Research Paper Writing Guide Dr. Michael I. Niman Buffalo State College Communication Department

INFORMATION ABOUT CITATIONS

 Know the difference between a Bibliography and a References Cited list.

·       A Bibliography is a general list of sources that address the subject matter of a book or paper.  It serves as a tool for readers who are interested in doing further research on the subject.

·       A References Cited list contains only those sources that are specifically cited in your paper. It allows readers to see specifically what sources you used.

Research papers must have a list of References Cited.  A bibliography is optional. It is not needed and they are not common on research papers.

Use a recognized academic citation style.  Use the same style consistently throughout your paper.  Do not mix styles.  Faculty members generally accept papers using either the APA, MLA or Chicago citation styles.  I prefer the Chicago style, but will accept papers written in APA or MLA style as well.  A short Chicago citation style guide is available online from the American Anthropological Association at: www.aaanet.org/pubs/style_guide.pdf.

Entries on your References Cited list must be complete, including publisher information as outlined in the style guide.

All ideas and facts that appear in your paper, and are not your original ideas, should be attributed to their source.  This means there should be an in-text citation or a foot noted citation.

All citations should reference material listed on the References Cited list.  The reader should be able to easily determine where your information comes from by using your citations and your References Cited list.  You should not have sources cited in your paper that are not on your References Cited list. Your References Cited list should be in alphabetical order so that a reader can easily find a cited reference. For this reason, in text citations should use the name that is listed as the first author on the References Cited list.

All material listed on the References Cited list should be cited in the body of the text with in-text citations (see examples below). Don’t inflate this list by listing material you don’t actually cite in your paper (this would amount to academic fraud and be very bad!). Proof read your paper and make certain your citations and your References Cited lists match up.

Your in-text citations or footnotes should include the number of the magazine, book or newspaper page where your information comes from. 

You should always list your citations by author, even if the author is an organization and not a person.  Citations should not listed by title. If there is no identifiable author, then the author is "Anonymous." But you must ask yourself, do you really want to cite a nameless source, and how credible is a nameless source?

When quoting experts, witnesses, authors etc., introduce them in your text.  Don’t simply cite a speaker when we have no idea who this person is or what their credentials are [e.g. “According to Michael Niman (Niman 1997:31)”].  Who is he?  Instead, introduce your speaker the first time you cite him or her [e.g. “According to Michael I. Niman, author of People of the Rainbow: A Nomadic Utopia,” or “according to Buffalo State College Journalism Professor Michael Niman.”].  Subsequent quotes from the same source don’t require detailed introductions.  Simple citations of sources that you are not quoting, but want to credit for providing facts or ideas, don’t require an introduction.

Internet databases and related web sites comprise online libraries.  You should not cite such a web site as your source any more than you would cite the Bulger library as your source.  The library is simply a depository for information.  You cite the book you find in the library, not the library itself.  The same is true for online sources.  You cite the author etc., not simply the web site  In addition to this information, since there is no physical source to check your work against, you also cite the complete URL where you accessed the information, and the date you accessed it.  The style guide gives specific instruction for how to do this.

Chicago Citation Examples:  The following in text citations (Niman 1997:31) and (Niman 1997:213) refer to page 31 and page 213 of the same book, which would be listed on the References Cited pages as:  

Niman, Michael I.
1997    People of the Rainbow: A Nomadic Utopia. Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press.

The following three entries from the same author are for page 83 of a book (McClusky 2001:83) a journal article (McClusky 1999) and a chapter from an anthology (McClusky 1993).

McClusky, Laura J.
2001    Here Our Culture is Hard": Stories of Domestic Violence from A Belizean Mayan Community. Austin : University of Texas Press.
1999    Domestic Violence Among Belizean Maya.  Humanity and Society 23(4): 319-338)
1993     Pity The Bones By Wandering River, Which Still in Lovers' Dreams Appear As Men. (with Robert K. Dentan) In The Functions of Dreaming, Milton Kramer and Alan Moffitt, eds. Albany : SUNY Press.

For details about other types of citations, see the above referenced style guide.  Underlined titles can be substituted for italicized titles

GENERAL INFORMATION

Clearly label your paper with your name, the date, the course number, the assignment (e.g. “Semester Paper”) and the subject and the title of your paper.

Your paper must clearly address the assigned topic.  Any deviation from the assigned topic will earn you a failing grade unless such a variance is approved by the professor (get it in writing and attach it to the paper).  In other words – don’t attempt to recycle papers you have written for other classes (it's that fraud thing again).

