he received his sentence of fifty years to life in prison.

Andy Williams said during his trial, “It really hurts me…I’m

responsible for…for all this stuff,” (“Santee” 1).

Step 18: Supporting Paragraphs When you write the supporting paragraphs, devote one paragraph to each

reason. Sometimes, you may end up with multiple paragraphs for each reason. This is okay, as long as you connect the ideas and have topic sentences that relate to the reason.

I discussed topic sentences in Chapter 2. However, the supporting paragraphs are more refined. The topic sentences are now the sentences you first used as an introduction to the paragraph.

Within the paragraph, you are using supporting evidence to develop the topic sentence. The evidence comes from your personal experience and from the research you’re conducting. I’ll discuss how to incorporate the research in Chapter 5, Step 20.

Last thing to remember with writing paragraphs is to write good transitions into the next paragraph. Try to link the idea you were just writing about to the next idea in the next paragraph. An easy way is to write “First”, “Second”, “Third” or “First”, “Then”, “Finally”. This way, your ideas will flow.

See how these topic sentences, from an essay on women weight-lifters, work

together*. I italicized the transition words.

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Striving for strength can end in injury unless weight lifters learn the safe use of free weights and weight machines.

Once a weight lifter understands how to lift safely, she needs a weight-lifting

regime personalized to her specific physical needs. In addition to fitting a program to her physical capabilities, a weight lifter needs to

design an individual routine to fit her personal goals. *Example from Quick Access p. 28-29.

I italicized the words that reflect the transitions.

Step 19: Writing the Conclusion When you write a conclusion, try to restate the main idea, but probably not a

word for word repetition of what you already wrote in your thesis. Summarize what you said. It’s not too hard to do this, since you already wrote the paper.

By the end you can do a couple things to close up the essay. You can pose a question for the reader to think about further in regards to what you discussed in the essay. You can offer advice, if there was a problem that you presented, or propose steps of action to solve that problem. Maybe you can bring the reader full circle, by using an image from your introduction. If you used a quote, end with a quote. If you began with a vivid description, try to end with a vivid description, and so on. With some essays, you can end with a funny statement. Of course, this only works if the essay was humorous. A lot of essays deal with serious subject matter, so try one of the other ideas. Whether you believe me or not, conclusions are easy to write. All you need to do is summarize and bring the ideas to a close. Just play with it and try one of the above ideas.

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Chapter 5: Using Your Research Plagiarism: What it is and why you shouldn’t do it!

If you plagiarize, you can get yourself into a world of trouble. This is can be avoided. I’ll get to that in the next step. First read what MCLA says about plagiarism:

“The academic departments of the College have varying requirements for reporting the use of sources, but certain fundamental principles for the acknowledgement of sources apply to all fields and levels of work. The use of source materials of any kind and the preparation of essays or laboratory reports must be fully and properly acknowledged. In papers or laboratory reports, students are expected to acknowledge any expression or idea that is not their own. Students submitting papers are implying that the form and content of the essays or reports, in whole and in part, represent their own work, except where clear and specific reference is made to other sources. Even if there is no conscious intention to deceive, the failure to make appropriate acknowledgement may constitute plagiarism.

“Any quotation – even of a phrase – must be placed in quotation marks and the precise source stated in a note or in the text; any material that is paraphrased or summarized and any ideas that are borrowed must be specifically acknowledged. A thorough reordering or rearrangement of an author’s text does not release the student from these responsibilities. All sources that have been consulted in the preparation of the essay or report should be listed in the bibliography (“Academic Policies” 1).”

Step 20: How to Avoid Plagiarism When you quote, make sure you’re quoting because you NEED to. A lot of the

time, the knowledge you gain from doing research does not necessarily need to be in the essay at all. A lot of the research I use is stuff I’ve been reading for years and it’s common knowledge. I only want to use quotes when there is a statistic I want to use, a quote from a person, or the author tells what I need to say perfectly.

Whenever you quote, you MUST use in-text documentation. If you look at what I quoted above, read the last sentence.

