Writing Papers for Me


 
 
Navigate within this site (remember open sesame)
home
 

 Some examples

 
 

Table of Contents


Writing A Research Paper for Me


Home

How to write an academic paper (doc file)

How to write an academic paper (a bit briefer, ppt)

Avoid accidental plagiarism

Quick Stop: Compare formats for end- footnotes, parenthetical citation, and Works Cited/Bibliography pages.


The Basics

Top 10 Ways To Fix Writing Problems

Individual Research/Writing Styles

Narrow or Broaden Your Topic

Research I: Getting Started (you are here)

Research II: Evaluating Sources.

A word about length

Primary vs. Secondary Resarch

MLA vs. APA Formats

Paper Layout and Design

Checklist 1

Layout and Design

Illustrations (Figures/Tables)

Table of Contents

Checklist 2

Why should I document sources?

When do I have to acknowledge my sources

Choosing a format

Avoiding Accidental Plagiarism

In Text (Parenthetical Citation)

In Text:  Literature such as poetry or drama

Web or Multimedia Materials (Documentation and Fair Use)

Format:  Works Cited or Bibliography?

What should it look like?  Citing various resources in your Works Cited and/or Bibliography (You are here)

Citing electronic resources

Electronic Sources:  Typical Variations

Compare forms of foot- endnotes, parenthetical citation, and Works Cited page.

 

Type of citation
Works Cited and/or Bibliography

 

Journal article 

It does not matter whether you double or single space (except to your professor--always follow his or her directions to precisely), the indentation works the same. Some people prefer to italicize (I do), particularly on the web, where underscoring usually means a live link.

Fjagesund, Peter.  "Samson and Delilah:  Chapter 37  of
          Charlotte  Bronte's Jane Eyre."  English Studies
          80  (1999):  449-53.

Book
Kingston, Maxine Hong. China Men. New York: Vintage  Books, 1989.

 


Personal or professional site online

Author(s). Name of Page. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site. Date of Access .

Chruchyard, Henry.  Jane Austen Information Page. 20 Dec.  2000.
      Jane Austin Society.  Date found:7 January 2006 at
      http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeinfo.html.

OR with italics, but hotbuttoned

Chruchyard, Henry.  Jane Austen Information Page. 20 Dec.  2000. Jane Austin Society.
      7 January 2006. http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeinfo.html

 
Work in an anthology, in this case with 
translators

Apuleius, Lucius.  "The Golden Ass." Trans. J. Arthur 
     Hanson. World Reader:  Antiquity to the Early 
     Modern World.  Eds. Mary Ann Caws and 
     Christopher Predergast.  New York:  Harper 
     Collins College Publishers, 1994. 

 

E-mail
communication

Note that here it would be inappropriate to provide the individual's email address any more than you would provide mailing or phone information, also invasive. The author has titled the email, perhaps, but not necesarily, from the 'Subject' line in order to ease the task of reference.

Bauerly, Joan. "Delta Airlines."  E-mail to Sydney Darby. 
     12  Dec. 2000.

 

Document/article within a scholarly project online

Author(s). Name of Page. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site. Date of Access. Note that here, the Gilgamesh is a book (therefore italicized) within the title of an article (the whole of which is in quotation marks). The book in which it has been published (Exploring...) is also in italics.

Brown, Arthur A.  "Storytelling, the Meaning of Life, and 
     The Epic of  Gilgamesh."  Exploring Ancient World Cultures. 1996.  University
     of Evansville.  Dec. 21, 2000.  http://eawc.evansville.edu/essays/brown.htm.

Personal interview

If you did it by phone or email, you would just say that instead.

Davis, Arnold. Personal Interview. 16 Nov. 2000.

Anonymous book

When there is no known author, the title of the book, play, etc., goes first.

Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays.  ed. 
     James Jennings. New York:  Dover, 1998.

Full-text periodical articles from subscription database (such as EBSCO, ERIC, Proquest, Newsbank)

Some professors prefer that you show the source you searched. (I don't care personally).
If so, do it this way.

