Writing a Successful Research Paper

For more detailed information or for further clarification on citing specific types of sources you may want to go to www.MLA.com or obtain the most current edition of MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gibaldi. This book explains how to research, write drafts, properly punctuate sentences, format the pages, internal document sources, and write a works cited page.

Final Pointers

Avoid late penalties. Some teachers deduct points for each day a paper is turned in late, so a top quality easy may end up with "D" grade. Find out in advance if essays are accepted late and if so, how many points will be deducted. On some occasions, if your essay needs another day's worth of work to improve it by 20+ points a late penalty of 10 points would be worth it.

Always use your teacher's guidelines over these or any stated on the MLA web site because, after all, your teacher is the one grading your paper and he/she knows exactly what he/she wants. However, if your teacher does not give specific instructions or expects you to already know how to use MLA, these instructions are beneficial.

If you have any questions about paraphrasing or directly quoting from a source, ask your teacher. You do not want to accidentally plagiarize. Paraphrasing involves more than just changing out a couple of words. And always internally document after every paraphrase, summary, or direct quote, but only place quotation marks around phrases or sentences that are copied straight from the original source.

Do not throw any stage of your research or essay away until after your teacher has graded and returned your essay. You never know when your teacher will ask to see your researched articles to check for plagiarism and you want to be ready to defend yourself, if necessary. Also, by keeping your research and previous drafts in a safe place, you can always refer to them if you lose your current draft or are given another chance to improve upon your final draft.

Good luck on your research essay. I know it may be the most tedious assignment you will have to do all year, but you will benefit from it. Not only are you gaining knowledge on the subject you are researching, but you are learning invaluable research and organizational skills, improving upon your writing ability, and preparing for college-level work. I hope you will feel

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