Preliminary Pages How to Start Page Numbering at a Specifi.docx

Preliminary Pages: How to Start Page Numbering at a Specific
Page in Microsoft Word 2007
Follow these steps in order to get your page numbers to begin
showing on the Signature page as
page ii:
1. Open your Word document, and click at the top of the page
where you want the page
numbering to begin (the Signature page).
2. On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup section, select
Breaks, then select
Continuous.
3. On the Insert tab, in the Header & Footer section, select Page
Number. Then select
Bottom of Page, then Plain Number 2.
4. Double click where the page number is to get the Header &
Footer Design tab to open. In
the Navigation section, deselect Link to Previous.
5. Go to the pages you need to delete the page number(s) from,
and delete the page

number(s). There should now be no page numbers at the start of
the document, and page
numbers that begin on the Signature page.
6. Go back to the Signature page, and highlight the page
number. On the Insert tab, in the
Header & Footer section, select Page Numbers, then Format
Page Numbers.
7. For the Number Format Field, select the Roman numerals (i,
ii, iii…). Then below under
Page Numbering, select the “Start at” button, and then enter ii
in the field. Click OK.
8. Double-click anywhere in the document to exit the
header/footer formatting – the page
numbers have now been added to the document.
How to Switch to Arabic Numerals for First Chapter in
Microsoft Word 2007
Follow these steps in order to get your page numbers to switch
to Arabic numerals for the first page
of your main text:
1. Click at the top of the page where you want the Arabic
numbering to begin.
2. On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup section, select
Breaks, then select

Continuous.
3. Highlight the page number on the first page of your main
text, and in the Navigation
section, deselect Link to Previous.
Number. Then select
Bottom of Page, then Plain Number 2.
Numbers, then Format
Page Numbers.
6. For the Number Format Field, select the Arabic numerals (1,
2, 3…). Then below under
Page Numbering, select the “Start at” button, and then enter 1 in
the field. Click OK.

General Rubric for APA Writing and Presentations
Unacceptable
Acceptable
Meets Standard
Outstanding
Possible % of Score
Logic and Organization (Smoothness of Flow)
Does not develop ideas cogently, uneven and ineffective
overall organization, unclear introduction and /or conclusion
Ideas not well connected. Some overall organization. Some
ideas illogical, Introduction and conclusion unfocused.
Organization clear, ideas developed and unified, Good
introduction and conclusion.
Cogent development of ideas, develops ideas effectively and
connection are smooth. Clear introduction and conclusions
Language
Employs words that are unclear, sentence structure inadequate
for clarity, errors distract the reader.
Words and sentence structures are adequate. Errors cause
distraction.
Formatting correct, sentence structure , few errors not
distracting
.
Develops clear and concise English sentences
Spelling and Grammar

Numerous errors which interfere with comprehension
Frequent errors distract the reader
Minor errors, writer has followed acceptable conventions and
document has been carefully proofread
.
Writing is error free
Development of ideas
Ideas unsupported, confusion between personal and external
experience
Presents ideas in general terms, support for ideas is
inconsistent, reasoning unclear
Use of effective ideas and examples which support assertions
and conclusions.
Vigorous exploration of ideas, Use of subjective and objective
evidence is balanced and well intergraded
Purpose
Purpose and focus of writing is unclear
Focus organization, style and content interfere with document
purpose
The writer has made good decisions regarding focus
organization and style and content
The writers decisions regarding focus, organization, style, and
content fully support the purpose and keep the focus at the
center of the piece.

(Management, Business, PUAD, English, Sociology)
Dr. Robert G. Morris, III - January 2021
Writing Your Graduate School Papers:
APA Compliance, Microsoft Word Settings, and Graduate-Level
Writing Tips
Prepared By
Olin O. Oedekoven, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Business Management and Public
Administration
Northcentral University
Microsoft Word Settings
The following explains how to set up Microsoft Word to
produce professional, scholarly papers for graduate school-level
writing.
Language Default.
· Set the language default to English by selecting “Tools,” then
“Language,” then “Set Language.”
· Select US English.
·
Do not check the box for “do not check grammar.”

·
Do not check the box for “automatically detect
language.
· The click on “default,” setting the default to US English.
Spelling and Grammar
Select “Tools,” then “Options,” then “Spelling and Grammar”
tab.
Spelling:
· Check the box for "Check spelling as you type" and "Always
suggest corrections." I suggest that you do not check the other
boxes.
Grammar
· Check the box for "Check grammar as you type," "Check
grammar with spelling," and "show readability statistics."
Writing Style
· Select "Grammar & Style."
· Select settings:
Require:
· Comma required before last item: always.
· Punctuation required with quotes: inside.
· Spaces required between sentences: 1. (When the world used
typewriters, typing teachers taught students to press the space
bar twice after each period. However, word processors control
inter-character spacing, and text justification using complex

algorithms. Adding extra space(s) after a period in your
document will create unattractive “rivers” of white space in
your document. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable with
justified text. Therefore, always space once after a period.)
Grammar Rules:
· Capitalization
· Fragments and Run-ons
· Misused words
· Negation
· Noun phrases
· Possessives and plurals
· Punctuation
· Questions
· Relative clauses
· Subject-verb agreement
· Verb phrases
Style Rules:
· Clichés, Colloquialisms, and Jargon.
· Contractions
· Fragment - stylistic suggestions
· Hyphenated and compound words

· Misused words
· Numbers
· Passive sentences
· Possessives and plurals - stylistic suggestions
· Punctuation - stylistic suggestions
· Relative clauses - stylistic suggestions
· Sentence length (more than sixty words)
· Sentence structure
· Sentences beginning with And, But, and Hopefully
· Successive nouns (more than three)
· Successive prepositional phrases (more than three)
· Unclear phrasing
· Use of first person
· Very phrases - stylistic suggestions
· Wordiness
· Words in split infinitives (more than one)
Centering Text
Use the center paragraph command to center text, tables, etc. in

Word. You can access this by F
ormat, Paragraph, and on the “Indents and Spacing” tab,
select center. You may also have an Icon to center the text.
Widows and Orphans
On the format paragraph “line and page breaks tab,” select
“widows and orphans” control. This will prevent an automatic
page break creating a one-line sentence.
· Select the paragraphs in which you want to control “widows
and orphans.”
· On the Format menu, click Paragraph, and then click the Line
and Page Breaks tab.
· Select the Widow/Orphan control check box.
Manual Page Break
To control page breaks, such as after your title page, or the start
of your reference page, use a manual page break. To insert a
manual page break:
· Click where you want to start a new page.
· On the Insert menu, click Break.
· Click Page break.
· Chose Section Break if you need to change your header or
footer for the new section. This is particular useful between the
table of contents of your dissertation (where the page
numbering uses Roman numerals) and the body of your
dissertation (where the page numbering uses Arabic numerals).

