RESEARCH PAPER CHECK LIST:: RESEARCH PAPER CHECK LIST: by Don L. F. Nilsen


DOCUMENTATION AND FORMAT:: DOCUMENTATION AND FORMAT: BI: Basic Information on first page: 1). Your Name 2). Instructor's Name 3). Course Identification 4). Semester and Year 5). Descriptive (not cutesy) Research-Paper Title


Works Cited:: Works Cited: Boyle, Anthony T. 'The Epistemological Evolution of Renaissance Utopian Literature.' Diss. New York U, 1983. Clark, Herbert H., and Thomas H. Carlson. 'Etcetera.' Language 58.4 (1982): 332-373. Clark, Kenneth. What is a Masterpiece? London, England: Thames, 1979. Dostoevsky, Feodor. Crime and Punishment. Trans. Jessie Coulson. New York, NY: Norton, 1964. Kakutani, Michiko. '`Now and Then': A Memoirist Who Disregards the Details.' The New York Times On the Web. 22 February 1998. andlt;http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/22/daily/keller-book-review.htmlandgt; (24 February 1998). O’Connor, Flannery. 'The Life You Save May Be Your Own.' The Realm of Fiction. Ed. James B. Hall. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1977, 479-488.


DOCUMENTATION IN GENERAL:: DOCUMENTATION IN GENERAL: Doc: See Documentation Page DP: Documentation Page(s) Missing M: Margins: Top, bottom, left, and right margins should all be one inch NDoc: No Documentation PN: Page Numbers Missing (e.g. articles in WC should contain inclusive pages) Quote: Quotes around Minor Titles (e.g. articles) Und: Underline Major Titles (e.g. books)


MLA DOCUMENTATION IN PARTICULAR:: MLA DOCUMENTATION IN PARTICULAR: Cite: In-Text Citation should be: '...' (234). DSE: Double Space Everything: HI: Hanging Indentation: At the beginning of the Entry: CONTROL T LQ: Long Quotations: If a quotation is more than five lines in length, it should be indented ten spaces from the left. Do not use quotation marks with long quotes. NWC: Not in Alphabetical Works Cited under this word


MY PARTICULAR REQUIREMENTS:: MY PARTICULAR REQUIREMENTS: Font: Font should be twelve point NBP: No Blank Pages NMLA: Not MLA Format WC: You need at least three Works Cited scholarly articles or books (not web sites)


DEVELOPMENT:: DEVELOPMENT: TMB: Too much biography (not enough in-depth textual analysis) TMS: Too much Summary; you need more in-depth analysis TP: Too personal or rambling Trans: Abrupt Transition


SENTENCE GRAMMAR:: SENTENCE GRAMMAR: Awk: Awkward BG: Bad Grammar or Punctuation CS: Comma Splice (Sentence , Sentence) Dash: (Dash --, Hyphen -) Frag: Sentence Fragment Inc: Incomplete SC: Semi-Colon Missuse (should be Sentence; Sentence)


PUNCTUATION:: PUNCTUATION: Ampersand Asterisk Brackets Comma Colon Dash Exclamation Point Hyphen Parentheses Period Question Mark Semicolon


WORD GRAMMAR:: WORD GRAMMAR: Ant: Vague or Missing Antecedant Pred: Predication Error Sp: Check Spelling Word: Word Missing or Wrong Word


PROOFREADING AND TONE:: PROOFREADING AND TONE: Col: Colloquial (not appropriate in formal writing)('I,' 'you,' generic 'they,' rhetorical questions, imperatives, etc.) Proofread: Proofread better [Sic]: Error in original quote Int: Integrate your quote better using '…' Stet: Disregard my 'corrections' US: Use your sources better


!THE BEST PAPERS WILL CONTAIN: !THE BEST PAPERS WILL CONTAIN A good opening paragraph with good foreshadowing and a good closing paragraph Good argumentation Good overall organization and transitions Good paragraph development and good overall development Good comparisons and contrasts


!!THE BEST PAPERS WILL ALSO: !!THE BEST PAPERS WILL ALSO Make significant generalizations and support them with appropriate details Make insightful points Have a good review of the literature Develop interesting ironies and paradoxes


!!!AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, THE BEST PAPERS WILL: !!!AND MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, THE BEST PAPERS WILL Make an important contribution to the field of linguistics or language study


Slide15: Reference: Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Sixth Edition. New York, NY: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003.