Gilbert, Sandra M.  "Jane Eyre and the Secrets of Furious  Lovemaking."
    Novel:  A Forum on Fiction.  31.3 
(1998):  351 - 73.
    EBSCO Academic Search Elite
11 Dec. 2000      http://terra.chemeketa.edu/library/information/alpha-database.htm#academic.

Encyclopedia online
Hunter, James.  "Achilles."  The Encyclopedia Mythica
     2000.  Pantheon.org. 12  Dec.  2000.
     http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/articles/a/achilles.html.
Pamphlet
If We Join Together Now, We Can Improve Our Children's 
      Lives. Washington:  Stand For Children, 2000. 
Book by two or more authors
Jakobson, Roman, and Linda R. Waugh.  The Sound 
      Shape of  Language.  Bloomington:  Indiana Up, 1979.
Book by same author

Increasingly, given how easy it is to cut/paste, I'm seeing the author spelled out each time. If your professor prefers the blanks, though, here's how.

----. Woman Warrior. New York: Vintage Books, 1987. 

 

Newspaper article

Law, Steve and Sarah Shipley.  "TV Violence Raises 
      Youth Aggression." Salem Statesman Journal
      18  Oct.  1998: A6+.
Encyclopedia (well known)
"Mandarin."  The Encyclopedia Americana. 1993 ed.
Weekly Magazine
Pound, Tory.  "Streaked by."  Time Magazine 12  Dec. 1998: 65 - 67.
Monthly Magazine
Preece, Andrew.  "America's Cup 2000."  Yachting World  Dec. 1999:  84-87.

 

Online Newspaper

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume. Issue (Year): Pages/Paragraphs (if provided) . Date of Access . Some electronic journals and magazines provide paragraph or page numbers; include them if available. This format is also appropriate to online magazines; as with a print version, you should provide a complete publication date rather than volume and issue number.

Web address: More recently, MLA is leaving the year without parenthesis. Sometimes, depending on the information available, the two dates can sit adjacent to one another, which can be confusing. Then, to prevent confusion, I'd say "date found" next to the appropriate one.

Reuters, John.  "AT&T and Lucent Fall Sharply on Earnings Warnings."
     New York Times on  the Web  (21  Dec.  2000)  New York Times.
     22  Dec. 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business-att-lucent-d.html.

OR JUST

Reuters, John.  "AT&T and Lucent Fall Sharply on Earnings
       Warnings." 22  Dec. 2001 New York Times on the Web  21  Dec.  2005. 
       http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business-att-lucent-d.html.

Encyclopedia (less well known)
"Touchstone."  The Reader's Encyclopedia of Shakespeare
          Eds. Oscar James Campbell and Edward G. 
          Quinn. NY: Crowell, 1966.
Online Govt. Publications (includes date materials were posted by govt. and date accessed by researcher)


United States.  Dept. of Justice. Bureau of Justice. "
     Prisoners in 1999." 9  August  2000.  22  Dec.  2000 
     http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/p99.htm.

Govt. Publication
(note:  if  author is known, list either by the author's last name or place the author's name after title of document)

United States.  Department of Justice.  National Institute 
          of Justice. National Evaluation of the Youth Firearms 
          Violence Initiative.  by  Terence Dunworth.  Washington:
            GPO, 2000.

Surveys (Unpublished)
Note:  If this is a published survey, then title is underlined and publisher information + date are given
Wallace, Stanley. "A Survey of Chemeketa Community College 
          Students." Salem, OR,  1998. 

 

 


2002; Last revised July 14, 2008
Dr. Bonnie Duncan
bduncan@millersville.edu
1-717-871-2080
English Department
Millersville University
Millersville, PA 17551

Other Contacts:
Millersville Information Technology Help Desk:
1-717-871-2371, 1-800-509-9605

Blackboard Help Desk:
Help Desk # for B' board
1-866-334-9174