… Write a research paper

1. How to… … Write a research paper

2. Fear not! • So many students are over-run with fear and anxiety at the prospect of having to write a research paper. But the truth is, provided you know how to approach the assignment, writing research papers is not difficult at all. • In fact, if you are writing about something that interests you, you will find the assignment to be a great deal of fun. • Here is how to do it:

3. Start by making an MS Word template for your research papers. • To make things easy for this and all future research assignments, develop a template on your computer, formatting it according to Turabian standards. Then, use the "save as" function to save the template for your first research assignment.

4. A Template • What’s a template? • A template is nothing more than an MS Word document that you set up to use for your research papers. • Turabian shows you how to format your papers (see page 378) . • Each time you have to write another paper, just go back to your template and save it with a new title.

5. E-Turabian generator • Book mark this link on your laptop computer: • http://www.eturabian.com/turabian/index.html

6. Pick a topic to write about. • It is alright to consult with your instructor about this.

7. Fine tune your topic • focus on a specific part of the topic you have chosen. • It's alright to consult with your instructor about this, too.

8. Build your bibliography • A bibliography is a list of books and other information sources that you use to write your paper. • So the bibliography is essentially the foundation of the paper; and just like the foundation for a house, the house is no better than the foundation it sits on. • Librarians can help you develop your bibliography.

9. More on bibliographies • In building your bibliography it is a good idea to the find a variety of sources, such as: • Books • e-Books • Articles from peer-reviewed journals, and • maybe some information from online sources.

10. More on Bibliographies • Also, when you compile your bibliography, it has to be formatted according to Turabian standards. Once you've become accustomed working with Turabian this part will come easily to you. • Each of you should have your own copy of Turabian.

11. Quoting the Bible • Since you are a seminarian, it's pretty likely that you will often make references to biblical scriptures. • Note that according to Turabian, you do not need to include the Bible or any books of the Bible in your bibliography; but you will need to know how to make footnote references to scriptures. (see Turabian 19.5.2) • To do this, include the abbreviated name of the book, the chapter and verse—but never a page number.

12. Quoting the Bible • See Turabian section 24.6 for a list of biblical abbreviations. Chapter and verse numbers should be in Arabic form and separated by a colon. For example: • Jn 3:16.

13. Develop a thesis statement • Research that culminates into a written report begins with either a thesis statementor a thesis question. • Professor Currin specifies that you use a thesis statement.

14. Example of a thesis statement • “There is a large body of scientific and sociological data that indicates that a world-wide flood occurred during the time of Noah and this paper presents this evidence.”

15. Start reading • Once you acquired the sources you need for your paper, start reading. • When you read the books you have selected, you can usually use the index to find information that specifically addresses the point of your research. • That will save you the trouble of having to read the whole book.

16. “Tricks of the trade” • One of the "trick of the trade" that experienced researchers use is they make a photocopy of the pages that contain information that specifically addresses the thesis statement, and then use a yellow highlighter to mark those statements. • Or, when you read articles, either make photocopies of them out of the journals, or print them out from their online sources, and then use a yellow highlighter whenever you find statements that focus on the specific point of your research. • (Some of your quotes might be a whole paragraph long.)

17. “Tricks of the trade” • When you make these photocopies, it is a really good idea to also make a photocopy of the title page of the book or article and staple those pages together. This will make it more convenient when you cite the bibliographic information. • These sections that you are highlighting will ultimately become the quotations you use in your paper.

18. Start typing quotations • Go back to each of part of your sources that you highlighted in yellow. • Start typing on your template the information you've highlighted.

19. “quotation marks” • Be sure to enclose each of these quotations in "quotations marks" (unless the quote is five or more lines long). • For long quotations, format them as block quotes without quotation marks (see Turabian 7.5).

20. Making quotations • These days, nearly all modern word processing software programs are equipped with a program to format your footnotes for you, so this takes a lot of the drudgery out of your work. • In MS Word, this is found under: • References / AB1 Insert Footnote. • Next to that is something called Next Footnote. • These features will make it a lot easier to type up the quotes in your papers.

21. A collection of quotations • At this point, what you have on your template is a collection of quotations from your sources. • It is important to have at least one quote from each source (never include any source in your bibliography if you did not actually use it in your paper). • It is even better to take a few quotations from each of your sources.

22. A few words about PLAGIARISM • Plagiarism is when you copy words from another author, without acknowledging the source in your paper. • Plagiarism is a form of theft. • The faculty here at New Life take the issue of plagiarism VERY seriously. Students have been kicked out of here for plagiarizing. • Just be sure to put all of the things you quote in quotation marks (unless it is a block quote) and ALWAYS cite the source (and learn how to do this correctly, per the Turabian style manual).

23. How many quotes should my paper have? • If you are an undergraduate, think in terms of providing one or two quotations per page (i.e.: number of quotations = number of pages x 1.5). • If you are a graduate student, make a point of including about 2 or 3 quotations per page (number of quotations = number of pages x 2.5).

24. Arranging the quotations on your template • You may need to cut-and-paste your quotations in order to put them in an order that makes sense to the reader. • Fortunately, with modern computer word-processing technology, this is easy enough to do.

25. Start writing • Believe it or not, you’ve already completed the hardest part of writing your paper. • All you have left to do is write a commentary or analysis of what the quotations are telling you. • Just read over the quotes, think about what they are saying, and write your paper around the quotations.

26. The Conclusion • Oh yes, research papers are supposed to have a conclusion at the end, so see if you can write a paragraph that wraps up the whole thing in a concise summary of your thesis statement.

27. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?

28. One last word on Turabian • Now that you know how to use Turabian, you no longer need to ask the librarian any more questions about it or how to use it… • Right? • RIGHT!

29. Going the extra mile • Now if you think you are a real research hot-shot and desperately want to go the extra mile (and get a better grade), you should provide some analysis and commentary in your paper about the authors who wrote the books and articles you've used. • If you are researching the great flood from a scientific standpoint, understand that a geologist will look at it (and write about it) from one angle, while a meteorologist will look at it from another, and a cultural anthropologist will have another viewpoint, as will an archeologist.

30. Going the extra mile • Also, every writer has his or her own background, which will develop a bias that will become evident in that researcher’s writing. • Experts in the field will recognize these biases in the author’s writing. • Stop to consider the educational background of the authors whose books and articles you are reading. • If you are a graduate student, this kind of in-depth analysis is standard.

31. Also, if you are a graduate student • You will have to use the SBL Handbook of Style rather than Turabian. • If you have experience using Turabian, you will find the transition to SBL fairly easy, as they are pretty similar.

32. What this prepares you for • Remember when I taught you about research and librarian-ship and I taught you about the “corpus of knowledge” and how it grows over time? • Hopefully, you will earn a PhD and get your research published and thereby make your own contribution to the ever- increasing body of knowledge.

33. Make a habit of it • If you take a moment to set up a word processing template on your computer, and use it each time you write a paper, you will glide through your academic career all the way to graduation!!

34. Thanks for your attention • It took me YEARS to learn what I just taught you. • If I had known how to take this approach in research and writing when I was an undergraduate, it would have made my life MUCH easier!