Formatting The References Section
To format your APA references, select all of the reference
entries, then select F
ormat, then
Paragraph, then select the “indents and spacing tab.” At
the top of the panel, the General options, select Alignment:
“left” and Outline level: “body text.” The next section is
Indentation. For the References, select Left: “0”, Right: “0”,
Special: “Hanging,” By “0.5.” The third section is Spacing.
Select Before: “0”, After: “0”, Line Spacing: “Double”, and
ignore the At: field.
Formatting Consistency
· On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Edit tab.
· Select or clear the Mark formatting inconsistencies check box.
Headers and Footers
Headers and footers are typically used in printed documents.
You can create headers and footers that include text or graphics
— for example, page numbers, the date, a company logo, the
document's title or file name, or the author's name — that are
usually printed at the top or bottom of each page in a document.
A header is printed in the top margin; a footer is printed in the
bottom margin.
You can use the same header and footer throughout a document
or change the header and footer for part of the document. For
example, use a unique header or footer on the first page, or
leave the header or footer off the first page. You can also use
different headers and footers on odd and even pages or for part

of a document.
Setting up a header
First select
View, then select
Header and footer. You will see a small menu that
allows you to insert the page number, number of pages, format
the page number, insert the date, the time, set up the page, move
between the header and the footer, and several more advanced
features. For more details, select
Help.
Markup
You will tend to find rather extensive comments in your case
studies. I use MS Word's “markup” feature to insert comments,
suggestions, and explain the overall grade. When you open your
document, these “markups” should automatically appear as
balloons in the right margin. If they do not, and if you only see
a yellow highlight here or there -- the automatic feature in Word
is not working and you must manually enable it. To enable this
feature manually, select the View pull-down menu, and then
select "markup."
Pagination Issues
Once upon a time, there were typewriters in the world. Typing
teachers taught students to press the Return key at the end of
the line. However, the typewriter is dead and gone, having been
replaced by word processors.
Our standard word processor is Microsoft’s WORD. The use of
a word processor is not identical to a typewriter, although both
systems use a similar, not identical, keyboard.
The typewriter’s “RETURN” key and the word processor’s

“ENTER” key are not identical, they are not interchangeable,
and they have very different functions. On a typewriter, when
you reach the end of a line, you must press the “RETURN” key
in order to continue to type. The “RETURN” key indexes the
platen so that you can type the next line of text on a sheet of
paper.
Microsoft WORD is a WYSIWYG (pronounced whizzy wig)
word processor. WHYSIWYGW is an acronym for “what you
see is what you get.” Behind the WHYSIWYG of WORD, or any
other word processor, is some form of text mark-up language,
such as html. Thus, when you press the “ENTER” key while
using your word processor, you are not indexing a platen, you
are entering an “END OF PARAGRAPH” (EOP) symbol in your
word processing file. The EOP symbol has two effects that are
important to us in our preparation of a professional quality
graduate manuscript.
First the EOP symbol ends a sentence, often without
punctuation. When the grammar checker reads the line and
encounters an EOP symbol without a period, it records a
punctuation error on that line of text. It then expects the first
letter of the next word to be capitalized, since it is interpreted
as the first word of a sentence. Thus, a paragraph is composed
of more than one sentence, and must end with one EOP mark.
Second, some users will attempt to control pagination by
repeatedly pressing the “ENTER” key, thus entering multiple
EOP marks. WORD is very sensitive to the printer you use.
Changing the printer on a WORD document in which the user
attempted to control pagination with multiple EOP marks will
often change the pagination. Changing printers will change the
location of page breaks because each printer has slightly
different print spacing characteristics.
For example, you have a Lexmark Model XYZ ink-jet printer as

your default printer, and press the “ENTER” key six times on
the title page to force a page break and allow you to begin your
abstract. You complete your work, and post your file on your
assignments page. I download the file and open it in WORD.
However, I have a Brother Model ABC Laser printer, which has
slightly different print spacing characteristics. Your six EOP
marks on the title page no longer force a page break at the
correct location, and the first line of your abstract now appears
on the bottom of your title page!
This is why pagination must be controlled using WORD’s page
break, and not the EOP.
The use of the “ENTER” key on your word processor as if it
were the “RETURN” key on a typewriter introduces at least two
errors into your document. First, it prevents the proper
functioning of the spelling and grammar checker. Second, it
causes erratic and unpredictable pagination.
Proofing
One of the most difficult writing tasks is to proof your own
work. We are often too close to the author to be objective. Since
the words are our work product, it is often difficult to see some
errors, and we may see what we meant to write, or what we
thought we wrote, instead of what we actually wrote.
A free software program called Ultra Hal that will read MS
Word documents. There is a free version of the program
available from Zabaware (www.zabaware.com). There are
several voices available as well.
Using these settings in Word will prevent many of the common
errors. It is still necessary to proof your work. I suggest reading
it aloud. Read to your spouse, significant other, child, your cat,
your dog, or have Hal read it aloud. You will find that by
reading aloud, you catch most, if not all, grammatical and

spelling errors.
Dissertation Writing Tips from Dr. Freda Turner
1. Titles of envisioned dissertations should not be a question
but stated as a declarative.
2. Titles of dissertations should not exceed 10-12 words
3. All doctoral learners and faculty should conform to APA
standards. Obtaining an editor is highly encouraged. Proposals
and dissertations should not contain grammar or APA errors, as
this is a published document of the highest academic standards
and a reflection on the scholarship of the Learner and
committee.
4. Abstracts are one of the most important components in the
dissertation. Abstracts should contain specific information as
required in APA, pages 12-14.
5. Quotes occurred in the past, therefore, should be stated in
past tense. Example,
Branch publish
ed…..or Garcia stat
ed
6. Scholars should avoid using absolutes in research – someone
will always debunk the new data in the future. Absolute
expressions might be avoided by using terminology like this
data
might rather than
this data
will or can
7. Researcher bias is a show stopper within scholarly works.
Adverbs and adjectives (without a citation) might create
problems. Examples to be aware include: significantly,

extremely, best, often.
8. Learners should be advised to use numbers to convince the
readers the problem is significant for a doctoral dissertation.
One way to do this is to use a number to support the argument.
For example, suppose the topic relates to identity fraud. A cited
quote such as
identity fraud has grown by 79% from 2004-2005
(citation). The number and citation relate this is a societal
problem of significance for a dissertation exploration.
9. Scholars should avoid personification to maintain a scholarly
tone. For example, it is incorrect to report that
systems demand but rather
leaders of systems …...
10. Scholars should avoid words that do not add to scholarship
might include: such as, therefore, secondly, nevertheless, thus.
Writing Tips
The following includes the most common writing errors found
with NCU assignments. Each item is represented by the correct
and incorrect writing approach. Please review the items to help
you improve your writing.
Our goal is to assist you with eventually preparing your MBA
and PhD assignments.
There is a number of writing guides, tips, and APA help files
available on the Internet. Try a simple Google search on “APA
Style” or “Scholarly Writing” to locate many excellent
references and interactive website to help you with your NCU
writing requirements.

