Typing Your Research Paper

Open Your File and locate the saved file Term Paper

Research Paper—Paragraph by Paragraph

Paragraph 1—I. A—Plot Summary

Paragraph 2—I. B—Characters & I.C—Last sentence of your character paragraph

is your Thesis Statement.

Paragraph 3—II.A & III. A (direct quotation citations and Tidbits)

Paragraph 4—II.B & III. B (direct quotation citations and Tidbits)

Paragraph 5—II.C & III. C (direct quotation citations and Tidbits)

Paragraph 6—II.D & III.D (direct quotation citations and Tidbits)

Paragraph 7—IV.A, B & C (No “I” statements!)

Tidbits: your own thought, your own analysis, your own explanation based on

what you just cited or what you are about to cite.

Example of Research Paper – Paragraphy by Paragraphy

Paragraph 1 - Type the Plot Summary of the Novel

It’s Kind of a Funny Story, written by Ned Vizzini, is a great novel. It talks about a boy, Craig Gilner. Craig, a teenager brought up in Brooklyn, is a teenager who suffers from serious depression.

Paragraph 2 – Type the Information about the Characters

Craig Gilner is the main character in It’s Kind of a Funny Story. He lived in an apartment in Manhattan until he was four-years-old. Craig has dark hair, dark eyes, and one snaggled tooth, big eyebrows, a long nose, and large pupils. Craig’s parents and his sister Sarah do everything to help Craig with his depression.Ned Vizzini accurately portrays the effect of depression in his novel,It’s Kind of a Funny Story. Thesis

The Next Paragraphs Combine Research of the Issue and Examples from the Novel

Defintion of the Problem and character dealing the problem (II A and III A)

Craig suffers from depression. “Depression covers a wide range of thoughts, behavior, and feelings. It is also one of the most commonly used terms to describe a wide range of negative moods” (“Depression”). Throughout this book, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Craig clearly has negative thoughts.

Causes of the Problem and Examples from the Novel showing What Caused the Character to Have This Problem (II B and III B)

In Craig’s case, he experienced depression all throughout his life, and this caused him to not be able to do normal things other people endure on a daily basis. “It’s so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself. It is a physical things, you try to open your mouth, but the words just don’t come out (Vizzini 3). Craig had a problem with talking, eating, and sleeping.

Signs and Symptoms of the Problem and Examples of Your Character Showing these Signs and Symptoms (II C and III C)

Prevention or inteventions or treatment for the Problem and Examples from the Novel to show what preventions, interventions or treaments were used by the character.the Character. (II D and III D)

Tips for Typing the Research Paper

Font

  • Need to set the Font to Times New Roman, size 12 (this is not the default)

Spacing

  • To double space the paper, click on the small arrow to the right of the word “Paragraph”.
  • When changing to double space, make sure the Before and After is 0pt. (Office 2007 sets theAfter to 10pt.—need to change to 0pt.)

Margins

  • Use 1” margins. Click on “Page Layout” and check that the margins are set at 1”

Spacing after punctuation marks

  • You can use 1 or 2 spaces after a punctuation mark.

Heading

Remember to put a heading on first page of paper. The heading should appear in the upper left hand corner of the page and follow the format below:

Joe Smith

Mr. Evangelisti/Mrs. Lucarini

English 11

12 May 2010

Header

A header will appear on subsequent pages of your paper and will be located in the upper right hand corner of the page. It will include your last name and the page number of the paper.

It will look like the example below:

Smith 2

Inserting a Header in Microsoft Word 2007:

Click on the Insert tab

Double click on the icon for Header

Click on Blank Header

In the space “type your text” type in your last name and then hit the space bar once

Click on the “Page Number” tab, click on Current position, and click on plain number

Justify the header to the right by clicking in front of your name and hitting the tab key

Click on Close Header/Footer

Removing the Header from the first page of the paper

Click on Insert tab

Click on the arrow under the Header icon

Click on Edit Header (at the bottom of the window)

Under the Design tab, put a check mark in the box “Different first page”

Close the Header/Footer

Inserting a Header in Microsoft Word 97-2003

Click on “View Header/Footer.”

Type in your last name and then click on the first icon after the words “insert auto text.” (The icon looks like a piece of paper bent at the top.) This will automatically insert the page number on every page in your paper. To remove the page number from the first page of the paper, click on the icon that looks like a book and then put a check mark in the box that says “different front page” and click on “ok.” Next, highlight your name and the page number and then align to the right. Click on close.

Important Note: When saving to your H drive, save the Word Document to a lower version—Word 97-2003 Document—if you will be typing the paper from home or your classroom and don’t have Office 2007 on your computer.