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English 102: Format Guidelines
Big Research Paper
Six articles from Ebsco-Host or Lexisnexus or another LU Library online database
service only. No websites! No cover sheet; use standard headers and title as in earlier
research paper. This should be about 10 pages long, plus the WC page.
Headers in bold:
Abstract: Three or four sentences. For example: This research project examines the
problem of…. (big subject). It uses six articles to discuss this particular problem (explain
problem briefly), and the project offers the following solution….
Overview: a paragraph about why your team picked this subject and your experiences
with the project, focusing on finding sources. This is the only section where the first
person plural is used.
Method: Why are the summaries organized the way they are? Two or three sentences
that discuss the importance of your articles (use last names, not titles) and explain which
ones offer the problem and which ones discuss the solution.
Review of Literature: Topic sentence: Author’s name, title of article, and main point.
For example: Lewis Johnson’s “Canny Intelligence of Household Animals” discusses the
role of intelligence in the breeding of show dogs. Then summarize article, dropping the
author’s name in every second or third sentence. For example: Johnson believes that
animals will…. Or, According to Johnson, “quote here” (1123). Summaries for each
article should be about three or four paragraphs long. Start each new paragraph with the
author’s full name.
Place the summaries in the order that you discussed in the methods section.
Analysis of Problem: Using copy and paste, select the elements of your summaries that
best explain the problem. Write transition sentences between what you copy and paste.
One and a half pages.
Analysis of Solution: Using copy and paste, select the elements from your summaries
that best explain the solution(s). Write transition sentences in between the copy and paste.
Half a page.
Works Cited page: use handbook for this—make it perfect. Follow examples for EbscoHost/Articles from an Online Database. Six entries.
Literature/Biography research paper
Four full pages
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Four (org, gov, edu) web sites (no .coms or wikipedia) and story/poem/play on WC page.
No cover sheet; use standard headers and title.
Introduction: Half-page. Either summarize (no cut and paste) author’s life, with no
laundry lists (of awards or universities), or summarize literature. This decision establishes
the order for your body paragraphs. If you summarize bio, use parenthetical reference at
the end of bio, before the thesis. Thesis at end. For example, By understanding the life of
Alice Walker, readers can better understand “Everyday Use”.
Three pages of body paragraphs
Nine-sentence body paragraph format
1 Topic Sentence
Both Alice Walker and Maggie suffered injuries as children.
2 Introduce quote idea/discuss the idea that your quote will prove.
When she was young, Walker lost sight in an eye.
3 Introduced quote from website
Smith writes, (or “Walker Biography…” writes,) “When she was eight, Walker
was shot in the eye with a BB gun.”
4 Discuss quote idea
Obviously, this kind of traumatic injury, especially one that caused her to lose a
sense, will have a lasting impact.
5 Transition-inside
This is like what happens to Maggie.
6 Introduce quote idea/discuss the idea that your quote will prove.
As a child, Maggie suffers a burn.
7 Introduced quote from story/poem/play
Walker writes, “Poor Maggie shuffles along, still showing the burns she incurred
when the house burned down.”
8 Explain quote and/or connection
Such a traumatic injury is likely to cause social consequences for a child;
additionally, such an injury is likely to haunt an adult’s life, maybe causing him or
her to want to hold close things that could be lost. (You can use one to three
sentences here.)
9 Transition-out
There are other connections.
Conclusion: Half-page. Discuss the larger implications of your connections and make one
brilliant insight into your author’s life or the literature, depending on your order of
interpretation, as it was established in the introduction.
Works Cited page: use handbook for this—make it perfect. Follow examples.