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A GUIDE TO WRITING RESEARCH

PAPERS
CONTENT
I. Research Design--What question, idea, or topic are you
researching? What type of information do you need to answer
your research needs? How are you planning to organize and
support your argument? Are your data sufficient to the task? Is
your argument logical and relevant to your question? Where
can you find the information?
Preparing your research question and design in advance will
save you a lot of time and agony when it becomes time to do
the actual research and writing. A common mistake is in
choosing too general a topic or idea. Keep your focus tight or
you will need a book rather than a research paper to
adequately deal with it. If you prepare a good research design,
your research and writing will be greatly simplified.
II. Conduct your research, using your research design. Be
thorough, but do not be tempted to go outside your plan unless
some modification is necessary (or you are just interested).
This is a second common mistake. Many people tend to clutter
their research and writing with irrelevant details and
inconsequential asides. Stay with your current point and follow
it up in detail. Stay focused!
While you should maintain your focus, be alert for data and
information that you may not have thought of or known about
in advance and that is important to your research. Check your
sources' sources for clues to important work you may have
missed. Do not ignore journal articles. (If you do not know how
to use the indexes to topics, articles, etc., ask the librarian. It
is his or her job to help you.) In fact, journal articles can save
you a lot of time since they are frequently a distillation of a
longer work or book. You should also be alert to primary
sources, original historical documents and other archival
material, foreign language newspapers, some government
documents, personal interviews, raw statistics, etc.

If you are conducting your own field work experimentation, the


procedure remains the same. However, there will almost
certainly be modifications to make in your research plan and
great care must be taken in the design to ensure that the data
you are gathering are useful and will in fact assist in answering
your research question in a logical fashion.
III. Organization of your text--Always state your research
question or topic at the beginning, as well as any
countervailing views or controversies that have been generated
in the literature and that you intend to address.
The body of your paper should always address your opening,
and only your opening, in a logical and supportive manner. If
you have designed a good research plan and produced the
appropriate data, your paper will essentially write itself at this
point. You need only to follow the design as a type of outline,
filling in your information in the appropriate order. (Note: It is
helpful to arrange your notes by category or topic on separate
pages so that they can be shuffled into the appropriate order. A
word of caution: make sure you have all of the necessary
citation information for all the data that you collect.)
Make sure your argument follows logically, that you have
smooth transitions from one point to the next, that you remain
focused and do not include points irrelevant to the current
discussion, and that you include sufficient information to
adequately support your contention. Beware of using
information that "everybody" knows. "Everybody" is likely to
be wrong.
The conclusion serves to briefly reiterate your main point and
describe how it was supported in the text. Hopefully, you have
provided a logical, solid, well-supported and well-argued
thesis. Keep in mind that the conclusion is not the place for
your unsupported opinion or flowery speeches about how the
world can or will be a better/worse place, etc. You are writing
a research paper, not an essay or opinion piece.

STYLE

Begin writing as soon as possible, even before you finish all


your research. The very act of writing will help keep you
focused and aware of what you are still lacking. If you have a
gap or need more research to finish a point, leave a "flag" of
some sort in your text and continue with what you have.
Avoid run-on sentences and awkward constructions. A
sentence that exceeds more than three typed lines without
punctuation will be difficult to read and follow. A good idea is
to read your work aloud to check for length and smoothness of
construction. It is also helpful to vary your sentence length for
ease and interest of reading.
The construction of your paragraphs is also important. Each
paragraph should address a single point. The first sentence
tells the reader the topic of the paragraph. The rest of the
paragraph provides all of the detail necessary to clarify the
topic introduced in the first sentence. If the point requires
much clarification, such as in more than six sentences or so,
then you are probably dealing with several distinct points and
should break the paragraph into several paragraphs, each with
topic sentences. Each paragraph follows logically from the
previous one in the text in order to build a coherent argument.
At times you may need a transition paragraph to make the
connections between one paragraph or point to another. At
other times the final sentence in a paragraph or the initial
sentence in the next may serve this purpose.
Write simply and directly. Avoid jargon (a professional hazard)
whenever possible and always avoid common clichs such as
"last but not least" or "in the general scheme of things."
Remember that you are not writing a literary essay and that
"flowery" language adds nothing to your argument or to your
clarity. Be careful of which adjectives, qualifiers, and
intensifiers you choose and be as precise as possible. A
common mistake made by students is inappropriate word use.
Make sure you know the precise meaning of the words you
choose. If you are not sure, use a different word or look it up in
a dictionary. Do not repeat the same word continuously. A
thesaurus can be helpful in this regard. At the same time,
guard against pretentiousness in your writing by using overly
large or obscure words when a simpler one will do. Avoid the
general use of the passive tense. I encourage you to write
direct sentences and to use the word "I" when it is appropriate.

When you have finished your first draft, read through it and
eliminate any unnecessary words or phrases. Check for brevity.
Check for clarity and accuracy of your argument. Check for
extraneous comments that do not add to your argument or
which are not then developed. Check for unsupported or
"opinion" statements. Editorial page comments have no place
in a research paper, unless that is your topic. Check for smooth
transitions from one point to another. Rearrange your
paragraphs, if necessary. Check your spelling and grammar.
After you finish editing your work, do it again. Be happy that
you live in the computer age. Read it aloud. Have a friend edit
your work for you. If you do this on a regular basis, both you
and your friend will benefit by learning how to pick out flaws
before they occur and by receiving better grades.

PLAGIARISM
--UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL PLAGIARISM BE
TOLERATED. FAILURE TO READ YOUR GUIDE SHEET IS NOT AN
EXCUSE. Plagiarism is stealing and passing off as one's own
work the ideas or works of another and it is a serious crime in
academia. If you are summarizing the words of anyone else,
even in your own words, you must cite him or her. For a
general summary of an entire work or chapter, the name and
date is sufficient (Sahlins 1972). If you are summarizing a
specific passage, then the inclusive page number(s) must be
given (Sahlins 1972:36-38). If it is a direct quote, the specific
page number(s) must be given Sahlins 1972:36). Only your
own ideas, your own data, your own conclusions--or
information that is in the realm of general knowledge (The
Amazon River is located in South America.)--can be used
without citation. Everything else must be cited. This includes
references to films, recordings, literary references, personal
communications, unpublished papers, etc. Failure to do so will
cause you to fail the assignment. Take this as a serious
warning.

FORMAT

--Margins should be the standard default width of computer


word processing programs, i.e., one inch. Left justification of
type is preferable. DO NOT MANIPULATE MARGINS AND TYPE
POINT TO INCREASE PAGE NUMBERS.
--Double-space your text.
--Print should be dark and crisp enough for clear reading.
--Foreign words are underlined or italicized in your text, with
the exception of foreign names and titles (el pueblo of Juan
Carlos).
--Be consistent in your format. If there are multiple spellings
used in your sources for some reason, pick one spelling and
maintain it. If you choose to capitalize certain words such as
"the Catholic Church" or "Blacks and Whites," always use that
form. The worst inconsistency (because it says a lot about you)
is capitalizing one form of a category and not capitalizing
another--such as "the baptist church and the Catholic Church"
or "Blacks and whites."
--Do not allow widows and orphans to occur. This is the term
used to describe leaving one line of text from a paragraph or
quotation to dangle alone at the bottom or top of a page (at
least two lines together is the rule). Word processing programs
will eliminate this problem automatically, if you program them
to do so (but double check anyway because there are certain
cases, such as headings and indented quotes, that the
programs do not recognize as such). If you are typing your
paper, simply leave a larger margin at the bottom of your page
and start your paragraph, etc. at the top of the next page.
--Check your spelling!!!
--Do not include any authors or works that you have not cited
in your references or bibliography. Other scholars are not
interested in what works you may have read, they are
interested in where your specific references originated. Make
sure you do include all works that you have cited. If the
citation is incomplete for some reason, attempt to complete it.
If this is not possible, make a note in your references that the
missing piece of information is not available, such as "nd" for

"no date" or "ng" for "not given." Do not simply leave the
reference out.
--Avoid over-quoting. Most students quote far too much. Use
your own words as much as possible. Use quotations for
matters where:
1) the exact wording is crucial, as in parts of some documents
or letters;
2) where the wording is unusually colorful or descriptive; or
3) where you want to comment on the exact text.
--Indent and single space direct quotations of three or more
sentences. Do not use quotation marks to begin and end a
block quotation.
One-third to one-half of humanity are said to go to
bed hungry every night. In the Old Stone Age the
fraction must have been much smaller. This is the
era of hunger unprecedented. Now, in the time of
the greatest technical power, is starvation an
institution. Reverse another venerable formula: the
amount of hunger increases relatively and absolutely
with the evolution of culture (Sahlins 1972:36).
--If you are deleting words from a quotation, use three dots
within a sentence and four between sentences.
Marshall Sahlins (1972:36) has said, "Now . . . is starvation an
institution."
--Note that the quotation marks fall outside the entire sentence
and after the period. The only exception to this rule is in some
citations that also fall at the end of a sentence.
"This is the era of hunger unprecedented. Now, in the time of
the greatest technical power, is starvation an institution.
Reverse another venerable formula: the amount of hunger
increases relatively and absolutely with the evolution of
culture" (Sahlins 1972:36).
--If you add commentary in someone else's text or need to
make an editorial comment, it is placed in brackets directly

after the edition or at the end of the quote, but before the
period.
"This is the era of hunger unprecedented [rather than the
distant past]. Now, in the time of the greatest technical power,
is starvation an institution" (Sahlins 1972:36).
According to Julio Cesar Chaves (1942:279), the new nation of
Paraguay was left to incubate its new nationalism for the 26
years of Francia's rule.
The isolation of Paraguay in 1823 was almost total.
No commercial relations whatsoever were
maintained outside the country, reducing commerce
to the barter of a few products in Pilar [on the
Paraguay River near Argentina]. Navigation was
limited to an arrival at the port [of Pilar] of a boat
because, for a rare political exception with the
exterior, the Paraguayan government did not send
representatives nor receive them. Since Nicols de
Herrera, in 1813, not one plenipotentiary arrived in
Asuncin; those sent from Artigas [Jos Gervasio,
president of Uruguay] and from the Congress of
Tucumn [Argentina] have also not set foot on
Guaran soil [my translation] (quoted in Turner
1991:5).
Note the use of brackets in the text for clarification and the use
of brackets at the end to make an editorial comment. Also note
that when you are using a direct quote from a secondary
source, it is necessary to indicate that fact in the citation, i.e.,
"quoted in" or "cited in."
--The first time you mention an individual in your text
(excluding in text citations), the full name should be given,
thereafter use only the surname. Honorary titles (Dr., Mrs., Mr.,
etc.) are not used in scientific writing with the possible
exception of those in the religious orders (Father John, Sister
Joan). Only the last name is given for the in-text citations
(Sahlins 1972).
When you cite a book or author in the text, place the in-text
citation immediately after the title or name. The citation should
include author's surname, date of publication, and page
number(s), where necessary. If you have just mentioned the

author, you only need the year and page number. You do not
need to include the title of the work, nor do you need to
underline it in the text. You must always include the date of the
publication. If the author has more than one publication in one
year that you are citing, you must indicate which you are
referring to by the use of "a" or "b" after the year. The
designation of which is to be "a" and which is to be "b" is
decided alphabetically by title. This must also be done for your
reference page. (Multiple references by the same author are
first sorted by year, earliest first, and then alphabetically by
title, if necessary).
In his work, Stone Age Economics, Marshall Sahlins (1972:36)
has said, "[t]his is the era of hunger unprecedented. Now, in
the time of the greatest technical power, is starvation an
institution." Sahlins (1972:38) further states that, "...."
Note the use of only the surname in its second occurrence and
that the reader will need to refer to the reference section of
your work to acquire the name of the second publication for
that year.
If the article you are citing is part of a larger, edited volume,
your must cite the specific author, not the volume editor(s).
The complete information about the volume references will be
made in your references section. Similarly, if there are more
than two authors (Ruff, Trinkaus, Walker, and Lawson
1993:22), your specific reference may be shortened (Ruff et al.
1993:22). Remember that if you refer to these multiple authors
in your actual text, that all of their full names must be given
with the first reference.
Make sure your references (or bibliography) are accurate and
complete in all respects. As you advance in your academic
career, you should also be using more primary sources for your
data, as opposed to relying wholly on someone else's
interpretation of the data or sources.
Refer to the attached bibliography for the proper formatting of
your references. If you incur difficulties or are unsure about
the form, ask me for clarification before you turn in your work.
General rules for in text citation forms are:
--author(s) names (all of them);