“All sources that have been consulted in the preparation of the essay or report should be listed in the bibliography (“Academic Policies” 1).” I put their words in quotes and before the period, I put in the in-text documentation. I found this source over the Internet from the MCLA website. Since there is no author, I used two words to describe the article title. On my works cited page you’ll find the bibliographic information for the “Academic Policies” article. With most sources, you will have an author and a page number. So, I could write: “I caution against communication because once language exists only to convey information, it is dying “(Hugo 11).” When you look at my works cited page, you can find the resource I used for this quote. If there is no page number, don’t worry about it. Nearly all online articles, and EBSCOhost and Infotrac articles, will not have page numbers. As long as there is an author you can refer to, or a couple words from the title, you can use that in your in-text documentation.

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Paraphrasing and summarizing Plagiarized:

In the summer of 1977, Time and Newsweek informed their readers of a new subculture, called “punk,” that had emerged at a few rock clubs in the United States and Britain. It was a new style of exuberant ugliness. Men and women alike wore short hair that had been cut seemingly at random, and dyed unnatural colors. Flesh was pierced in sundry locations, at times with safety pins. Punk bands had names like the Dead Boys or the Clash. The music was very loud, very fast, and seldom involved more than three chords. Dancing was spasmodic. Spitting was common.

Paraphrased:

According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Scott McLemee*, Time and Newsweek reported (during the summer of 1977) about an underground culture called “punk.” Clubs in America and England bore these new punks. They wore extremely “ugly” clothes; had randomly cut, shortly cropped, and funky colored hair; and pierced any part of their skin with safety pins and jewelry. They listened to the likes of Dead Boys and the Clash, which played loud, fast, three-chord songs. When they danced, their bodies moved in convulsions and they spit whenever they wanted to (16).

*The full citation information can be found on my Works Cited Page.

Even though this is a paraphrase, acknowledge the source! If you don’t, you’re still not using your own ideas. Give credit to the source or I will come after you.

The entire article summarized: Scott McLemee writes in his article, “Safety Pin as Signifier,” about the scholarly

research on the punk movement. It presents a short history and discusses how Bernard Gendron, philosophy professor at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, compared the beginnings of the movement and how it affected the culture of today (16).

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Chapter 6: Works Cited Page I get a lot of questions about works cited pages. What’s MLA? What’s APA? What is this for? What is a works cited page? A student came into the Writing Center one day asking about this, so in short, this is what you should know about MLA style work cited pages: What is MLA style? MLA is short for the Modern Language Association. MLA style is a documentation style used in the humanities. There are a few other styles such as Turabian, Scientific, Chicago style, and the widely used APA style for the social sciences. APA and the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) of documentation can be found in Diana Hacker pages 381-443. What is a works cited page? Since you’re documenting sources in your text, your reader needs to know where you got the information. A works cited page gives the title, author, and where to find the article. Basically, it’s a reference page for your reader. If they want to learn more about your topic, they can look at the resources you used to write it.

Step 21: Where to Start When Writing a MLA Works Cited Page At the end of your paper, you want a new page. In Microsoft Word, go to the toolbar and click on the word Insert and click on Page Break. On the new page, center the words Works Cited. Tips:

1. Be sure to alphabetize the list by author’s last name. If there is no author, alphabetize by using the first word of the article or the book. (Except if either begin with “A” or “The”. For this, alphabetize by the first word after “A” or “The”.)

2. If you are missing any bit of information, don’t worry about it. Just write all the information you can.

3. If you have two or more works by the same author, write the name of the author for the first entry. For the next entries, use three hyphens, followed by a period. Like this:

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s: 2003.

---. Exercises to Accompany A Writer’s Reference. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s:

2003.

4. When writing dates, we write it like the British do. Like Christmas this year would be 25 Dec. 2004. When finding the dates for magazines, if it is a weekly magazine use the full date (25 Dec. 2004) or if it is a monthly, just list month and year (Dec. 2004).

