In preparing a paper for class, the student researcher is expected to follow the standards for formatting in their class’s academic discipline.

1. Formatting Your Research Paper

2. Writing for the Academic World
In preparing a paper for class, the student
researcher is expected to follow the standards for
formatting in their class’s academic discipline.
This lesson reviews the tools that students will use
to cite their research and properly format their
research paper.
The tools are used to answer questions such as:
• How is the title age formatted?
• What does an introduction look like?
• What is the proper format for the manuscript?
• How should references be cited?
• How does the researcher avoid plagiarism?

3. Why cite the sources you use for your
papers?
Your professors expect you to read
about the research of others, and
to bring together their ideas in
such a way that makes sense to
you and will make sense to your
readers.
Let’s talk about the reasons for
doing so.

4. Credit Where Credit Is Due
All academic research is built upon verifiable
evidence. Your research paper is built upon the work
of scholars.
Properly citing your resources acknowledges that your
opinion is based upon verifiable research conducted
by those who are experts in their field.
In college you should give credit to those who have
done the original research and written the article or
book. Remember that writing books and research
articles is hard work. When you use information from
someone’s research you should give them credit for
their work.
We’ll talk about this more in the final lesson.

5. Professor’s Expectations
Citing your sources demonstrates that you've
completed the assignment.
Citations (along with the references cited or
bibliography) show that you have consulted a
variety of resources as the assignment
required.
Citations allow the readers (your professors)
to look at the referenced works to see if you
properly understood the materials.

6. Format
In the academic world there
are expectations for the format
style of a research papers.
University courses use different
style guides to cite resources in
your paper. The different
guides represent the scholarly
needs of that academic
discipline.

7. Styles
Examples of the style guides used in
various academic disciplines at Eastern
University include:
• MLA (Modern Language
Association) style for the arts and
humanities
• APA (American Psychological
Association) styles for education,
the social sciences, and the
sciences
• Chicago/Turabian style is generally
used for business and the fine arts
• SBL (Society of Biblical Literature)
for Biblical, religious and
theological studies.

8. APA Style
• The Publication Manual of the
American Psychological
Association (APA) is
recognized as the standard for
papers written in the sciences.
• The manual is found in your
college library.
• It can be found also in the
campus bookstore and
through most book retailers.

9. MLA Style
• The publication manual of the
Modern Language Association
(MLA) is recognized as the standard
for papers written in the arts,
humanities and language.
• The MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers is found in your
college library.
• It can be found in the campus
bookstore and through most book
retailers.

10. SBL Style
• The publication manual of the
SBL(Society of Biblical Literature
) is recognized as the standard
for papers written in the
religion, theology and Biblical
studies.
• The SBL Handbook of Style is
found in your college library.
• It can be found in the campus
bookstore and through many
book retailers.

11. The Chicago Manual of Style
• The publication manual of the The
Chicago Manual of Style is
recognized as the standard for
papers written in many academic
disciplines including business, law
and the fine arts.
• The Chicago Manual of Styleis
found in your college library.
• It can be found in the campus
bookstore and through most book
retailers.

12. Need Help?
We can’t review all the styles that
you will encounter in college.
However their is help for you in your
college’s library.
Eastern University students can
access the Citation Guides site at
http://libguides.eastern.edu/citation
guides

13. Tools to Assist You
Eastern University students also
have access citation management
tools.
There is a website dedicated to
instructing you how to use
RefWorks. This can be found at
http://libguides.eastern.edu/refw
orks

14. In our last lesson we will discuss importance of
academic honesty.