--make sure you note if it is an edited work (a volume with


chapters written by a number of authors but collected and
organized by only one or some of these) by the use of "ed." or
"eds." after the name(s), or possibly "comp." or "comps." for
compilers;
--in edited volumes or journals, the specific author and the title
of his or her work is stated first, then the information given on
the volume (see Sahlins 1960, below, for an example);
--the date of the work follows the author's or editor's name;
--if a work is reprinted after a significant lapse of time, both
dates are given, 1993 [1924] (in your text as well);
--the article title is given first, then the journal or volume title;
--for this citation form, you do not need quotation marks or
underlining for titles, the order and substance alerts the reader
to which is which;
--for journal articles, the journal's name follows author, date,
and article title. Next the volume number is given, the number
(if any), and the page numbers (American Antiquity 54(2):5589.) A similar form is used for edited volumes (refer to
references sample);
--there may be additional publication information to insert at
this point. It is better to include too much, rather than have too
little;
--the final bit of information that must be included is the place
of publication and the publisher (not necessary for journals). If
two or more cities are given for the publisher, use the closest
one. Oxford University Press is a good example of this since
they have houses in Oxford and New York. If it is common
knowledge where a city is located, only the city name is given
(New York: Oxford University Press), if not, the state or
country must be included as well (Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press).
Other points that students sometimes don't know:
--the references are listed in alphabetical order;

--references by the same author are listed by year, earliest


first;
--if the references are by the same author in the same year,
they are alphabetized and distinguished by "a" and "b" after
the year (as well as in the in text citation, Sahlins 1961b: 322);
--if the author has one reference alone and another reference
with other authors, his or her single reference goes first;
--if the author has one reference as author and another as an
editor, the author references go first.

SAMPLE
REFERENCES CITED
Ruff, Cramdon, Eric Trinkaus, Amos Walker, and Christopher
Lawson
1993 Postcranial Robusticity in Homo, Temporal
Trends and Mechanical Interpretation American
Journal of Physical Anthropology 91:21-53.
Sahlins, Marshall D.
1958 Social Stratification in Polynesia. Monograph of
the American Ethnological Society. Seattle:
University of Washington Press.
1960 Political Power and the Economy in Primitive
Society. In, Gertrude Dole and Robert Carneiro, eds.,
Essays in the Science of Culture in Honor of Leslie
White, pp. 123-56. New York: Crowell.
1961a Moala: Culture and Nature on a Fijian Island.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
1961b The Segmentary Lineage: An Organization of
Predatory Expansion. American Anthropologist
63:322-45.

1969 Economic Anthropology and Anthropological


Economics. Social Science Information 8(5):13-33.
1972 Stone Age Economics. New York: Aldine
Publishing Company.
Sahlins, Marshall D., and Elman R. Service, eds.
1960 Evolution and Culture. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press.
Turner, Christina Bolke
1991 Language, Ethnicity, and Social Stratification in
Paraguay. Paper presented at the 1991 Annual
Meeting of the American Anthropological
Association, Chicago.

SPECIAL CITATION QUESTIONS


Personal communication (including e-mail, listserv, and
newsgroup messages)
Should be cited in text, with specific date, but not in
references. Example: "Chris Turner claims (letter to author,
August 3, 1999) that . . ."
Court case
Should be cited in text but not in references. Example: (Doe v.
U.Va., 521 F. Supplement 3322 [1997]). See Maryland 10.152
for details.
Internet document
Use this format (the "URL") for documents obtained at FTP or
Telnet sites (ftp://...), WWW sites (http://), and gopher sites
(gopher://):
Turner, Christina
1999 Guide to Writing a Research Paper. Electronic document.
http://saturn.vcu.edu/~cturner/guide.htm.

NOTE: Every discipline has its own style and format. Frequently
there are variations within a discipline. It would be wise to
check with all your professors throughout your academic
career as to their preferences in this regard. It would be
unwise to suggest that you did it differently in another class
with another professor.
Adapted from Justus Doenecke, "A Guide to Writing Term
Papers," Division of Social Sciences, New College, Sarasota, FL.

PROCEDURE FOR WRITING A TERM PAPER


http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/termpapr.html
FURTHER HELP/GUIDES FOR RESEARCH PAPER WRITING
http://www.students.vcu.edu/success/web/index.html
http://webster.commnet.edu/apa/apa_index.htm
How to Evaluate Your Sourceshttp://www.library.vcu.edu/help/evaluate.html
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGY ASSOCIATION STYLE GUIDE

CLICK HERE TO SEE AN EXAMPLE OF THESIS STATEMENT, OUTLINE, AND


ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY-- CLICK HERE TO SEE ANOTHER

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