ENGLISH 213 REMINDERS FOR THE RESEARCH PAPER

1. Revise your thesis sentence, if necessary: express your main idea in a full, declarative sentence that
is not a question, not a statement of purpose, and not merely a topic. Make sure that your thesis
appears in the introductory paragraph. In your conclusion, reaffirm your thesis.

2. Write from your notes and outline, citing sources and making sure that the information you include
supports your ideas. Do not simply string together a bunch of research information.

3. Blend quotations into your writing: use the sources as a natural extension of your writing, check to
see that you have no “hanging” (isolated) quotations, and punctuate correctly. Paraphrase and
summarize; use quotations only when the exact words are essential.

4. Write in the correct tense and in the third person.

5. Give your essay a title that identifies your key terms and thesis.

6. Revise globally for unity and coherence of the whole essay and of each paragraph, removing
sentences that don’t support your claims. Edit closely at the sentence level. Do a word-count of only
the essay to ensure that it is within the required word limit.

7. Proofread and correct any errors. Do not rely only on a spell-checker. Double-space your work. Use
a readable style and size of typeface. Staple your complete paper at the top left. Do not provide a
cover unless you are asked to.

8. Use MLA Documentation Format:

A. Title page: Place the essay title at the center of the page and the course and other
information at the bottom right. Do not count or number the title page.

B. Thesis and Outline: Make sure that the final version matches your paper. Number all pages
except the first in lower case roman numerals. (The first page of the outline is counted as “i”
but the number doesn’t appear; the second page is numbered “ii” at the top right, and so on.)

C. The Text of the Essay: Number in arabic numerals at the top right. (The first page counts
but the number does not appear on the page.)

D. Content notes (for example, a translation) appear on a separate notes page immediately
following the essay (superscript number in essay and number on the line at the beginning of
the note).

E. Appendixes (for example, charts, graphs, art work) appear at the end of the paper after the
notes page (if there is one) and before the works cited page(s). Title each appendix and label
the materials. Continue essay pagination.

F. Works Cited: Change the title of your annotated bibliography to Works Cited and remove
your annotations. Include only those items that you actually use in your essay as sources of
information, ideas, and language. Continue essay pagination.

9. Hand in your research paper on time!