Follow all instructions carefully.  If the instructions require that you cite specific books or course materials (e.g. “cite all four course textbooks”) in your text, there is a reason for this.  If you do not follow instructions that clearly specify what is required on the paper, your grade will suffer greatly since you are not turning in the paper as required.  If you are unsure about what is required, ask the professor.

Encyclopedias are not considered “scholarly” or “academic” sources.  They are quick and dirty abbreviated sources of basic information whose quality fluctuates widely.  While High School teachers might accept such sources on class “reports,” they are not acceptable sources for college level “research papers.”

Avoid quoting dictionary definitions of words unless you feel it is absolutely necessary to make a pertinent point that is not readily apparent (e.g. “According to the Oxford American Dictionary, the word ‘amok’ comes from the Malay word of the same spelling, which means rushing in a frenzy”).  It is a safe assumption that your professor is well versed in the words pertaining to his or her field of expertise and does not need you to define them.

Wiki Warning: Wikipedia is a user moderated interactive internet database (see "Internet" above under "citations" and "Web" below)). It is not an encyclopedia (see "encyclopedia" above), nor does it portend to be one. In and of itself, it is not a source -- it is a conduit. The information on Wiki pages is posted by users. If you want to cite information from Wikipedia, you need to cite the author of the line or fact that you are referencing. You can find the author by studying the edit history on the page in question. This, however, can be very time consuming, and will usually just yield a nom de Wiki or handle. If you can't trace an author, then the author is "Anonymous" and the page source is the Wikipedia URL. Wikipedia is useful, however, in pointing you toward credable sources. Almost all the credible information posted on Wikipedia pages is cited to a linked source. Follow the link and cite that source if you deem it credible. Citing Wikipedia as your source will damage your grade (by one letter grade in my upper division classes).

Blog posts have the same credibility as bathroom graffittee unless you positively verify the identity of the poster, in which case, the information can be cited to the poster. If the post quotes or purports to repost another source, such as a newspaper, you must find that origional source and cite it directly -- otherwise how you you know that the blog quote is accurate and not made up or edited? Blogs serve to direct you to credivle sources, but they are seldom, if ever, credible sources themselves.

Research papers must be based upon research.  Your grade will reflect the depth of your research as well as the depth of your ideas and the clarity of your presentation.

Visit the library early and often.  I cannot stress this enough.  Research librarians (not the student employees working the stacks) are tenure track faculty members whose specialty is information retrieval.  Research is their profession and they are here to help you do the research for your paper.  Your tuition contributes to their salaries and for the books and other resources the library either owns or subscribes to.  Take advantage of the resources that you are paying for.

Begin your library research as early as possible. 

• This will allow you to order books and other resources from the interlibrary loan network where the turn-around time may be a few weeks. There is no charge for this service, which can put resources from hundreds of libraries, including rare out of print books, into your hands.
• This will also allow the library time to recall books that you may need.

When in the library, visit the stacks and touch the books.  Like in a bookstore, library books are cataloged and shelved by subject.  When you visit one book on a shelf, you will find other books addressing the same subject matter shelved nearby.  One visit to the right shelf can provide you will all the academic citations that you need.

PLAGIARISM

COMMON PROBLEMS

Don’t use Passive Voice.  It’s not only bad writing. It also obfuscates the identity of the speaker.  For example, in the statement, “It is said television watching is a contributing factor in childhood obesity,” who says this?  We don’t know.  An active voice constriction would read, “The American Academy of Pediatricians claims that television watching…”  See the difference.  Which sentence persuades you?  If you are uncertain about what constitutes passive voice, go back and revisit the basic writing stylebook that you used in your Intro to Writing for the Media or English Composition course. It should still be sitting conveniently near your computer or desk.

Learn the difference between the words, “affect” and “effect.” Use the correct word, especially in paper titles.  Here’s an example.  “Propaganda affects everyone differently, causing an unpredictable effect on society.”  But it’s not simple.  “Rhetoric can effect social change, but social scientists say it’s hard to predict who will be affected by such change.”  Again, reference your basic writing stylebook.  When in doubt, use safe words like “impact.”

Use paragraph breaks.  Avoid long drawn out paragraphs.  They make it difficult to visually navigate the page.  They also fail to distinguish different ideas and points from each other.   

A good research paper has a thesis.  This is the conclusion or proposition that you are arguing.  Your argument should be persuasive and grounded on a foundation of research. 

Thinking people have opinions that they can defend. Your paper should demonstrate that you are not only familiar with the subject matter, but that you understand it, have command over it, and have formulated your own opinion about it. 

©2008Michael I. Niman