Common Error #1:
In-Text Citation Usage
The Error
Learners often mistakenly assume that by putting the reference
citation at the end of the paragraph, the citation is meant to
include the entire paragraph. Actually, the citation at the end of
the paragraph only is referencing the last sentence of the
paragraph. If information is used other than your own
knowledge and thoughts, you must properly cite the
information.
Additionally, learners incorrectly assume that they only have to
insert a citation when they include a direct quote from the
reference. Again, if outside material is used, then the material
must be properly cited with an in-text citation.
Incorrect Example
Management was ill prepared to face the demands of the factory
form of production and the sudden increase in demand for
experienced managers could not be filled. Very few owners or
managers had experience running textile operations in the early
Ninetieth Century. Significant production waste was produced
because managers lacked formal management education,
training, and had limited experience. Textile mangers
frequently mistreated and mismanaged their factor workers.
Neither the business owners nor their professional managers
seemed to recognize the importance of recruiting, training, and
motivating employees. The economic benefits from good human
resource management were not recognized by the business
owners (Wren, 2005).
Correct Example
Wren (2005) reported that management was ill prepared to face

the demands of the factory form of production and the sudden
increase in demand for experienced managers could not be
filled. Wren attributed the problem to the fact that very few
owners or managers had experience running textile operations in
the early Ninetieth Century. Significant production waste was
produced because managers lacked formal management
education, training, and had limited experience (Wren, 2005).
Textile mangers frequently mistreated and mismanaged their
factor workers (Wren, 2005). Neither the business owners nor
their professional managers seemed to recognize the importance
of recruiting, training, and motivating employees. Wren
concluded that the economic benefits from good human resource
management were not recognized by the business owners.
Common Error #2:
Improper Pronoun Use
The Error
In professional writing, every sentence must be able to stand
alone to convey the complete idea or thought. The reader should
not have to refer back to a previous sentence or paragraph to
understand what is being said in the sentence. Common
pronouns (these, this, that, those, them, they, etc.) should not be
used as the subject of a sentence were the antecedent is located
in a previous sentence or paragraph.
Incorrect Example
Management was ill prepared to face the demands of the factory
form of production and the sudden increase in demand for
experienced managers could not be filled. They had little
experience running textile operations in the early Ninetieth
Century. Significant production waste was produced because
they lacked formal management education, training, and had
limited experience. This impacted production significantly.

factor workers. They did not recognize the importance of
recruiting, training, and motivating employees. It was a major
reason for future management change in the textile industry that
occurred later in the Ninetieth Century (Wren, 2005).
Correct Example
the early Ninetieth Century. Significant production waste was
produced because managers lacked formal management
education, training, and had limited experience (Wren, 2005).
factor workers (Wren, 2005). According to Wren (2005), the
mistreatment of factor worker impacted textile production
significantly. Neither the business owners nor their professional
managers seemed to recognize the importance of recruiting,
training, and motivating employees. Wren concluded that the
economic benefits from good human resource management were
not recognized by the business owners.
Common Error #3:
Incorrect Format for Figure and Table Headings
The Error
Learners may have learned other ways that a table or figure
heading is written. The APA manual uses a very specific style
for figure and table headings.
Incorrect Table Example
The number of farms by state within the upper Missouri River
region is shown in the following table.

Number of farms by state.
State
Number of Farms
North Dakota
23,546
South Dakota
18,672
Montana
9,823
Correct Table Example
The number of farms by state within the upper Missouri River
region is shown in Table 1.
Table 1
Number of Farms by State (Smith, 2001)
State
Number of farms
North Dakota
23,546
South Dakota
18,672
Montana
9,823
Incorrect Figure Example
An example of a South Dakota farm during the depression is
shown in the following figure.
South Dakota farm in the depression
Correct Figure Example

An example of a South Dakota farm during the depression is
shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. A South Dakota Farm during the depression
(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/images/0506
14_drought2.jpg).
Common Error #4:
Capitalization within the Title of a Reference and/or the
Author’s First Name Abbreviation
The Error
Learners frequently capitalize all the words of a reference’s
title and or use the first name of the author. Only the first word
of a title, proper nouns, and the first word following a hyphen
or colon should be capitalized. The first name and middle name
of the author should be abbreviated.
Incorrect Example
Looman, Mary Deloris (2003). Reflective Leadership: Strategic
Planning from the Heart and Soul.
Consulting Psychology Journal,
55(4), 215-221.
Correct Example
Looman, M.D. (2003). Reflective leadership: Strategic planning
from the heart and soul.
Consulting Psychology Journal,
55(4), 215-221.

Common Error #5:
Incorrect Format for Headings and Subheadings
The Error
Learners often do not use the correct APA format for the
headings and subheadings in their papers. The APA manual lists
specific formats for five levels of headings. Most papers will
typically have three or two levels of headings.
Incorrect Example
Rural Business Challenges
Overview
Purpose
The purpose of the project was to identify and define the
various issues associated with establishing and maintaining a
small agricultural business within a predominately rural setting.
Correct Example
RURAL BUSINESS CHALLENGES
Overview
Purpose
The purpose of the project was to identify and define the
various issues associated with establishing and maintaining a
small agricultural business within a predominately rural setting.
Common Error #6:
Verb tense when reporting from the literature
The Error

Typically when reporting facts and findings from the literature,
you should use a paste tense verb, not the present tense. There
are, of course, expectations; however, in most instances you
should write in the past tense.
Incorrect Example
Wren (2005) reports that management was ill prepared to face
filled. Wren attributes the problem to the fact that very few
the early Ninetieth Century.
Correct Example
the early Ninetieth Century.
Common Error #7:
Writing a story rather than a scholarly article
The Error
NCU assignments should be written in the style of a scholarly
article rather than as your own personal essay on a subject.
Avoid writing in the first person (using “I” or “we” in your
writing style. Your writing should be similar to that of peer-
reviewed journal articles rather than that of web-based
information pages.
Incorrect Example
First, how about some background - What was the Industrial

Revolution and what does it refer to? It’s no secret that this
refers to modifications, changes, inventions and innovations in
both Great Britain and the United States, taking an agricultural
and hand made civilization and transforming it into a society of
machines, factory manufacturing and people management. When
we consider the nature of the Industrial Revolution, it was
really a means to an end, fueling the rapid development of cities
as people moved from rural into urban areas, searching for
better opportunities and a brighter tomorrow.
Correct Example
As Wren (2005) reported, the Industrial Revolution refers to
modifications, changes, inventions, and innovations in both
Europe and the United States which took an agricultural and
handicraft civilization and transformed it into a society of
machines, factory manufacturing, and people management.
When historians consider the nature of the Industrial
Revolution, it was really a means to an end: the Industrial
Revolution fueled the rapid development of cities as people
moved from rural into urban areas, searching for better work-
life opportunities (Wren, 2005).
Common APA Format Errors as Noted by NCU Mentors
NCU mentors were contacted to offer their insights to the more
common APA format errors found when reviewing assignments
and dissertation documents. The following are the more
common errors. Please use this list of common APA format
errors to help you learn the correct APA format requirements.
1. Failing to italicize volume numbers of journals and/or
incorrectly italicizing the issue numbers.
2. Failing to capitalize just the first words of book titles and
subtitles

3. Using "p. / pp. " in citing page numbers in the
reference section. [Only the page numbers should be
listed.]
4. Failing to use the APA formatting for Figures titles. (Figure
Number Italicized - Period - Title Not Italicized with only first
word of Title Capitalized with a period at the end of the
caption) and labeling the Figures at the top [Also See APA
Pocket Guide page 33]
5. Failing to use the APA formatting for Tables (Table number -
- double space-Title Italicized with all major words in caps) [
Also see APA Pocket Guide page 32.]
6. Failing to capitalize just the first words of Tables' column
and row headings. [See page 32 of APA Pocket Guide.]
7. Putting the period at the end of the sentence rather than after
the in-text citation.
8. Using in-text citations at the end of a paragraph to imply that
the citation covers everything mentioned within the paragraph.
Actually, this only means you are citing the last sentence.
9. Including only a URL as the reference without the rest of the
required APA information. A URL alone does not make for a
complete reference
10. Using footnotes and/or endnotes rather than in-text citation
format.
11. Not using the “&” symbol instead of “and” when citing two
authors (e. g. it should be “Brown & White, 2005”,
not “Brown and White, 2005”).

12. Using the wrong format for headings and subheadings.
13. Using the wrong font size (all should be 12pt) and/or
changing fonts within the assignment (all should stay the same
font type and size throughout the assignment).
A General Guide to More Effective Use of the Internet for
Scholarly Research
General Reference Sources
Almanacs
http://www.libraryspot.com/almanacs.htm - Library Spot
Almanac
http://www.infoplease.com/ - Information Please Almanac
http://dmoz.org/Reference/Almanacs/ - Open Directory Almanac
American History
http://www.bartleby.com/43/ - American Historical Documents
Associations
http://www.ipl.org/div/aon/ - Associations on the Net
http://www.marketingsource.com/associations/ - Directory of
Associations

Biographies
http://www.biography.com/ Biography.com
http://ipl.si.umich.edu/div/subject/browse/ref15.00.00/ - The
Internet Public Library, Biographies
Calculators and Conversions
http://www.xe.net/ucc/ - Universal Currency Converter
http://www.financenter.com/ - Personal Finance and Calculators
Calendars and Clocks
http://www.calendarzone.com/ - The Calendar Zone
http://www.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ/MCC/ - Multi-Cultural
Calendar
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ - World Clock
http://www2.canisius.edu/~emeryg/time.html - Timelines
http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_CI.aspx -
World Time Server

Geography and Maps
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer - U.S. Gazetteer
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html - CIA
World Factbook
http://www.emulateme.com/ - e-Conflict World Encyclopedia
http://www.bartleby.com/69/ - The Columbia Gazetteer of North
America
http://www.indo.com/distance/ - How Far Is It?
http://www.mapquest.com/ - MapQuest
Quotations
http://www.famous-quotations.com/ - Famous Quotations
Network
http://www.bartleby.com/66/ - The Columbia World of
Quotations
http://www.bartleby.com/100/ - Familiar Quotations, 10th
Edition

http://www.quoteland.com/ - Quoteland
People Locators
http://www.anywho.com/ - AT&T AnyWho
http://www.theultimates.com/white/ - The Ultimate White Pages
Postal Codes
http://www.usps.com/welcome.htm - U.S. Postal Codes
http://www.execulink.com/~louisew/postal-links.htm - World
Postal Codes
Ready References
http://bubl.ac.uk/ - Selected Internet resources covering all
academic subject areas
http://www.melissadata.com/Lookups/index.htm - The Lookup
Directory
http://www.bartleby.com/151/ - The World Factbook
http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ - Ask-a-Librarian, the Library of

Congress
http://www.ipl.org/ Internet Public Library Reference Center
http://lii.org/ - Librarians’ Index to the Internet
http://www.libraryspot.com/ - Library Spot Subject Director
http://vlib.org/ - Virtual Electronic Library
http://www.bloomsburymagazine.com/ARC/Arc_home.asp -
Research Center Online Database of Reference Books
Translators
http://babelfish.altavista.com/translate.dyn - AltaVista
Translator
Weather
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ U.S. Weather
http://www.weather.com/? - Weather.com
http://www.wunderground.com/ World and U.S. Weather
Information

Search Engines
http://www.google.com/ - Google only returns web pages that
contain all the words in your query, refining or narrowing your
search is as simple as adding more words to the search terms
you have already entered. Your new query will return a smaller
subset of the pages Google found.
http://www.searchedu.com/ - A subset of Google that targets
education sites.
http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/o/oaister/ - A collection of freely
available, difficult-to-access, academically-oriented digital
resources.
http://www.yousearched.com/ - Search engine designed for
accessibility.
http://scholar.google.com/ - Google search engine that provides
the ability to search for scholarly literature across the web
Subject Directories
http://infomine.ucr.edu/ - "INFOMINE is a virtual library of
Internet resources relevant to faculty, students, and research
staff at the university level. It contains useful Internet resources
such as databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin
boards, mailing lists,

http://www.looksmart.com/r?l&web=1&pre - LookSmart's
search technology makes use of textual analysis of hyperlinks,
Web page popularity, user feedback, and editorial input to
provide search results. Human-compiled directory of web sites.
http://lii.org/ - Searchable, annotated subject directory of more
than 14,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated for their
usefulness by librarians. Searches the "invisible" Web.
Meta-Search Engines
http://ez2find.com/ - Ez2Find searches AlltheWeb, Teoma,
Google, Yahoo!, Wisenut, ODP, and MSN, removes the
duplicates, include links to relevant directory categories and to
clustered results.
http://find.com/(idojat55gvd2pa45nzmgq1fd)/matchpoint.aspx -
Find.com searches major search engines and combines them
with results from more than 3,000 free, business-specific Web
sites.
http://vivisimo.com/ Searches Netscape, MSN, Lycos, and
LookSmart. Clusters results. Good for current events and
complex topics. Easy to use.
http://www.profusion.com/index.htm - Brings back listings from
several major search engines as well as "invisible" Web
http://www.infonetware.com/ - It submits your query to a
traditional Internet search engine and then sorts the results into

topics. Allows you to email your "shortlist".
http://iboogie.com/ - Clusters groupings of similar objects from
a given set of inputs. In the context of search engines, it will
put documents with similar content or with related topics into
the same cluster (group).
http://www.ithaki.net/indexu.htm - Ithaki is probably the most
"global" of all meta search engines, available in 14 languages.
Ithaki offers country specific search, querying only local search
engines rather than the regional versions of the major search
engines.
Content Specific Search Engines
http://www.firstgov.gov/index.shtml - First Government,
Government Documents
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html - GPO Public Access to
Government Documents and Information
http://www.allacademic.com/index.html?javascript=yes – All
Academic Sources
http://www.findarticles.com/ - Find Articles
http://www.lycos.com/ - Lycos Search Engine

http://www.northernlight.com/ Northern Light Search Engine
http://roger.ucsd.edu/ - Roger, UCSD Library Search Engine
http://www.searchedu.com/ Search Education
Search Engine Basics
(Adapted From: http://www.searchengines.com/)
A search engine is a database of resources extracted from the
Internet through an automated "crawling" process. This database
is searchable through user queries.
How does a search engine work?
Words or phrases you enter in the search box are matched to
resources in the search engine's database that contain your
terms. These are then automatically sorted by their probable
relevance and presented with the most "relevant" sites appearing
first.
How search results are organized
Once a search engine has used your search terms to gather
"hits" from its database, it lists or "ranks" the resulting sites in
order of its own estimation of their relevance. The procedures
and factors used to create this ranking are often company
secrets, so understanding exactly why one hit is listed higher
than another is difficult.
The following is a survey of some of the factors search engines
use to automatically sort web sites for presentation to the user.

