Writing Papers for Me

 There are a few things you need to keep in mind

This website is not designed for reading at one (or even several( sittings. It's too large and unwieldy for that. Instead, use the table of contents to the left to grab what you need at any given time. Even as large as the site is, it's not by any means complete. If you need to know the precise way to site an odd, rarely used source within a report you're writing, go to the appropriate print resource. Ganser Library has all of them in its reference section. Questions about form, style, grammar, etc.? See my Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation. In addition, there are useful links such as Webster's Guide to Grammar and Writing or Purdue's The OWL. The material below just warns you of a few of my own best advice and pet peeves.

For Freshmen Only: Your professors do not love you truly. Mostly, they do not care about you one way or the other. If you hand us junk that takes longer for us to grade than it did you to write, we'll resent it bitterly, and will take it out on you. We don't just happily give F's, we happily give zeros. It does not bother us to flunk you. On the other hand, we dearly love brilliant, perceptive, hard working students. We just wish there were more of them.

Layout and Design:

1. Keep a digital copy of your paper on a separate flash drive or other storage devise so that you can easily print it out again if necessary. Trust me: your professor's dog will eat your paper; your hard drive will fail; you'll leave your paper on top of the car and drive off; you'll break up with your significant other, and your paper will be on his or her machine, etc., etc. Trust Murphy's law, save your file early and often, and back things up accordingly.
2. Staple your papers (never dog-ear or paper clip). If you bring it to class any other way, I'll just refuse to accept it, you'll be late turning it in, and your grade will go down. Staplers are cheap; every one should have one.
3. Label clearly. Professors grade a large number of papers from many different classes, and it's easy for material to go astray. A paper can get knocked on the floor, torn apart, even lost. Label all pages. On the first page upper left, put
   • Name
   • Submission date,
   • The course name or number,
   • The class hour, and
   • Some identification of the assignment the paper applies to ("Paper 1," "Homework, Chapter 2, p. 15,' etc.).
4. Layout for readability: Choose a readable font and clean layout and design. My own preference is a 12 point serif font (Times New Roman, for example, not Arial).
• Handing in hard copy? Provide the paper double spaced, indent paragraphs.
• Submitting online (via Blackboard)? These days, that's almost all of your papers for me. Then, go to a single spaced format with no indentions (full block style), providing a space between paragraphs and on either side of block quotes.
  Why? Because I'll be grading your papers on my screen, and I need to see large hunks of text rather than lots of empty space filling up my screen. I can always increase the screen font size to make it easier to read the material.
5. Always have a paper title
6. Running header or footer: After page 1, make sure your name, a short version of the title, and the page number is on every page starting with p. 2.

Writing Your Paper: General Hints

Things to avoid:

1. Don't use cute fonts. Use regular paper, font sizes, fonts, and colors. Default to Times New Roman 12 point black, blue, or navy. Things like Calibri and Arial are hard for me to read, and pain from eye strain will not make me love your paper any more, believe me. Similarly, DO NOT use a cutesy font or color like Lucida Handwriting. It makes you look like brainless Suzy Snowflake. Similarly, don't go the Arial route, a san serif font that looks like the techy who never meets any other human beings. It's miserable to read in large chunks. Can you imagine the way I'll feel about you and your work after being faced with an odd color and font for page after page? Professors usually don't mean to be deliberately vindictive, but we're human. You really don't want a cranky professor grading your work.

2. Don't bother with a cover sheet or a blank last page. In general, double space papers you hand in to me physically, and single space those you are asked to hand in digitally (via Blackboard). Let's all save trees where we can.

3. Don't use illustrations or drawings unless the subject matter requires them; this isn't grade school. Do use tables, figures, and bullet/number lists when they make things clearer. Don't you dare borrow images from another source without citing that source.

4. Don't start papers out with a dictionary definition. Again, this isn't grade school, and we both know what the words mean. If you don't, look it up on your own time.

5. Don't make an encyclopedia (or Wikipedia) article your main resource. Reason: Same as #4 above. Again, this isn't grade school.

6. Document (cite) sources - always Real scholars cite other scholars' work, faux scholars plagiarize. Always give credit for images, text, and ideas you use; whether paraphrased or directly quoted. In a research paper, that often means a large portion of your paper, but you are still choosing, evaluating, drawing conclusions from the material you find. When you write a paper, you are joining a conversation in progress. Citing your sources not only avoids plagiarism charges, it also strengthens your paper, as it proves that you understand the important voices in the field. You must cite everything you get from other sources.

7. Direct quotations are italicized or put in quotation marks, provided with footnotes/endnotes, or parenthetical explanation of sources, and added to the Works Cited or Bibliography page(s). Questions about this: see How to write an academic paper  (PDF: it's sideways: right click and rotate clockwise)

8. Paraphrased material (someone else's ideas rephrased in your own words) in exactly the same way, but without the italics/quotation marks.

