Everything you need to know about research papers, and then some...
Research Paper Guidelines Handout - Basic information on the format and expectations for the research paper.
Research
So you need to do some research. Start with these:
Santa Barbara Public Library Catalog
If you "Google," you must fill out this handout for each source you use.
Now you need to put the information you've gathered into your own brilliant words. Do not plagiarize.
Identify the information you will include in your paper, by highlighting or underlining your sources. Obviously, if your source is a book, skip this step!
Make notes or notecards: write down key information in your own words, and record facts or quotations that require in-text citations. Make sure to identify the source on each page of notes or notecards.
Now you need to write an outline. See this handout.
With a strong outline, writing your body paragraphs is a breeze. Just put your information into clear sentences in the order you listed them!
Now for the icing on the cake: your introduction and conclusion.
The introduction should begin with a juicy "hook" to get your reader interested in your topic, followed by a transition that leads into your thesis sentence. The thesis sentence is the last sentence in your introduction, and it's a strong statement about the main subject of your paper.
The conclusion should begin with a re-statement of your thesis, and then transition into a discussion of how your topic is connected to other ideas in history, or how it is still relevant today.
Finally, the bibliography and in-text citations.
We'll be using the MLA form for the bibliography. You can build your bibliography with Noodletools, or by hand. Remember to alphabetize your entries.
If you cite specific facts, numbers, images, or quotes straight from one of your sources, follow them with in-text citations. You'll indicate the author or editor of one of the sources in your bibliography, and the page number where the information is found. Here are two examples:
As Mr. Rogers once observed, "I've never met a cardigan I didn't like," (Williams, pg. 259).
or
Experts have indicated that Mr. Rogers had more than 500 cardigans in his closet by the time he was 60. (Williams, pg. 231)