Relevance Prediction
Currently, search engines predict relevance based on two sets of
factors: those based on a site's content and those external to the
site.
Factors based on a web site's content
· Word frequency (How often search terms occur in a page in
relationship to other text)
· Location of search terms in the document (Are they in the
title? Are they near the top of the page?)
· Relational clustering (How many pages in the site contain the
search terms?)
· The site's design (Does it use frames? How fast does it load?)
Factors external to the site
· Link popularity -- Sites with more links pointing to them are
prioritized
· Click popularity -- Sites visited more often are prioritized
· "Sector" popularity -- Sites visited by certain demographic or
social groups are prioritized (Note: This system requires user-
provided information)
· Business alliances among services -- Results from a partner
search service are ranked higher
· Pay-for-placement rankings -- Site owners pay for high
rankings
Internet Search Tips, Strings, and Language

Searching for a phrase
Enclose any phrase of 2 words or more within quotation marks
to limit the search to that exact sequence of words.
Examples:
"food and drug administration" "New York Times"
If the search engine you're using doesn't specify phrase
searching, it will usually provide sites that contain your search
terms anywhere and in any order.
Searching by word stem (truncation)
Some engines allow you to search for all variants of a word by
entering the word stem followed by a truncation indicator.
Example:
"fem*" retrieves female, females, feminine, feminist, feminists,
feminism
Using truncation may greatly increase the number of results to
your searches. Only use it when it's particularly necessary.
Using Boolean expressions
Boolean expressions allow you to require, combine and exclude
words or phrases in your results. Using them well can make
your searches much more focused and successful.
To
REQUIRE a term to be present in your results, put a
plus (+) immediately before it or use the Boolean operator
"and."

Examples:
+Scotland +golf
Scotland AND golf
To search for documents containing
ANY of your search terms, you can either simply list
them or put the Boolean operator "or" between each one.
Examples:
jazz swing
jazz OR swing
To
EXCLUDE a term from your search results, put a minus
immediately before it or use the Boolean operator "not."
Examples:
sharks -card
sharks NOT card
Narrowing your search
This will help focus your results more accurately on what you
want. Most search engines now allow you to refine your
searching in many ways. (Check the Help or FAQ areas of your
search engine for details).
Here are some tips that can make your searches more
productive:
Avoid common words
Search for "used car prices," not "cars"
Use Boolean expressions to focus your results
· To REQUIRE a term to be present in all documents, put a plus
(+) immediately before it: +economy +China
· To EXCLUDE a term from search results put a minus (-)

immediately before it: -local -games
Upper or Lower case?
Enter terms in all lower case unless searching for an individual.
Example: +astrophysics +Eisenhower
Sequence your phrases
Enclose any phrase of 2 words or more within quotation marks
to limit the search to that exact sequence of words.
If your results are too numerous or irrelevant:
Limit results by date
Some engines allow you to limit your search results to a date or
range of dates. This can be especially useful if you are looking
for the latest news or developments in an area.
CAUTION: The "date" on a web document can mean one of
several things:
· The date it was created
· The date it was put on a Web server
· The last time it was modified
· The date it was added to the search engine's database
Limit results by language
Some search engines allow you to limit your search results to
documents in a certain language. The languages available vary
and can include Latin and non-Latin character sets, many of
which require special software to read and/or print.
Limit search to relevant fields

Some engines allow you to specify where you want your term or
terms to be located in the documents you retrieve. Restricting
your search to documents that contain your term(s) in their
titles, for instance, can give you a more focused, relevant set of
search results.
The possible locations (or fields) in a document that can be
searched include the following:
· URL Title
· Domain/country
· Web server (host)
· Link Image
Search engines vary in how they allow you to conduct field
searches, so check Help and FAQ screens carefully.
Limit results to specific domains
Some engines allow you to limit your results by searching
within a particular type of domain -- .com, .gov, or .edu, for
example.
Boolean Logic Illustrated
Overlapping area represents the smaller area of hits received by
searching for weather AND monsoons
Weather AND Monsoons
Using these search terms separated by "OR", you would receive
many more hits.

Weather OR Monsoons
These terms would eliminate any hits containing the word
monsoons. The NOT negates the term from the search.
Weather NOT Monsoons
INCLUDEPICTURE
"http://learners.ncu.edu/elrc/images/boolean_gold.gif" *
MERGEFORMATINET
Using these search terms, the words weather and monsoons
would appear close together in the document.
Weather NEAR Monsoons
Paper Presentation and Scholarly Writing Tips
Adapted From:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/1150/writing.html
By John H. Bickford, Jr.
Use complex sentence structure. Incorporate complex sentences
into your writing, and vary the structure. Scholarly writing
demands complex structure. Get a style manual and study the
use of colons, semicolons, commas, parentheses, and dashes.
Look very carefully at the examples, and become very familiar
with situations when each of these punctuation marks is
appropriate. Practice using them to create richer, more complex
sentences. Be sure you are doing it correctly, though; while a
scholarly paper filled with short, choppy sentences looks bad,
just a couple of improperly used semicolons looks much worse.

Learn about the apostrophe. A common mistake is sticking an
apostrophe before the final "s" in a plural noun. Apostrophes
are never required merely to form a plural; they function only to
indicate possession (
This is John
's book
) or to replace letters removed in the formation of a
contraction
(can't, doesn't, he's). Learn how an apostrophe is used
to indicate possession with nouns ending in
s and learn where the apostrophe is placed to indicate
possession with plural nouns. The words
its and
it's are most commonly problematic, and will be
discussed below.
Abbreviations. Don't use them. Always write out everything
fully, even common abbreviations.
Mon., mtn., St. (for
street),
lbs., Feb., FBI, USA, FDA, Ave., eve., and so on are
all inappropriate
. Furthermore, common Latin abbreviations such as
i.e., e.g., or etc. are also
inappropriate
. Instead of these use
that is, for example, and
and so on. Abbreviations appear lazy and hinder clarity.
Only certain abbreviations are acceptable, mainly
am, pm, Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Jr., Sr., and
St. (for
Saint, as in a proper name). You may use an acronym
for a long phrase used repeatedly in your paper only if you spell