5. For page numbers, if the pages are consecutive, that is if your article goes from page 2 to 3 to 4 to 5, write the pages like this: 2-5. If the pages are not paginated, if your article starts on page 33 and continues on page 42, 44, and 57, write the pages like this: 33+.

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6. To get rid of hyperlinks, which underlines, bolds, and makes your web addresses blue, try this (courtesy of Emily Wheeler): right click on the hyperlink you wish to remove. Choose Remove Hyperlink from the menu that appears. Repeat for each hyperlink listed.

7. If you have to write an ordinal like I did above with the 5th ed., go to Tools on the toolbar and click on Auto Correct. This will open up a box. In this box, click on the second tab over that reads: Auto Format As You Type. Under the heading, Ordinals (1st) with superscript.

8. For web addresses, when you come to the end of the line, you can break a long web address after any slash. Like this (The full citation is listed here):

“Journals.” 26 June 2003. MCLA Freel Library. 1 Mar. 2003 <http://www.mcla.edu/

Academics/Academic_Resources/Library_and_Media/page11.html>.

*I found if you simply put a space in between the slash and the word you want to break the line at, the hanging margin will work. Just hitting the ENTER key will mess up the hanging margin.

Step 22: Most Commonly Used Citations (the ones I use the most)

Books with one author

Author(s). Title of Book. Publishing City: Publisher, Copyright date.

Wolfe, Linda. The Literary Gourmet: Menus from Masterpieces. New York: Harmony

Books, 1985.

Magazine and newspaper articles

Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Magazine Date: Page(s).

Glick, Daniel, Sherry Keene-Osbourn, et al. “Anatomy of a Massacre.” Newsweek 03

May 1999: 24+.

Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Newspaper. Date: Page(s).

Yardley, Jim. “After a Murder Trial, Amarillo Asks, ‘Is This a Tolerant Place?’” The New

York Times 26 Nov. 1999: A29.

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Journal articles with more than one author

Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume #. Issue # (Year): Pages.

Leary, Mark R., Robin M. Kowalski, Laura Smith, and Stephen Phillips. “Teasing,

Rejection, and Violence: Case Studies of the School Shootings.” Aggressive

Behavior 29.3 (2003): 202-215.

Ebscohost and Infotrac (courtesy of Emily Wheeler)

Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Periodical Volume #. Issue # (year): Page(s).

Database. Name of Service. Name and location of library where you retrieved

article. Date of access <Service URL>.

Forbes, Steve. “Soft Voice That Carries a Big Stick.” Forbes 171.1 (2003): 30. Academic

Search Premier. EBSCOhost. MCLA Lib., North Adams. 25 Feb. 2003

<http://www.ebscohost.com>.

Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Periodical Volume #. Issue #. (year): Page(s).

Database. Name of Service. Name and location of library where you retrieved

article. Date of access. <Service URL>.

Reiss, Matthew. “Oh No You Don’t!: The Other American Education.” New

Internationalist (2003): 23. Expanded Academic Index. Infotrac. MCLA lib., North

Adams. 25 Feb. 2003 <http://infotrac.galegroup.com>.

Websites

(quoted from the MLA.org FAQ page, found from the below address:)

“How Do I Document Sources From the Web in My Works-Cited List?” MLA.org. 4 Dec.

2003. 7 Mar. 2004 <http://www.mla.org/style_faq4>.

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1. Name of the author, editor, compiler, or translator of the source (if given), reversed for alphabetizing and, if appropriate, followed by an abbreviation, such as ed.

