SS 140 NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 

PROFESSOR LAGANA

FALL 2009; RESEARCH PAPER GUIDELINES

Please make sure that you follow all of these guidelines. A paper that does not conform to the proper format will be returned to you without a grade.

1. Before you sit down to write your paper, you should make yourself an outline. This outline will help you to keep

your ideas in some sort of manageable order. You can use this outline as the basis for your paper.  For example, if I was planning to write a paper with the title “The Effects of the Horse on Cheyenne Culture in  the 18th and 19th Centuries”, my outline would look something like this:

     I Introduction

      A) Scope of the paper ( state here your topic and why you’re writing about it ).

      B) Why is this topic important?

      C) Discussion of the issues raised in your research paper and the approach that you’re using.

     II  The Cheyenne before the coming of horses (give the reader in this section whatever background information 

          you think is necessary and relevant – don’t assume that the reader of your paper knows anything about your  

          topic – part of your job is to provide the reader with the necessary background information.

     III. The Horse Period (discuss here how horses reached the Cheyenne and the effects that horses had on hunting,

           warfare, settlement patters family life, etc. – this is the main part of your paper.

     IV.  Summary and Conclusions.

2. Remember to begin your paper with an introduction of some kind: you should tell the reader what’re doing, why 

    you’re doing it, and how you’re doing it (what kinds of information you’ll be using).

3. Remember to give the reader whatever background information you think is necessary – don’t assume that the reader of your paper knows anything at all about your topic.

4. You should end your paper with some sort of a summary (just a few paragraphs) and conclusion. Tell the reader what you’ve learned doing this paper. In your conclusion you should also try to briefly relate your topic to some larger issues (for example, what does Cheyenne history tell us about the effects of new technologies on human societies).

5. Try to be concise and try to stick to your topic.

6. You should also remember than when writing a paper like this you have to provide the reader with the information necessary to support your statements; in other words, don’t present facts without a reference to where you got them (this is what’s called “citing your sources”). Always label your own ideas and opinions as your own. If you use someone else’s ideas, make sure than you give him/her proper credit; don’t try to pass off someone else’s ideas as your own. Do not copy from any of your sources; if you do make a direct quote from an book or an article, always put quotation marks around what you’ve borrowed. Keep any direct quotes from your sources to an absolute minimum; whenever possible put things in your own words.

7. References and Bibliography:  I want you all to follow the format for references that’s used in your textbook. Please be sure to follow this format. A paper that’s handed in without a properly formatted bibliography and references will be returned to you without a grade. If you have any doubts about how to do this, please talk to me before handing in your paper. This is an important skill that you’ll be using throughout your college career; if you don’t already know how to do this, now is the time to learn. Any paper without references in it or without a bibliography done in the correct format will be returned to you without a grade.

A) When you make a direct quote from one of your sources (book, magazine, etc.), simply put in parentheses, directly after the quote, the last name of the author, the year of publication for the book or article, and the page number of the quote. For example, if I was to use a direct quote from page 151, it would look like this:

“The major resource that defines the Great Basis in the pinyon nut, which was a critical food item for many groups” (Sutton 2004: 151).

B) Use the same format even when you’re not making a direct quote but paraphrasing someone else’s ideas. For example: Many of the groups that lived in the Great Basin relied on the pinyon nut as an important source of food (Sutton 2004: 151).

C) At the end of your paper, attach a separate sheet labeled “References” (or bibliography); this does not count as one of your 7-8 pages. On this page you must list,  in alphabetical order by authors’ last names, all of the references you used in preparing your research paper. Give the following information for each of your references: author’s full name (last name first in alphabetical order), year of publication, full title of book or article (titles of book have to be underlined), place of publication, and publisher. For example, a bibliographic reference for your textbook would look like this:

Sutton, Mark Q. 2004. An Introduction to Native North America. Boston: Allyn and Bacon Publishers.

D) Please refer to the other handout for more examples of the correct way to do your references and bibliographies. You can also refer to the bibliography at the end of the textbook for more examples.

E) If you’re using any references from the Internet, please refer to the handout titled “Cyber-Citations” for  the proper format.

F) In doing the research for your paper, please remember that I’m expecting you to do a good job of research. You should rely on scholarly sources for the information in your paper. You should have at least 3 or 4 references in your bibliography. Don’t give me a paper that has nothing but online sources in it; most of your information should come from books and articles.  The grade that you get on this paper depends in part of the quality of your sources and on the amount of effort you put into your research.

G)  If you have any problems with your references and bibliography, please ask me for help. The library here also offers workshops on writing research papers. Please take advantage of them.

8. Please keep direct quotes to a minimum; always try to put things in your own words and not the words of your sources.

9. Your paper must be at least 7-8 pages long. That means 7-8 typed and double-spaced pages Your paper can be longer (if you have something to say  - please remember that it’s quality and not quantity that counts). That means at least 7-8 typed (on standard-sized paper), double-spaced pages with about a one  inch margin on the top, bottom and sides of each page. Your first page should be a title page, with the title of your paper in the center of the page and your name and class in the lower right-hand corner; this title page does not count as one of your 7-8 pages (refer to sample title page). Please don't hand in a paper with a fancy or cute cover (no pictures of palm trees for example). Please be sure that you hand in a neat-looking paper with the pages numbered and stapled together. A paper that is not done in the proper format (title page, footnotes, bibliography, etc.) will be returned to you without a grade so please do it right the first time. I will not accept a paper that’s less than 7 pages long.

10. Each typewritten page should have a margin of about 1 inch on all four sides. Please do not use any fancy fonts or colors.

11. Please make sure that your paper looks neat, with the pages stapled together and each page numbered.  Please avoid giving me a paper with a fancy cover; all you need is a simple title page (for an example of what your title page should look like, see the last page of this handout).

12. Please do not give me a research paper with nothing but references you found on the Internet. I want you to do at least some of your research the old-fashioned way: by going to a library and finding books and articles on your topic. Also, please do not use any references from Encyclopedias.

13. Try to keep your paper organized and to the point.

14. These research papers are due the week of December 8, any day that week Monday through Thursday.: absolutely no extensions and no excuses so don’t even think about asking. The very last day for handing in your paper is Thursday, December 11.  If your paper is not handed in by December 11, you will receive a grade of  “F” on it. Your papers will be returned to you on the day we’re scheduled to have the final exam. 

15. This may not be an English class, but spelling and grammar do count so please pay attention. Make sure that you proofread your paper before handing it in (or give it to someone else to read for you). If you think you need some help with your writing, you should invest some time and go to the Writing Center here at Queensborough.

16. I don’t expect any masterpieces from you but I do expect you all to make a serious effort to write a college-level research paper. Please make sure that you read all of the handouts I’ve given you about this project. Remember that papers which do not conform to the proper format will be returned to you without a grade.  If there’s anything you don’t understand, please make sure to ask me about it. The grade you get on this paper largely depends on how much of an effort you’re willing to put into it. If you try to take the easy way out, you should next expect to get a decent grade.

back to top