out the phrase the first time it is used, and follow it
immediately by the acronym in parentheses. For example,
According to sources at the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), . . . . Don't assume that a common acronym
is commonly understood. Always write out
United States.
Ellipses. These are the sets of three or four dots ( . . . ) that are
used to indicate a gap in quoted text. These are never (in
scholarly writing) used to finish a sentence. Some people use
ellipses to finish sentences for dramatic effect or to indicate a
lost thought, or even as an attempt to soften an abrupt
transition. Ellipses have only one use: to indicate a gap in
quoted text. A three-dot ellipsis ( . . . ) is used when only a
word or phrase is omitted, and the quote picks up again within
the same sentence. A four-dot ellipsis ( . . . . ) is used when the
quote skips from one sentence in the original text to another.
The fourth dot is actually the period at the end of the first
sentence in the original text. Notice that in either case, the dots
in the ellipsis are separated from each other and from the
surrounding text by spaces, except the first dot in the four-dot
ellipsis. Ellipses are not usually needed at the beginning or end
of a quote.
Overly complex sentences. This is less common than not using
enough complex sentence structure, but it happens. It usually
manifests itself as run-on sentences. If you find that more than
two commas appear in your sentence without some other form
of punctuation (such as a semicolon) intervening, then check
carefully that the structure of the sentence is correct. It is best
to avoid too many commas (except in certain situations, such as
when giving a list), even when technically correct. It just reads
poorly. Either break up the sentence, rewrite it, or find a way to
use stronger punctuation (semicolons, dashes, and so on).

Lists. When writing out a list (of more than two items) in a
sentence (
Mary brought popcorn, peanuts, and pretzels to the
party), you must place a comma before the last item in the list--
even though that word is preceded by the word "and."
Contrary to some teachings, this is not really
optional; omitting the comma creates ambiguity in
certain contexts. The comma makes it clear that the last item
(after the
and) and the second-to-last item (before the
and) are separate individual items in the list, not a
single compound item. For example, look at this sentence:
At the tea party,I served a fine dessert, biscuits and
strawberries. Was biscuits and strawberries the fine dessert? Or
was a fine dessert served in addition to strawberries, and
biscuits? The grammar of this sentence implies the former,
regardless of what the author
meant.
Assumed understanding of common knowledge. Don't assume
your reader is aware of common knowledge. Theoretically,
scholarly writing is appropriate for publication in an archival
journal; it should be clear even if someone were to read it fifty
years in the future, in Thailand. All references to people,
places, events, and so on should be clarified as to their identity,
as if you were talking to someone who just today appeared on
planet Earth. This is one reason you can't just use even very
common acronyms such as FBI or CIA without spelling them
out the first time, or use common parlance. Put your writing to
the alien test: all references should be clear enough that even an
alien visitor from another planet would understand your
meaning.
Anthropomorphisms. Watch that you don't attribute human
qualities to nonhuman objects. While this might be a useful,
artful technique in fiction writing, it is mostly inappropriate in

scholarly writing. The effect may be unintended humor, or
worse. The most common instance of this is attributing intent to
the paper itself (
This paper demonstrates . . . This study will attempt to
show . . . ).
Watch your tone. Use an even, dispassionate tone. Don't use
sarcasm, harsh criticism, mockery, satire, snide commentary,
quips, asides, or exclamation points. Give both sides of any
issue. Remain objective and analytical. Don't get on a soap-box.
Scholarly writing is just not the place for preaching or zealotry.
Obviously, then, you should avoid all bias.
Colloquialisms. Never use slang, jargon, cliches, or any other
colloquial (informal, common to spoken language only)
expressions. These, by definition, are appropriate only in casual
conversation and have no place in scholarly writing. Use only
formal language. Just to give you an idea, colloquial terms
include any of the following:
ticked off, upshot, head out, didn't do squat, ain't, get
out of here, nope, what's up, crappy, stuck up, put up with, stick
your neck out, swamped with work, buzz off (in fact, just about
any phrase that ends with "off," including
piss off, and so on), and many more. Also, any
"common terms" (such as
puke or
throw up) that have more formal names (
vomit) should be replaced with the formal name. Like
so much else, this is a judgment call at times. Many people go
overboard with substituting obscure terms for common words;
it's not necessary to change
use to
utilize or
do to
implement.

Vulgarity. Believe it or not, I've seen several papers containing
vulgarities (
pissed off, damn, shit, and so on). It's an extreme case
of excessive casualness. You cannot write a paper in the same
voice you use to speak to your best buddy. The only time a
vulgarity may be used is in a quote, and then only if the use of
the vulgarity by the source you are quoting is somehow
relevant. This will be an extremely rare situation. If your source
uses vulgarities that are not relevant, either paraphrase or omit
the vulgarity.
"Omit needless words!"This advice from Strunk and White's
Elements of Style deserves repeating. It's difficult to
spot those needless words in your own writing, but you must
make the effort. I confess to making repeated transgressions of
this rule myself--I'm prone to wordiness. It's amazing how
unnecessary many modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) can be--
especially adverbs. Look for ways to tighten up your writing. If
a word or phrase can be dropped without a change in meaning,
drop it. If it adds irrelevant information (adverbs such as
rather, quite, somewhat, truly, honestly, and
very are usually irrelevant), omit it. If a rephrasing will
eliminate several words, use the shorter phrasing. Look for such
alternate phrasings.
Distinguish
its from
it's. These are very commonly confused. Take the
time to learn the distinction so well that you never confuse them
again.
It
's
(WITH apostrophe) is ONLY a contraction for

it is;
if you can replace the
it's with the words
it is, then use the apostrophe. If you want to indicate
possession with the pronoun
it, as in "The college cares about its students," use NO
apostrophe.
Distinguish
your from
you're.
This is similar to the
it's/its question.
Your is always possessive:
This is your book; I'm your friend.You're is always the
contraction for
you are: You're going to the store? You're a jerk.
Distinguish
their from
they're. Same as above.
Their is possessive:
This is their house; I'm not their teacher. They're is
always the contraction for
they are: They're so stupid; they're going to lose all
their money.
Could of. There is no such construction in standard written
English. The word you want is the contraction
could've. Still, even the proper term
could've is arguably too informal for a scholarly paper.
Never write
could of or
would of.
Myself. This word is used only in specific contexts. It is the
object of a reflexive verb (a verb that reflects its action back
upon its own subject; that is, the subject is also the object). For

example,
I hurt myself; I sent the letter to myself; I love myself;
I'm going to kill myself. It is also used as an intensifier, to
emphasize that the speaker is the subject of the verb. For
example,
I'll do it myself; I myself have done that; I go there
myself; I've seen it myself. Myself is never used in place of the
subject pronoun
I or the object pronoun
me. Constructions such as
Sandra, Jim and myself all went to the store; It was for
myself; That's the wrong size for myself; and
As for myself, I wouldn't take the chance are all
incorrect. In each case,
I or
me should be substituted for
myself.
Due to the fact that.
Don't use this phrase; it's needlessly wordy. It can
always be replaced with a simple
because.
And/or.This construction is awkward. Use just the
or, then follow up with
or both. For example,
To vent the room, you may open the door or the window
or both.
Effect and
affect.
These are commonly confused. The problem is that
either word may be used as either a verb or a noun, but they are
not interchangeable. Your choice of
effect or
affect will affect the meaning you convey. Following
are the meanings of these words as nouns and as verbs, with
examples of proper use.