2. Title of an article, poem, short story, or similar short work in the Internet site (enclosed in quotation marks). Or title of a posting to a discussion list or forum (taken from the subject line and put in quotation marks), followed by the description Online posting

3. Title of a book (underlined) 4. Name of the editor, compiler, or translator of the text (if relevant and if not cited

earlier), preceded by the appropriate abbreviation, such as Ed. 5. Publication information for any print version of the source 6. Title of the Internet site (e.g., scholarly project, database, online periodical, or

professional or personal site (underlined) or, for a professional or personal site with no title, a description such as Home page

7. Name of the editor of the site (if given) 8. Version number of the source (if not part of the title) or, for a journal, the volume

number, issue number, or other identifying number 9. Date of electronic publication, of the latest update, or of posting 10. For a work from a subscription service, the name of the service and--if a library or

a consortium of libraries is the subscriber--the name and geographic location (e.g., city, state abbreviation) of the subscriber

11. For a posting to a discussion list or forum, the name of the list or forum 12. The number range or total number of pages, paragraphs, or other sections, if

they are numbered 13. Name of any institution or organization sponsoring the site (if not cited earlier) 14. Date when the researcher accessed the source 15. URL of the source or, if the URL is impractically long and complicated, the URL

of the site's search page. Or, for a document from a subscription service, the URL of the service's home page, if known; or the keyword assigned by the service, preceded by Keyword; or the sequence of links followed, preceded by Path.

Where to look for other citations:

MLA handbook on reference in the library Hacker pages 350-367 Hacker MLA Citations Online <http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/list.html>

For other citations such as APA, CMS, and CBE (Sciences), check out the Hacker list of citations online <http://www.dianahacker.com/writersref/resdoc.html>

These last three websites to find help with citations are courtesy of Freel Library reference librarian, Linda Kaufmann:

Citation Machine <http://www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/> Choose the type of information you need to cite (interview, journal article, book, Internet resource, etc.), plug in the appropriate information and your citation will be returned in both APA and MLA formats.

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Duke University Libraries Guide to Library Research – Works Cited <http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/works_cited> Gives examples of citations for APA, MLA, Chicago and Turabian formats.

EBSCOhost <http://search.epnet.com> Home of the Freel Library periodical databases. Click on Help (upper right corner of search result screen). Select Styles of Citations from the Contents column and you will see how to cite EBSCO database results in APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian formats.

To see a sample, go to my Works Cited Page at the end of this book on page 32.

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Chapter 7: Formatting Your Document on the Computer

Step 23: The Header The header is at the very top of your page. It is not part of the actual body of the

text. This is useful when writing papers, which are longer than one page. If you cannot staple or clip your paper together, your reader can still find your work and the order of your work in a mess of papers. 1. Click on View 2. Click on Header and Footer. A tool bar will pop up. 3. In the header position, click on Align Right button. 4. Type your last name and hit the space bar. 5. In the header and footer tool bar, click the # button (circled in the picture below). This

will insert the page number. 6. Highlight your last name and the page number. 7. Select the font and font size you’re using for your text. Below is what the screen and the header will look like when you’re done.

Step 24: The Name Block The name block is useful so your professor can keep their papers straight for whatever class they’re teaching. Most professors teach more than one class and many have more than one section. The heading helps so they know who you are, and what class you are in. A date is helpful too. Your name Course and Section Number Professor’s Name *Date *(I like using the date that the paper is due.)

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Here’s an example of what it will look like:

Step 25: The Title Titling a paper is something I find fun. Just make sure it works for your paper, names your topic, and hints at your position. When you format the title, make sure you center it on the page, underneath the name block. Personally, I like to make this stand out, but that would violate MLA standards.

Step 26: Double Spacing Double space everything. The easy way to do it on a PC is to highlight everything, including the header and the Works Cited page. You can right click your mouse and click on Select All. Now, press the control key on your keyboard and the number 2, keeping your finger on the control key. Tada! Double space!

Step 27: Works Cited Page Format Since you’ve already double spaced your Works Cited page, now you can indent the citations. Indenting (or hanging) the second line of each citation will make the author’s name stand out. To hang the margin on the works cited page: 1. Highlight all the citations. 2. Go to Format and click on Paragraph. This will bring up an options box (see the

picture). 3. Under Special, pull down the menu and click on Hanging. 4. Click OK. See the next page for an example.

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The indenting will be done for you. Nice, isn’t it?