For further information, see Documentation below.

9. Don't get chatty, but don't expect your reader to read your mind either. For the most part, I don't care about your ideas, opinions, or personality. I care about how you designed your research problem, what evidence you found, and how you evaluated it.

10. Make paper's organization transparent. Use section headings and subheadings.

11. Be honest.  Do not try to push the paper further than it will go.  Nobody expects an undergraduate or master's level paper to contain ground breaking material.

12. Once you're finished, shut up.  Many high school students learn to end by flattering the teacher or suggesting that the student is somehow a better person for having undertaken the project.  Not only is that not necessary, it weakens the paper.  Evaluate the degree to which you were able to test your thesis or meet the research program you began, summarize what you have shown, stop.

Designing your paper and citing its sources:

My name, date Course #, class hour Assignment identification Paper Design Text of paper I personally ask that papers be single spaced. Skip a line between paragraphs. Do not indent body text.       Indent hunks of directly quoted material of three or more       lines + - 5. Some style sheets suggest that you do this with       4 or more lines. Then, go back to the old margin to complete the paragraph. Use parenthetical citation to show the source of your material whether it is directly quoted or put in your own words. It doesn't matter what the material is; cite EVERYTHING that isn't known by the common person on the street. So, you don't have to cite the fact that the sun sets in the west or the Atlantic Ocean is east of here, but would need to cite the distance of the sun from the earth or the cubic volume of the Atlantic Ocean. Cite at least every paragraph. Indiana University's "Writing Tutorial Services" puts it this way: When we use information from a source that is not common knowledge, and incorporate it into our own writing, we have to document where it came from, as in the following example: According to U.S. Senate staff member Paul C. Light, legislation on Capitol Hill is often surrounded by a “fog of politics” (11). Note that this writer tells her reader the information needed for finding her source: we know that the quotation came from page 11 of a book by Paul C. Light. [Note: if the source had not been so fully explained in the sentence, that data would need to be in the parenthetical material at the end of the sentence. That the parenthetical citation is inside the end punctuation means that it refers to data provided in that sentence only. If the parenthetical citation is outside the period, it is covering everything in that paragraph up to the preceding citation. So, there is no reason to cite every sentence unless each is from a different source. -bd] .Then, at the end of your paper, you need to give your reader the rest of the information necessary for looking up the reference. This is [Note: Running footer. Nothing on p. 1. At the bottom of page starting at p. 2, include footer with name, short title, page number of total pages] usually a separate “Works Cited“ page, and it is typically arranged by authors’ last names, so that your reader can find the author referred to in your paper. Thus, at the bottom of your paper, you would need to cite your sources in a Work Cited section. Unless there are elements such as appendices, bibliography, or indices, this would be the last thing in your paper. Feel free to use MLA or APA style so long as you are consistent. Work Cited "Citing Sources in MLA Style." 27 April 2004 Writing Tutorial       Services. Indiana University, April 27, 2008      <http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/mla_style.shtml> Light, Paul C. Forging Legislation. New York: Norton, 1992. Why did I make the article the hot button rather than the address itself? Because the format of this web page requires it. If I make the web addresses (which are often very long) hot buttons, then it can force the width of the table you see as white space within which I am 'typing' to become very wide, as the coding will not permit a line break in the middle of an address. So, I avoid doing that. Word permits such line breaks, but creates very wordy code, which I hate, as it can slow down transmission. The hanging indent, by the way, is +5. Always alphabetize the items in your Work Cited section. The information on web resources can vary as much as print texts and oral interviews do. I don't need to know anything about the search process--just the source itself, so don't bother telling me you used Google Scholar, JSTOR, or some such. You cite the resource website itself. . Consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers or a Reference Librarian for help in developing in-text references. On the Web. World Wide Web full-text sources are usually journal, magazine, or newspaper articles found at a specific web address or using a search engine like Google, Google Scholar, or Yahoo. These articles can come from popular sources (i.e. Time, Newsweek, etc.) or scholarly sources (i.e. Information Technology Journal, PMLA, etc.). The article type and how it was accessed will determine the citation format. [Bottom of page two: now I add author's name, a short version of the title, and pagination information. You can set that up to work automatically in Word using Header or Footer. Why add a running footer (or header if you prefer)? To let readers track whose paper she or he is reading, how far along, etc. If the paper comes apart into separate pages, its easy to put them back together, and to insure that the right pages go back into the report. At the bottom of the paper, by which time the reader may have forgotten which author she's reading, it's easy to review that rather than going all the way back to page 1.] ____________________________________________________________ Bonnie Duncan, Paper Design                                                                             Page 2 of 5 . What goes in your actual Work Cited citations? It depends. (Don't you just hate those words?! Sorry, but in this case, it's true. The necessary information varies. Here, you'll see both a work cited section and a bibliography mentioned. You ALWAYS need a work cited section. When might you need both? Your research often includes