As verbs
Affect as a verb means
to influence or
to change something. If you are using
affect/effect as a verb, it is far more likely that this is
the meaning you have in mind and therefore
affect is the proper choice. Examples:
Will this affect my grade? The temperature is affected
by climactic conditions. The audience affected his performance.
Loud noise will affect worker productivity.
Effect as a verb means
to cause or
to bring about something, much like
engender. This is a much less commonly used verb than
affect, it has limited applications, and it is not likely
that this is the meaning you are trying to convey. If you use
effect as a verb, be very certain that this is the meaning
you want. Examples:
His enthusiasm effected a change of attitude in the
whole group. The controversial nature of the subject effected a
lengthy and heated debate. This news could effect a widespread
panic. Notice that when
effect is used properly as a verb, the verb
to cause usually may be substituted.
As nouns
Effect as a noun means, among other things,
result or
outcome. If you are using
affect/effect as a noun, this is almost certainly the
meaning you have in mind, and therefore you should use
effect. Examples:
What are the long-term effects of using this drug? Did
my efforts have any effect? This bad situation was a direct

effect of his influence.
Affect as a noun has a very limited and specialized meaning. It
is a psychological term that means
the experience or expression of feeling or emotion. This
is unlikely to be the meaning you intend to convey when using
affect/effect as a noun. Indeed,
affect as a noun is even pronounced differently, with
the accent on the first syllable. Examples:
The patient displayed incoherent speech, delusional
thinking, and blunted affect. A state of negative affect can color
a person's perceptions. SAT scores don't just indicate scholastic
aptitude; even the student's affect at the time of the test will
have some bearing on the score.
Notice that if you are choosing between
affect and
effect to use as a verb, you probably want
affect. On the other hand, for use as a noun, you
probably want
effect.
Comprise.
To comprise means
to consist of, to include. Many people gets this
backward, using
to comprise as
to compose. Examples of proper use are: T
he committee comprises all the senior members of the
club (
not The committee is comprised of . . .);
The anthology comprises the best known works of many
major contemporary authors.
Other grammar rules by which to live. Most of those rules you
learned in high school still apply in formal scholarly writing,
even though they may be ignored in more casual prose. Avoid
splitting an infinitive. Try not to end a sentence with a

preposition. Be sure any antecedents to a pronoun (the noun that
the pronoun replaces) are crystal clear; otherwise, repeat the
noun. Avoid beginning a new sentence with a conjunction
(and, but, or). Avoid passive voice. If you don't know
what any of these terms mean or you don't recall the rules, look
them up in a good style and usage manual.
Putting it Together
Thesauruses. It's a good idea to infuse a little variety into your
writing. Finding synonyms for words you use repeatedly will
make your writing more fresh and readable. So will finding the
exactly correct word, that one term with just the right shade of
meaning, using its subtle nuances to communicate more
effectively and succinctly. These are all good reasons to use a
thesaurus.
Unfortunately, there are certain pitfalls to avoid. One is
overuse. You should not just replace common words with "big"
words indiscriminately and for no good reason. This is a
transparent attempt to make pedestrian writing
seem more grand than it is. When a "big" word doesn't
add anything to your meaning over a common word, choose the
common word. Your writing will remain simple and fresh, and
that will allow your ideas to take center stage. It's acceptable to
use more specific words now and then, particularly if you do so
naturally. Unnatural use comes from efforts with a thesaurus;
usually this results in a "forced" feeling to the higher level of
vocabulary. The unnaturalness shows.
An extreme example of this occurs when a writer chooses
ridiculously bombastic language to convey plain ideas. Hence
your discourse is obfuscated by abstruse, recondite
grandiloquence.

It's very easy to use words incorrectly. Thesauruses give you a
variety of synonyms for common words but don't differentiate
among them. Often some of these synonyms will have only
limited applicability, or are synonymous with only a specific
definition of the common word. Very commonly the different
synonyms convey very different shades of meaning, while
certain words are used only in certain contexts and are awkward
in others. Therefore, when you use a thesaurus to replace a word
in your writing, be certain that you understand the synonym
fully. Be careful that you are not changing your meaning or
implying something unintentionally. Always consult a
dictionary to verify the precise meaning of the synonym. Better
still, when in doubt, don't use the word.
Another pitfall is replacing words that should not be replaced.
Sometimes you should just use the same word repeatedly even if
it sounds awkward to do so. This is especially true in technical
and scientific writing. Changing the word you use can create
confusion as to whether you are still talking about the same
concept or a different one. For example, in common parlance
aggression and
hostility are practically synonymous and
interchangeable. If I'm writing a psychological study on the
concept of aggression, though, I shouldn't interchange
aggression with
hostility for variety. In this case, the two words have a
very subtle difference in meaning which would create
confusion. Even if they didn't differ in meaning, it wouldn't be
clear whether I were using them to describe different personal
constructs.
Spell check. There should be no spelling errors in your final
draft. The proliferation of computer word processors with spell-
check features should preclude such errors. However, the

counterpoint to this is that spell-checking should
not supplant proofreading.
Proofread. It's boring. It's a pain. You just finished a long-
winded discourse on some topic of purely academic interest, and
you're just glad to have it done. The last thing you want to do
now is reread the thing! Yes, I know. I feel that way, too.
Everyone does. Truth is, proofreading at this time--right after
you finish a draft--is not even very effective. The secret is to
finish assignments well ahead of time so you can put away your
draft for a few days, then come back to it with a fresh, clear
mind. Often a sentence that made perfect sense when you wrote
it--and would have continued making sense immediately
afterward--now sounds awkward when you've had a chance to
step back from the writing. Small errors start to pop out at you,
and you might even wonder what in the world you were thinking
when you wrote certain things. This is why you need to
proofread, and why you need to do so only after taking a break
from the writing.
Furthermore, as wonderful as spell-checkers are, they don't
proofread. They don't pick out words that are spelled correctly
but used wrong (such as the
its/it's, effect/affect, your/you're problems mentioned
elsewhere). They don't pick out stylistic problems, awkward
transitions, sexist language, bias, harsh tone, wordiness, and
other such problems. Papers that were not proofread stick out as
such. I've even seen student papers with pages out of order and
others with an entire paragraph repeated. Obviously the student
made no attempt to read through his or her paper before
submitting it. It makes a bad impression.
Length. Stick to the guidelines for length, as arbitrary as they

may be. These are usually a bit flexible--a page or so over or
under should not matter, particularly if you do a good job on the
paper. Grossly inadequate length or (less commonly) excessive
length may hurt you. It's better by far to be a page short than to
use artificial means to stretch your text to fit a length
requirement. Don't increase the type size, increase the margins,
or triple space between paragraphs. Professors know these tricks
well and can spot them immediately. Paradoxically, they are
much less likely to notice you are a page shy of the required
length if you make no attempt to cover it up.
Title. Give your paper a title, always. It orients the reader. Even
a boring and obvious title is better than nothing at all.
Don't rush. Haste is born of procrastination, and in turn bears
sloppiness. I've seen several papers that were obviously written
at the last minute. Sometimes the student was a good student
who knew what he or she was saying, but didn't have time to
say it properly. Sometimes a paper starts out wonderful and
deteriorates. The student either was rushed at the end or wrote
the whole thing under the gun, getting too tired to care by the
end. Do yourself a favor: start early, and give yourself plenty of
time. You can do your best only when you have the leisure time.
Supporting Evidence
Don't discuss opinion as fact. This is a big one. Don't provide
"armchair analysis." When you make an assertion, you should
have an outside source to support it. Don't rely on intuitive
conclusions or impressionistic evidence to make a point. You
may not even want to assert seemingly obvious points; often
these are less obvious and more controversial than you thought.
It's best to refer to an outside source. You can then present
outside viewpoints and perhaps synthesize a conclusion from