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Chapter 8: Revision, Editing, & Proofreading

Revision occurs when you go back and change your first draft. Your first draft is NEVER a finished product. Even the best writers will go through many drafts until it feels complete. I find myself writing stuff over and over again even after I feel it’s finished. My problem is more the editing stuff, which usually concerns grammar and typing. I’m very picky about that. Over time I have learned that there are three types of editing: revision, editing, and proofreading. Revision is the process of fixing the big picture. This is where you’ll look at the focus, organization, and development. Editing corrects punctuation, grammar, and style. When I spoke to a professional copy editor, she told me what the difference between proofreading and editing is. You edit first. Then the text will go through the first publishing and proofread. Proofreading is looking at the format and looking at the text for any typographical errors. This is also the final read-through in the editing process before a text is ready for mass publication.

Step 28: How to Revise Self-editing is tough unless you know what you’re doing. Below I wrote some of

the most common problems and two ways to fix your mistakes. I suggest reading the paper aloud to yourself. This will, hopefully, make you hear

the mistakes. You might read a sentence and think, “Wait a minute, that doesn’t make any sense.” Then you can circle it and go back to it. You might find words you misused or see the small mistakes you may have made in typing.

Another way I like to edit is to put the draft aside for a day or two. When I’m working on a major text, I might finish a rough draft early and not look at it again until the next day. This way, my mind is clear of all the thoughts I had when I was writing it. If your mind if jumbled, it will be hard to revise a paper. Onto the most common mistakes! In Revision

After you write your first draft, set it aside. Print it out a day or two later and pretend you’re the audience. Read the paper aloud.

Ask yourself a main idea question to find your focus: 1. What is the focus of the paper?

If you can’t answer this, go back and see if you can pick out the places where the focus is not clear. Try to make it clear.

2. Do you stick to it throughout the paragraphs?

If you don’t, find the unnecessary information and delete it.

3. Is your thesis clear enough so that you know what you’re talking about? If it isn’t clear, make it clear!

Now, ask yourself about organization: 4. Do you have topic sentences for each paragraph? They provide unity if your writing.

Topic sentences are your best friends. They help give the reader a focus on what the paragraph will discuss.

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5. Are your ideas following an effective order?

See if your ideas need to be switched around to make more sense. Is your most important part last? Sometimes your original order of ideas may not turn out as strong as you think.

6. Do the paragraphs as a whole make sense in relation to the other paragraphs in the

paper? Make sure your ideas flow from one paragraph to another. You have to be sure the ideas do not go off topic. Use transitions to help relate your paragraph (ideas).

7. Are any of the paragraphs too long or too short?

There are ways to fix this: If it’s too long, try the journalistic style to writing. Cut to a new paragraph if:

You introduce a new subject or an idea. There’s a turning point in the story you’re telling.

If it’s too short try these methods cited from Rules of Thumb pg.76:

Combine Join two paragraphs on the same point. Include examples in the same paragraph as the point they illustrate. Regroup your major ideas and make a new paragraph plan.

Develop

Give examples or reasons to support your point. Cite facts, statistics, or evidence to support your point. Relate an incident or even that supports your point. Explain any important general terms. Quote authorities to back up what you say.

Omit

If you have a short paragraph that cannot be expanded or combined with another, chances are that paragraph should be dropped. Sometimes you have to decide whether you really want to explain a particular point or whether it’s not important in your paper.

Finally, for main ideas: 8. Did you develop your main idea effectively?

Make sure your information is persuasive and appropriate to your position. It’s also a good idea to check the development of ideas. Some may need more explanation; some may not.

In Editing

Word Usage: For spelling just remember a few simple rules (because spell check on Word isn’t perfect at finding everything). I love this first one from elementary school:

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I before e Except after c, Or when sounding like a, As in neighbor or weigh.

Drop the silent -e when you add a suffix that begins with a vowel. Keep -e when the suffix begins with a consonant. Like with these words:

combine, combination definite, definitely wake, waking argue, argument

For most nouns, add -s to form the plural; add -es to nouns that end in -s, -sh, -ch, and -x. Like this:

desk, desks dish, dishes pen, pens watch, watches

All right and a lot are made up of two words. It’s not alright to make these mistakes alot!

