Writing an Instant Research Paper

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WRITING AN "INSTANT" RESEARCH PAPER

1. Using the Research techniques mentioned in the chapter on Library Research, find your materials and stack them on a library table.

2. Skim the books looking for quotes, pictures, and miscellaneous information relating to your topic. Mark pages with Post-a-notes or strips of paper.

3. Xerox the pages you marked.

4. Write on a piece of paper the name and information of all the books you used. (This is your bibliography. Invent an abbreviation for each book and write it next to the information.)

5. Write on each xeroxed page the abbreviation for the book it came from and the page number.

6. Take your list and xeroxes home to read. Use a highlighter as you go along to emphasize important points, quotes, and pictures relating to your topic.

7. Arrange your xeroxes in stacks by subject topics. Then correlate the stacks in logical order so that by reading the highlighted parts of the pages in order you stack them - it tells a "Story" about your topic. If a page has two pieces of information that belong in separate sections, cut the page apart (Put abbreviations and page number on both parts) and put the parts in their appropriate area.

8. Sit at your word processor or typewriter and begin paraphrasing the "Story". Wherever you take an idea directly out of your xeroxes, put a footnote of the book information and page number you took it from. If you want to quote directly, do an indented quotation (See M.L.A. Handbook) with a footnote. Where you need to refer to a picture, indicate that the reader should look to a figure number (Fig. 1, 2, 3, etc.) Then include the picture along with the book information and page number of the source.

9. Neaten the papers up, check back at the library for anything you may be unsure about, type up your bibliography. Pick a picture to be a "Cover."

10. Take the paper to a copy center to be reproduced and bound up. This insures you against your Professor losing your original paper and makes it look more finished. Turn it in.