1. The title should summarize the main idea of the paper simply, and, if possible, with style. It should be fully explanatory (understandable) when standing alone. The first letter of each word in the title should be capitalized. Words such as in, and, and the (short prepositions, short conjunctions, and articles) should not be capitalized.

Example: Inventing the Television

2. Each page should have the title (running head) at the top. Good titles can be short or up to 10 to 12 words in length. The running head should not be more than 50 characters long, including spaces. If your title is very long on the title page, go ahead and shorten it to key words for the running head that you put on each page.
3. Start the page numbers with two. Each page should be numbered including the

reference page. Do not number the title page.

4. Your papers will not be published. Therefore, it is requested that you use italics

instead of underlining.

5. In quotations, when using that to introduce the quotation, do not use a comma.

6. Use (n.d.) for no date in both in-text citations and reference page citations.

Example (in-text citation): (Johnson, n.d., p. 32)

7. When a source has two authors, always cite both names every time the citation occurs in the text.

An example in-text citation: (Martin & Philpott, 1997, p. 92)

Or

Martin and Philpott (1997, p.92) report that…

On the reference page write: Martin, L.M., & Philpott, K.A. (1997)…

8. When you cite three, four, or five authors, use all of the authors’ last names in the

first citation. In the following citations, use only the first author’s last name

followed by et al.

An example: First in-text citation - (Johnson, Clarke, Jones, & Anderson,

1995,p.32)

Later in-text citations for the same source - (Johnson et al., 1997, p.

32)

Or

Johnson et al. (1997, p.32) believes that….

On the reference page write: Johnson, M. L., Clarke, A., Jones, B. D., & Anderson, J.H. (1995)…

9. If there are more than six authors use only the last name of the first author followed by “et al.” Example in-text citation: (Jackson et al., 1989, p.57)

On the reference page write the surnames and the initials for each author like the reference page example in number seven above.

10. Write numbers in your essays and research papers following these guidelines:

1. All numbers 10 and above should be written as figures.

Ex. 21 cm wide 12 years ago

2. Numbers nine and below should be written as words.

Ex. This course requires seven books.

I had one piece of cake this morning.

3. When numbers nine and below are together in the same sentence with numbers 10 and above, use figures for all the numbers.

10. For lectures, letters, memos, telephone conversations are considered to be “personal communications”. See p. 23 of the Research Paper Stylesheet Guide.
11. For a film and other medium, give the name and in parentheses, the job title of the primary creator or primary contributors (In this example, Harrison and Schmiechen).

Specify the medium in brackets immediately after the title [film, videotape, audiotapes, slides, charts]. Give the location and name of the distributor. If it is a small company, you may include the address.

Ex. Harrison, J. (Producer), & Schmiechen, R. (Director). (1992). Changing

Our Minds: The Story of Evelyn Hooker [film]. (Available from Changing Our

Minds, Inc., New York, NY)

12. In your research you may come across a writer who quotes or discusses another book or author. This is called a secondary source. In this case you must cite on the reference page the source where you have discovered this reference to another book. You do not need to include the original source on your reference page (since maybe you cannot find it) but you do need to have the source where you have discovered this reference and also tell the audience the name of the person being paraphrased or quoted. Your in-text citation should look like this.

Ex. Halberg (as cited in Richardson, 1992, p. 23) an expert on Swedish food, found that Swedish food was superb.

13. An appendix page is added after the reference page. It is added only if you use this information in your paper. If you have one appendix label it Appendix at the top. If you have more than one, you will use capital letters beginning with the first one (Appendix A, Appendix B…) in the order in which it is mentioned in the text. Center the appendix label at the top of the page. Do not put the appendix on your reference page. An in-text citation should look like this:

The nuclear sites in Europe (see Appendix A) are mainly located…

If you use an Appendix in the future, notify your teacher of your desire for further advising.

14. Paraphrasing. Read the excellent description found in your Research Paper Stylesheet Guide p. 12. Also, remember that some words, such as proper nouns do not have to be paraphrased. Words like China and Doppler effect are not paraphrased. Words like apple (how would one paraphrase apple?) are not paraphrased. Keys to paraphrasing: