Guidelines for research papers
Guidelines for research papers:
Formatting:
Font: Times New Roman 12 pt.
Margins and Spacing: 1” and double-spaced (no exceptions).
Page numbers in the header on the top right (at ½”) as shown on this document. If they are not in the header, the formatting of the entire paper will be off.
Heading: Put your first and last name, class and section number, the date, and the assignment in the top left corner at the 1”margin. Put my name as “Instructor Guerin.”
Perfect Student
Instructor Guerin
English 102-93
3 November 2010
Your title must be centered on first page; it cannot be the title of the work, but should contain it.
Do not use any other fonts, bold, color, etc.
Shorter works, like short stories and shorter poems are enclosed in quotation marks, even in your title; however you should never put your entire title in quotation marks, as follows:
“The Necklace”: False Pretenses and Good Intentions
Books and major works (like plays) are italicized, as follows:
In Hamlet, The Question is Not to Be
Generally speaking, if a work is long enough to be published as a book by itself, it will be in italics.
The Introduction is one paragraph at the beginning that contains information that is helpful for understanding the background and relevance of the thesis/argument.
In this class, the thesis statement is the last sentence of this paragraph, as in this example of an introductory paragraph from an “A” paper:
In his long poem The Waste Land, Eliot describes Europe after World War I as a waste land—a land of isolation and desperation; nothing can be useful and nothing felt. The people of Europe are seen as lifeless beings trapped inside physical bodies, made to move and carry on with life. Eliot divides the narrative into five parts, each with its own story, symbolizing the changing values of the European people during that time and reactions to those changes. He uses strong imagery to connect the reader to the events and to give the illusion that they are playing out as one reads. As an uncertain future and lack of faith stagnates Europe after World War I, T.S. Eliot’s long narrative poem, The Waste Land, compares this new values system to a waste land, which is an extended metaphor for the twentieth century’s urbanization and rise of technology.
The Thesis Statement is one sentence that contains the argument in the paper. (See the example above and documents with examples on Blackboard.)
The Thesis Statement should be specific, arguable, and contain the author and title.
The Thesis Statement should not consist of generalizations, obvious observations, or vague opinions.
Have the sources and evidence for your thesis before writing the paper. Why? Because you have to know that you can prove whatever you are arguing with enough examples to get the minimum paper length and with enough qualifying secondary sources (in the Research Paper) to meet the requirements.
The Body Paragraphs should have at least 4 sentences each.
The topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph that connects to the thesis and introduces the main point (evidence) in the paragraph.
The next sentence contains the evidence from the primary text, with a parenthetical citation, followed by sentences with your commentary to explain (very important).
Do not end a paragraph with a quote or citation; the last sentence of the paragraph should be your commentary about how the evidence supports the thesis/argument.
Use present verb tense except when quoting directly or referring to historical events, (as in the introduction as background or context).
Never use 1st or 2nd person (“I” or “you”).
Remember to introduce all quotes and to block any quotes of more than 3 lines. (Note that blocked quotes are punctuated and cited differently.)
Putting this information into an outline is simple and when I ask for an outline, this is what I am looking for:
I. Introduction
A. Background of thesis
B. Thesis statement
II. Body paragraphs
A. Main point (general description)
1. Well-constructed topic sentence describing main point (connect to thesis)
2. Example/evidence to support argument in the form of a quote, paraphrase, or description of an event or character from the primary source.
a. Primary source/the literary work: 1 citation per paragraph
b. Secondary source/ literary critic: 1 citation per paragraph
3. Commentary to sum up paragraph (your analysis)
This process will repeat over and over until you have enough paragraphs to meet the length requirement.
Paragraph length: Paragraphs of longer than 5 or 6 sentence indicate a lack of organization and that the student has combined two main points into one paragraph instead of having an effective transition and separating them. Similarly, if there are several examples and sources of evidence to back up one main point, it is ok to have several paragraphs with connecting words and transitions to show the relationship between the ideas and the thesis (very important—stay connected to the thesis!).
**Very important! Do not give a plot summary or plot description in lieu of a literary analysis. You are not being asked to give a biography of the author or historical evidence except when it is relevant to your thesis. Stay connected to thesis, which is an argument that you are consistently proving throughout. Use your commentary to reinforce your argument.
The Conclusion does not simply parrot the thesis statement, but summarizes the main points and emphasizes the relevance of the thesis and how it has been proved in the paper.
It may include social and philosophical observations and conclusions that can be inferred from the work in relation to the thesis statement.
It is not, however, the place to introduce new evidence or examples, which belong in the body paragraphs.
The Works Cited page is numbered at the top right as the last page of the paper and you are using the header function in Word, it will number automatically when it is part of the same document.
The following are some general guidelines about citations and the WC page, but this list is not meant to be exhaustive or to be used as a sole resource.
There are two parts to a citation: the in-text/parenthetical part in the body of the paper and the Works Cited page one. The last name (s) or word (s) at beginning of the line should correlate EXACTLY with what is in the parenthetical (in-text) citations in the body of the paper.
The WC page should include only the source (s) that has (have) been cited.
All examples from the text, the primary source, should be cited.
The WC list should be alphabetized according to the first word on the beginning of the entry.
The WC list should have hanging indents, which are the opposite of regular paragraph indents. You must use the “hanging indent” function under “special” in Word 07 in the “paragraph” box to format the WC list.
Do not confuse the title of the literary work with the title of the anthology (book) in which it appears when citing an anthology.
For the in-text citations, use the correct page numbers for the short story and Act, Scene, and line numbers instead of page numbers for a play.
In your citation, make sure that you know who the author is.
On the Works Cited page, do not confuse the author (s) and the editor (s). An editor of Chaucer’s works, for example, should not be the first thing at the beginning of the WC entry for the WC entry of the primary source.
Some literary works are narrated by a character and that character’s name will not appear in the parentheses or on the WC list. The Wife of Bath is not the writer of her Tale because she is fictional!
