8 STEPS TO AN “A” PAPER
STEP 1: CHOOSE A TOPIC
Ø Choose a topic which interests and challenges you.
Ø Focus on a limited aspect, e.g. narrow it down from “Religion” to “World Religion” to “Buddhism”.
Ø Select a subject you can manage. Avoid subjects that are too technical or specialized. Avoid topics that have limited resources about them.
STEP 2: FIND INFORMATION
Ø Before you begin searching write down key words and phrases pertaining to your topic. You might want to use the Search Form on the Reference Room page.
Ø Find books and websites using the library OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog).
Ø Use the internet to locate online resources. Start with the Reference Room page of the library website to locate the following:
§ InfoTrac (access to encyclopedia, newspaper and magazine articles)
§ Student friendly search engines
Ø Read, evaluate, printout, take notes on and bookmark relevant Internet sites.
Ø Pay attention to domain name extensions, e.g., .edu (educational institution), .gov (government), or .org (non-profit organization). These sites represent institutions and tend to be more reliable, but be watchful of possible political bias in some government sites. Be selective of .com (commercial) sites. Many .com sites are excellent; however, a large number of them contain advertisements for products and nothing else. Be wary of the millions of personal home pages on the Net. The quality of personal homepages varies greatly. Learning how to evaluate Web sites critically and to search effectively on the Internet can help you eliminate irrelevant sites and waste less of your time.
Ø As you gather your resources, jot down full bibliographical information (author, title, place of publication, publisher, date of publication, page numbers, URLs, creation or modification dates on Web pages, and your date of access) Remember that an article without bibliographical information is useless since you cannot cite its source.
STEP 3: STATE YOUR THESIS
Ø Do some critical thinking and write your thesis statement down in one sentence. Your thesis statement is like a declaration of your belief. The main portion of your essay will consist of arguments to support and defend this belief.
STEP 4: MAKE AN OUTLINE
Ø All points must relate to the same major topic that you first mentioned in your capital Roman numeral.
Ø The purpose of an outline is to help you think through your topic carefully and organize it logically before you start writing.
Ø Check your outline to make sure that the points covered flow logically from one to the other. Include in your outline an INTRODUCTION, a BODY, and a CONCLUSION.
Ø A good outline is the most important step in writing a good paper.
STEP 5: ORGANIZE YOUR NOTES
Ø Organize all the information you have gathered according to your outline.
Ø Critically analyze your research data.
Ø Check for accuracy and verify that the information is factual, up-to-date, and correct.
Ø Note opposing views if they help to support your thesis.
Ø Analyze, synthesize, sort, and digest the information you have gathered.
Ø Effectively communicate your thoughts, ideas, insights, and research findings to others through written words as in a report, an essay, a research or term paper, or through spoken words as in an oral or multimedia presentation with audio-visual aids.
Ø Do not include any information that is not relevant to your topic
Ø Do not include information that you do not understand.
Ø Cite all ideas borrowed or quotes used. Be very careful not to plagiarize. Use the Citation Machine to help you.
STEP 6: WRITE YOUR FIRST DRAFT
Ø Start with the first topic in your outline.
Ø Read all the relevant notes.
Ø Summarize, paraphrase or quote directly for each idea you plan to use in your essay.
STEP 7: REVISE YOUR OUTLINE AND DRAFT
Ø Read your paper for any content errors.
Ø Double check the facts and figures.
Ø Arrange and rearrange ideas to follow your outline.
Ø Reorganize your outline if necessary, but always keep the purpose of your paper and your readers in mind.
STEP 8: CHECK AND FINALIZE
Proofread final paper and check for the following:
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Is your thesis statement concise and clear?
Did you follow your outline?
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Did I miss anything?
Are your arguments presented in a logical sequence?
Are all sources properly cited to ensure that you are not plagiarizing?
Have you proved your thesis with strong supporting arguments?
Have you made your intentions and points clear in the essay?
Ø Have you re-read and checked your paper for grammatical and spelling errors?
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Did you begin each paragraph with a proper topic sentence?
Have you supported your arguments with documented proof or examples?
Are there any run-on or unfinished sentences?
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Are there any unnecessary or repetitious words?
Does one paragraph or idea flow smoothly into the next?
Are there any spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors?
Are all your citations accurate and in correct format?
Did you avoid using contractions?
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Did you use third person as much as possible? Avoid using phrases
such as “I think”, “I guess”, “I suppose”
Have you made your points clear and interesting but remained objective?
Did you leave a sense of completion for readers at the end of the paper?
Ø Is the paper clean, tidy, neat and attractive?
Ø Have you had at least one other person read it over?