background materials you don't end up using in the paper itself, things you needed in order to get up to speed on the subject. When you would recommend some of those items for the serious researcher, items that you have perhaps not directly referred to in your paper, you create a bibliography, which lists everything in the work cited section plus all the others you recommend. Formatting your entries: Parenthetically in the text, you just need to make the material you are discussing at that moment findable by your readers so that those who choose to can seek out the source and see if your representation of the material is fair and accurate, and whether they agree with your conclusions. Note on primary research: for the same reason, in this class always reproduce your survey in the paper's Appendix and explain how you selected your survey participants. The demographic information at the beginning of the survey is important, and needs to be discussed in the paper, because it can effect your results. By including a broad demographic set questions, you can to some degree avoid getting the information you expect to get because of the people you choose and the questions you ask. It might happen that the survey questions get answered the same, but it turns out that a different demographic item could be a factor. Or, your reader may realize, though you missed it, that some other factor could be effecting the outcome. Remember: the gold standard of research is reproducibility and even negative information is useful in the long term. How to you add personal interviews, professor's lectures, etc., to your Work Cited? It sometimes happens that you realize you got that information from me or another professor in class, or you found it out when you asked somebody in an email message or phone call. That's easy: Duncan, Bonnie. Lecture in ENGL220, Millersville University,       Approximately February 2, 2008. Albright, Sarah. Telephone interview. March 22, 2008. Article from a Popular Magazine: From the Web What you need: * Author(s) name * Title * Source (magazine name--italicized) * Publication date * Date you accessed the information * URL Works Cited/Bibliography Format: McGinn, Daniel. "Rewinding a Video Giant." Newsweek 27 June       2005. July12, 2005 <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8259044/       site/newsweek>. ____________________________________________________________ Bonnie Duncan, Paper Design                                                                           Page 3 of 5 . Article from a Scholarly Journal: What you need: * Author(s) name * Title * Source (journal name) * Volume & issue number * Publication date & page number(s) * Database name (if included within one) * Date you accessed the information * URL Works Cited/Bibliography Format: Dane, Gabrielle. "Reading Ophelia's Madness." Exemplaria 10.2       (1998). Date found: July12, 2005      http://web.english.ufl.edu/english/exemplaria/danefram.htm. Wechsler, Judith. "Performing Ophelia: The Iconography of       Madness." Theatre Survey 43.2 (2002): 201-221. Cambridge       Journals. Date found: July 12, 2005       http://journals.cambridge.org/. Websites. There are many different kinds of web sites, so it is impossible to give just one set of precise instructions for citation format. If you can not find some of the information needed, cite what is available. The following Works Cited/Bibliography examples are only guidelines; utilize the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers for additional examples. What you need (at minimum): Site title (if there is no title use a description such as "Home Page") Date you accessed the information URL [A word about the URL: I do not put < > around the URL, though MLA does. Why? The markers < > are html code, and using them to demarcate web addresses adds to the chance of miscoding. If you want to put them in, feel free. If another professor prefers them, for sure add them.] What you need (if available): Author(s)/Editor(s) name Publication or last update date Organization/Institution name associated with the site ____________________________________________________________ Bonnie Duncan, Paper Design                                                                               Page 4 of 5 . In-text Citation Format: Note that you don't have to utilize parenthesis if all the necessary information is provided within the sentence/paragraph, so that the reader can find it in the Work Cited section. In example 1 below, you can see that the project is clearly stated, and the reader can easily find it in the Work Cited section. In example 2, the parenthetical citation is needed. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project states that while younger activists admired King, tension was created when he decided not to participate in 1961's Freedom Rides. While younger activists admired King, tension was created when he decided not to participate in 1961's Freedom Rides (The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project). What you need (at minimum): Site title (if there is no title use a description such as "Home Page") Date you accessed the information URL What you need (if available): Author(s)/Editor(s) name Publication or last update date Organization/Institution name associated with the site Works Cited/Bibliography Format: Border, Nathan. Home page. (n.d.) Date found: July 12, 2005       at http://mypage.iu.edu/~nborder/. Indiana University Fact Book 2004-2005. Indiana       University. Dec. 2004. Date found: July12, 2005 at       http://factbook.indiana.edu/fbook04/enroll/fall.shtml. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project. Ed. Clayborne Carson.       Stanford University. April 2005. Date found:July 14       2007. http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/. Victorian Women Writers Project. Ed. Perry Willett.       Indiana University. April 2003. Date found: 12 July 2005       http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/. . . . . . . ____________________________________________________________ Bonnie Duncan, Paper Design                                                                           Page 5 of 5

2002; Last revised August 13, 2007
Dr. Bonnie Duncan
bduncan@millersville.edu
1-717-871-2080
English Department
Millersville University
Millersville, PA 17551

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