Steps to Writing a Research Paper

MLA Style Manual

Diana Hacker, A Writer’s Reference Vol. 6, dianahacker.com/writersref

Formulate a Research Question. Consider the scope of the research, type of

research, sources available to you

Form a tentative thesis. Example:

Should employers monitor their employees’ online activities in the workplace?

Tentative Thesis: Employers should not monitor their employees’ online

activities because electronic surveillance can compromise workers’ privacy.

DRAFT, REVISE, DRAFT, REVISE, DRAFT Revise Thesis: (depends on drafting/research)

Although companies often have legitimate concerns that lead them to monitor employee’s Internet usage – from expensive security breaches to reduced productivity – the benefits of electronic surveillance are outweighed by its costs to employees’ privacy and autonomy.

Organize your evidence. Sketch an informal plan that organizes your

ideas in bold strokes. After draft/revise, compile a more detailed

outline

Use sources to inform and support your argument. Provide background information or context Explain terms or concepts Support your claims Lend authority to your argument Anticipate and countering objections

Citing Sources, Avoiding Plagiarism. Cite quotations and borrowed ideas Enclose borrowed language in quotation

marks Put summaries and paraphrase in your own

words

Limit your use of quotations. Use quotations when:

language is esp. vivid or expressive exact wording is needed it is imp. to let the debaters explain the position in

their own words the words of an important author lend weight to

an argument language of a source is the topic of your

discussion

Limit your use of quotations Ellipsis

… To condense a passage/indicates omitted words

Brackets [ ] Insert your own words for clarification or

grammatical structure or error Setting off long quotations

More than four lines, need to do a block quote

Example Block/Long quoteBotan and Vorvoreau examine the role of gender in

company practices of electronic surveillance:There has never been accurate

documentation of the extent of gender differences in surveillance, but by the middle 1990s, estimates of the proportion of surveilled employees that were women ranged from 75% to 85%....Ironically, this gender imbalance in workplace surveillance may be evening out today

because advances in surveillance technology are making surveillance of traditionally male

dominated fields, such as long-distance truck driving, cheap, easy, and frequently unobtrusive. (127)Then you begin your paragraph after back out here.

Use signal phrases to integrate sources Prep your reader for a paraphrase, summary or

direct quote Examples:

In the words of researchers Greenfield and Davis, “ As legal scholar Jay Kesan has noted, “ “…,” writes Daniel Tynan, “…” “…,” claims attorney Schmitt. Kizza and Ssanyu offer a persuasive counterargument:

“ Verbs:

Acknowledges, adds, admits, agrees, argues, asserts, believes, claims, comments, compares, confirms, contends, declares, denies, disputes, emphasizes, endorses, grants, illustrates, implies, insists, notes, observes, points out, reasons, refutes, rejects, reports, response, suggests, thinks, writes

Use signal phrases to integrate sources. Make sure to weave, integrate Establish authority of sources Put things in context/set up

Documenting Sources In-text citations Works Cited list

For a sample MLA paper, annotated works cited and style help:

dianahacker.com/writersref OWL