Other words I see used incorrectly: beginning, succeed, and whether. Just watch out for them.

Homonyms are one of the most common problems. (Word does not check for homonyms. You need to do it manually.) These are words that sound like other words but are spelled differently and mean differently. The most common are:

affect (verb meaning “to influence”) effect (think cause and effect – effect as a noun means “result”) its (this is the possessive form of “it”) it’s (this is the contraction for “it is”) lay (verb meaning “to place” – usually an object) lie (verb meaning “to recline”) *I always confused the two words. So, I think to myself: I lay my pencil on the desk and lie in bed for the rest of the night. loose (adjective meaning “not tightly”) lose (verb meaning “unable to find” or “defeated in a game”) *I think for some people this may be a typo, but it is one to watch out for. than (used as a conjunction when comparing something) then (has to do with time) *I’d rather write than read. Then I’ll get to my homework.

Grammar (All bad examples are courtesy of my friend, Christina Bird):

The two most common grammar problems have to do with sentences: A fragment is a “broken” sentence. Usually it does not contain a verb. This is incorrect to write in formal essays.

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Bad Example: Better than killing. After Fixing: Maiming is better than killing. (“Maiming” is the subject. “Is” is the verb.) A run-on is a bunch of full sentences crammed together into one sentence. Bad Example: Last weekend I was talking with this guy and he had brown hair, brown eyes he has amazing taste in music he was talking with one of his friends when I first saw him. One way to fix it: When I first saw him, he was talking with one of his friends. Last weekend I talked with this guy. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and he has amazing taste in music.

Punctuation:

Comma splices are like run-on sentences. You write one complete thought. Then before you write another complete thought, you stick a comma in there rather than a period, coordinating conjunction, or (my favorite) a semicolon.

Bad Example:

I went for a drive, my sister came with me. A couple ways to fix this sentence: I went for a drive. My sister came with me. (Inserting a period.) I went for a drive, and my sister came with me. (Inserting a conjunction.)

I went for a drive; my sister came with me. (Inserting a semicolon because the two phrases connect.)

Style: In formal writing, be consistent in verb tense. Bad Example: I went to the movies last Friday night with a friend of mine. We wanted to see Van Helsing but it is sold out so we’re seeing Hellboy instead. To keep the verb tense consistent, I keep it in past tense: I went to the movies last Friday night with a friend of mine. We wanted to see Van Helsing but it was sold out. So we saw Hellboy instead. Wordiness uses excessive words when you don’t need to. I found the easiest way to delete wordiness is to read through your work and ask yourself a couple questions: 1. Can you not use the word “is”? I believe in using a verb without “is” in front of

it. It makes the verb stronger.

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2. Are there any unneeded words? According to the book, Quick Access, the author calls unneeded words “deadwood” and lists examples (Troyka 105-106): as a matter of fact because of the fact that in light of the fact that due to the fact that by means of for the purpose of have a tendency to in the case of in the event that in the process of it seems that type of “Deadwood” can usually be completely taken out or shortened to one word. Play with it and see what you come up with.

3. Try to avoid redundancy in sentences. Bad example: I saw this incredibly boring movie last weekend that almost put me to sleep. “Incredibly boring” shows redundancy. I’d just use “boring”: I saw this boring movie last weekend that almost put me to sleep.

4. See if you can improve the paper by combining sentences and shortening phrases. Bad example: I was suspended from school for fighting. I was suspended out of school for three days and had in-school suspension for one. A way to fix this: For fighting, I was suspended from school for three days and had in-school suspension for one day.

Parallelism uses the same grammatical forms to express the same ideas. It should match the corresponding words or group of words to each other. Bad Example: Entering a mosh pit can result in bleeding, bruises, and sweating. To make it parallel, one word should change: Entering a mosh pit can result in bleeding, bruising, and sweating. I hate passive voice. It’s evil. You should be direct in your writing. When you’re writing to make a point, using directness will make your reader believe what you write. Bad Example: The email was sent by me last Thursday. Emails don’t send themselves: I sent the email last Thursday.

