Documenting Sources

For quick reviews of other issues, find the relevant checklist sections in the Quick Editing Guide.Refer also to the Quick Format Guide.For more detailed help with grammatical issues, see Chs. 38-43. For more on documentation, see Ch. 36, Ch. 37, or the Quick Research Guide.

For more about oral presentations, see Oral Presentations in Ch. 16.

A research paper calls on you to follow special rules for documenting your sources—citing them as you write and listing them at the end of your paper. In humanities courses and the social sciences, most writers follow the style of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the American Psychological Association (APA). Your instructor will probably suggest which style to follow; if you are not told, use MLA. The first time you prepare a research paper in either style, you’ll need extra time to look up exactly what to do in each situation. (See Ch. 36 or Ch. 37.)

Learning by Doing Presenting Your Findings

Learning by Doingimage Presenting Your Findings

If you are expected to present your research findings to classmates or at a campus event, you may need to develop an oral presentation, a poster showing the answer to your question, or an online summary. Review your instructor’s directions and any relevant advice in this book. View your presentation as a separate project; allow enough time to develop it effectively.