The Research Process

The resources, guides, tips, and pitfalls to avoid

Getting Started:
bullet How to set up your paper : Paper Format MLA Style  
bullet Follow the mea guide to mla writing
bullet Look at the Overall Picture of your assignment - a good site to guide you:  IPL's Guide to Research and Writing
bullet How to Avoid Cheating - from Purdue University - Go over these examples

Use Research Guides for Assistance:

Choose one of these sites to refer to when you have a question about a thesis statement, format, taking notes, documentation, plagiarism, topic choice, outlines, ...you'll find it all here!!

bullet A Guide for Writing Research Papers - from Capitol Community College
bullet A Research Guide for Students by I. Lee

How to do a Works Cited Page:

bullet NoodleTools - Remember that you will need a user name and password before using.  Using the MLA format, a template is provided for you which allows you to type in the necessary information based on what you are using for a source (book, magazine, cd-rom, internet site, databases, etc.)  
bullet Valencia Community College  see a chart of different databases with an example citation for each.
bullet wdhs database information help sheet for your Works Cited Page.

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Choosing Your Topic:

bullet current social issues links provided for speech/debate
bullet Virtual Library - topics / subjects arranged by Dewey Decimal numbers.  Very complete listing of topics from the Research Guide by I. Lee
bullet Popular Research Topics from Dallas High School Library - excellent links to articles, essays, reports and other research commonly used for research papers and speeches.  Also, they give examples of working thesis statements.
bullet Historical topics for Social Studies Classes

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Style Guides and Resources:

bullet guide to grammar and writing- Everything a writer or student needs to know to complete a writing assignment is here.
bullet Elements of Style - Here you'll find helpful information on grammar, usage, spelling, and composition.
bullet Merriam-Webster Online - A great deal more here than just an up-to-the-minute online dictionary.
bullet nuts and bolts of college writing - Michael Harvey
bullet webgrammar - Judy Vorfeld's links for grammar & writing
bullet Online Resources for Writers from the University of Maine Writing Center
bullet Paradigm Online Writing Assistant - When you are ready to pursue a bigger challenge.
bullet So You Have to do a Research Paper - lots of links to help!
bullet Writing, Grammar and Style Guides - Excellent links from O'Keefe Library's Best Information