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For numbers the main rule is to be consistent. I like to spell out all numbers under 100. Numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine are hyphenated. Most students I’ve spoken to about this will only spell out numbers under ten. Over ten, it’s 11, 42, 78. If you barely mention numbers in your paper, just spell them out. Consistency is the key.

In Proofreading: My Biggest Pet Peeve

Typos When I was copyeditor for our school’s newspaper, I went into a meeting with one thing to say to the writers: “Proofread your stories before you turn them in!” I actually spent more time proofreading than doing anything else. A simple spell check and reading the paper aloud will help clear this error.

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Chapter 9: The Final Product

Step 29: Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Can say, “My Paper Is Complete.” I ask myself these questions before I turn in my final draft: (If you answer yes to any of these questions, go on to the next. If you answer no to any of these questions, then revise again. If you answer yes to all the questions, congratulations, you’re finished!) The main question: Do I fulfill the assignment? Checking for the focus and argument: Is my topic specific enough? Does my thesis state what I discuss in the essay? Do I discuss the topic thoroughly? Do I say what I wanted to say? Is the argument convincing? Checking for organization and essay flow: Are the paragraphs following my thesis? Does my essay follow an effective outline? Do my paragraphs transition smoothly from one to another? Can a reader easily follow the argument? Checking for how well I developed the essay points: Is each point developed the way I wanted to develop it? Do I supply enough evidence to convince the reader of my position? Do I go off topic at all? Checking the introduction and conclusion: Does the introduction make sense with my essay as a whole? Does the conclusion broaden the implications of my argument? Do I leave the reader with something to contemplate? Checking for quotation and documentation: Are the quotes effective when I use them? Are the quotes documented properly? Are there any citations I forgot? Is all the documentation correct in the essay and on the Works Cited page? Checking for style and editing errors: Is my tense consistent throughout the essay? Are there any sentence errors such as run-ons, comma splices, or sentence fragments? Did I spell check the essay in Word? Did I proofread the essay? Is the grammar correct?

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The last minute questions: Is the essay double spaced? Are all the pages numbered?

Now, read it aloud one last time just to make sure you don’t catch any more errors. If you don’t, you’re good to turn in your essay.

Staple or paper clip the essay pages together. Hand in a polished paper. That wasn’t so hard to do. Right?

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Works Cited

“Academic Policies.” MCLA.edu. 5 Apr. 2004. <http://www.mcla.edu/Academics/

Academic_Resources/Academic_Policies/acapol.php>.

Dedman, Bill. “School Shooters: Secret Service Findings.” Chicago Sun-Times.com. 15

Oct. 2000. 26 Nov. 2001. <http://www.suntimes.com/shoot/find15.html>.

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s: 2003.

“How Do I Document Sources From the Web in My Works-Cited List?” MLA.org. 4 Dec.

2003. 7 Mar. 2004 <http://www.mla.org/style_faq4>.

Hugo, Richard. The Triggering Town. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1979.

LeBlanc, Adrian Nicole. “The Outsiders.” New York Times Magazine 22 Aug. 1999: 36-

41.

McLemee, Scott. “Safety Pin as Signifier.” Chronicle of Higher Education 48:47 (2002):

A16. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. MCLA Lib., North Adams. 20 Nov.

2002. <http://www.ebscohost.com>.

“Santee School Shooter Imposes Minimum Sentence.” ABCNEWS.com. 16 Aug. 2002. 1

May 2004. <http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/gma/goodmorningamerica/

gma020815andy_williams_sentenced.html>.

Silverman, Jay, Elaine Hughes, and Diana Roberts Wienbroer. Rules of Thumb: A Guide

to Writers. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000.

Troyka, Lynn Quitman. Quick Access: Reference for Writers. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998.