Printer-friendly versionHelp for Organizing, Writing, and Formatting Your Research Paper.
SELECTING A TOPIC, TAKING NOTES, ORGANIZING A DRAFT
- Hacker, Diana. The Bedford Handbook. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. (Olin Ref PE 1408 .H277 2006)
- Menasche, Lionel. Writing a Research Paper. Revised ed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997.
(Olin Stacks PE 1478 .M4x 1997) - A textbook designed to help English as a Second Language students write research papers. Includes a set of assignments, exercises, and answers; a glossary of writing and research items, and an index.
WRITING THE PAPER: STYLE AND USAGE
- Garner, Bryan A. Whitten. Garner's Modern American Usage. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
(Olin Ref PE 2827 .G37 2009; shelved behind the reference desk) - Find the best word, the correct usage, the felicitous phrase with this standard and highly readable work.
- Lunsford, Andrea A., The Everyday Writer. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009.
(Olin Ref PE 1408 .L86 2009) - Strunk, William and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. In many editions; search the title in our Classic Catalog.
THE FINAL PRODUCT: FORMAT AND DOCUMENTATION
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6th ed. Washington: APA, 2010.
(Olin Ref BF 76.7 .P83 2010; shelved behind the reference desk) - The authoritative style manual for anyone writing in the field of psychology. Its chapters discuss the content and organization of a manuscript, writing style, the American Psychological Association style, and typing, mailing and proofreading. In addition, the final chapter describes the journals of the American Psychological Association.
- Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 2009.
(Olin Ref Z 253 .G52 2009; shelved behind the reference desk) - This handbook is based on the MLA Style Manual and is intended as an aid for college students writing research papers. Included here is information on selecting a topic, researching the topic, note taking, the writing of footnotes and bibliographies, as well as sample pages of a research paper. Useful for the beginning researcher.
- Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 7th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
(Olin Ref LB 2369 .T8 2007; shelved behind the reference desk) - Kate Turabian's standard guide for student writers, newly revised and expanded by John Grossman and Alice Bennett. Chapters cover everything you've ever wanted to know about putting a paper together, from writing introductory chapters to formatting the bibliography.
For further information and links to online citation guides, see Bibliographic Citations: Resources and Guides.
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Revised 19 September 2012
Michael Engle