them, or juxtapose them for contrast and express your own
interpretation, or you could extrapolate, or do many other things
to express your own take on the topic. But start with outside
references. That way, you have someone else to point to when
your reader asks, "How do you know that?" It should be obvious
that you must scrupulously
cite all these sources, or you not only defeat your
purpose but also commit plagiarism.
Don't use anecdotal evidence. This is another big one. If I assert
that all football players are rapists because I can name two
football players I knew who were convicted of rape, the
absurdity of such anecdotal evidence is obvious. You can (and
should) give examples to support a point, but they should just
be representative of many other possible examples. It just
doesn't work the other way: you
can't take an example and draw a sweeping conclusion
from it.
Cite sources scrupulously. Anything that did not come from
your own mind is someone else's idea. If you picked up an idea
only after reading a book or article, or watching a television
show, or hearing a lecture, it's not yours. Cite the source,
whatever it is. This precludes plagiarism, but also it helps you.
If the idea turns out to be wrong, the heat is taken off you. If
you are using another writer's words, quote the writer.
Otherwise, use your own words.
Inappropriate sources. Never cite
People magazine as a source. Don't laugh--I've seen it
several times. Popular magazines are not a source for anything
but entertainment (if that). Your sources should be scholarly
writings themselves. Monographs (books) and archival journals

are the most useful sources. Also appropriate are a few
newspapers, papers presented at meetings, lectures, and other
scholarly sources. But not usually textbooks. Textbooks are
secondary sources. They condense and paraphrase original
sources. Like encyclopedias, textbooks are best used for guiding
your research. Turn to your textbook first. Get some ideas. It
will almost certainly refer you to the best, most relevant, and
classic sources. Use the textbook as a guidepost to find where
the ideas came from, and go to the original sources. Read those,
then quote from
them. This is far more appropriate and impressive than
quoting the textbook. You may well find that the textbook
presents the information from the original source in a highly
skewed or simplified manner. The original may bring up new
points that you may want to consider. It may point you in new
directions. (There
are times when citing a textbook is appropriate;
however, this is something students do excessively and
needlessly. I'm exaggerating a bit to make a point.)
Don't just drop in strings of quotes. Some people never get to
any analysis in their papers. They just drop in endless quotes
from outside sources, and provide enough original text only to
tie together the quotes. This is just repeating, not research. You
have to give some evidence that you actually understood and
thought about your sources' points. Only use quotes when you
just can't reword something and make it clear, or when there is
a specific reason why the original words are important. If you
can summarize and paraphrase, do so. This forces you to think
and to demonstrate understanding and integration.
Academic Dishonesty
Don't submit a paper for credit more than once. This means
taking a paper you wrote for one course and submitting it for

another, even with modification.
You can't get credit twice for the same work. It's
usually considered cheating.
Many people (some quite indignant) have written to ask me
why multiple submissions are dishonest. "After all,"
these people asserted, "I did write the paper myself." Here's
why:
1) Every new assignment has a purpose. The purpose is to
provide you with an opportunity to learn something new,
practice a new skill, or just to practice your writing. Every time
you write a new paper, your writing improves in subtle ways,
especially if you actually read the feedback. If you just submit
an old paper for a new assignment, you're defeating the purpose.
You're missing out on the learning opportunity. Learning is the
whole reason you're going to college in the first place. Do the
work. You--and possibly your parents--are sacrificing so that
you can avail yourself of such learning opportunities. Why
would you want to defeat them?
2) It's unfair to the other students. They all have to write a
paper to get the full credit for the course. You, on the other
hand, are just submitting an old paper and doing no work.
Everyone else is doing more work to get the same credits as
you. More importantly, you have the unfair advantage of having
already gotten a grade and feedback on your old paper. You
know what the paper's weaknesses were, and you got
suggestions on how to improve it from an expert evaluator (your
previous professor). No one else got such consultation on their
papers.
3) The topic is probably not
quite appropriate for the assignment. Different courses

will have different goals. The brilliant paper you wrote on the
American Revolution for Composition 101 may not be well
received in your American History 201 course, where the focus
will be on content over style.
4) You don't really believe that you can coast through more
advanced courses with the papers you wrote as a freshman, do
you? When I look back at papers I wrote just
last year, I catch many things I would do differently
now. The fact is that you are learning very rapidly as you
progress through college, and a paper you wrote just two
semesters ago may not be adequate for your current level of
sophistication. It may well be good enough for the particular
course, but again, you would be missing the opportunity to
practice crafting a new paper that does proper justice to your
current level of skill and knowledge. This is why I can't just
resubmit my Master's thesis as my Doctoral dissertation. I wrote
the thesis, right? So why not? It should be obvious why not.
Same reasoning applies to your undergraduate term papers.
5) How will you ever sharpen your writing skills if you don't
write? Effective writing is the single most important skill you
will learn in college, by far. Your writing ability will determine
how intelligent you are perceived to be. It will help determine
your career and how far you can go in it. It will make the
difference in whether you are taken seriously or scoffed at--
regardless of your true knowledge. Writing is
so important that you should be welcoming any
opportunity to practice this skill and get expert feedback on it.
Finally, it
is possible to make a multiple submission without being
dishonest. You would have to 1) verify that your college or

university does not expressly forbid all multiple submissions, 2)
get the permission of the professor for whom you originally
wrote the paper, and 3) get the permission of the professor for
whom you want to make the second submission. Only if you
have the permissions of your college/university and the two
professors involved can you make a second submission
honestly. (That still doesn't mean it's a good idea, however, and
one or both of your professors is very likely to insist on
revision, expansion, or even a partial or full rewrite)
Never plagiarize. This includes all the technical errors that can
be called plagiarism, such as failing to cite sources properly. It
also includes submitting a paper for credit that someone else
wrote.
Conclusion
In sum, the unifying principle is to have
respect for scholarly writing. Treat it as a serious and
important pursuit, not an annoyance or a chore. It is the product
of your talent, skill, knowledge, intelligence, and effort. It is
your academic performance, the equivalent of an athlete's big
game or an actor's opening night. It will exist as the tangible
evidence of your academic and intellectual prowess. Scholarly
writing is not just created on the spot, extemporaneously; you
have time to work on it--to nurture, develop, and polish it. What
you finally turn in for a grade is a reflection of yourself, your
academic "child." With it you are saying "this represents my
best intellectual potential." Be sure that it does.
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