Research (Finding Information for your Research Paper)

ODU Library

http://www.lib.odu.edu/libassist/tutorials/start/index.htm

One of the best sources of information is right under your nose! The ODU library offers free tutorials to help you with your research.

ODU Library Interlibrary Loan

http://www.lib.odu.edu/services/illiad/

If the ODU library does not have what you are looking for, it will find it for you! ODU Interlibrary Loan can find books, journal or magazine articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, government reports, technical reports, and theses and dissertations - materials you need to write your research paper!

Ruth Vilmi's Web World

http://www.ruthvilmi.net/hut/LangHelp/Writing/#academic

A comprehensive academic writing guide with sample papers and abstracts.

Writing Your Research Paper

Purdue Online Writing Lab

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/index.html

Everything you need to know (or at least want to know) about writing your research paper. Guides you through the process of writing your paper from the beginning: how to select an appropriate topic, how to determine the scope of your research paper, how to find relevant information for your paper, and how to revise intermediate drafts.

Writing an Abstract

An abstract is a short (typically one page) description of your paper. The purpose of the abstract is to help the readers decide if they want to read your paper before they read it. Your abstract should state the goals and purpose of your paper, any hypotheses you may have made, and provide a brief summary of the results or findings of your paper. There are two main types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. Descriptive abstracts provide a summary of the topics discussed in your paper. An informative abstract provides more detailed information about the findings of your paper. The type of abstract you use will depend on the type of research paper you are writing.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/writecenter/web/abstracts.html

More specifically answers the question: What exactly is an abstract? 

LEO - Literacy Education Online

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/bizwrite/abstracts.html

Outlines different types of abstracts, qualities of a good abstract, and provides a sample abstract.

Online Technical Writing

http://www.io.com/~hcexres/textbook/

Discusses in detail the differences between descriptive and informative abstracts, and provides a sample abstract.

Writing Bibliographies and Citations

When you write a research paper, you must show in the paper where you found your information. A bibliography (also known as a list of references or works cited page), is a list of the books, journal articles, websites, etc., that you used for your paper. You also need to give citations in the body of your paper that tell the reader from which one of the books, journal articles, websites, etc. you found specific pieces of information. There are many different STYLES that are acceptable for constructing your bibliography and citations. Your teachers may prefer one of them, so it is best to ask them before you get started. The most common styles are MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), Chicago, and Turabian. Other documentation styles do exist, but this should get you started.

MLA

Purdue Online Writing Lab

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html

Everything you need to know about using the APA style to create your bibliography, cite works, and format quotations for your research paper.

MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2^nd ed.)

Get it from the ODU Library!

This is the official Modern Language Association (MLA) manual, available in the ODU library. Consult this book for help in structuring your bibliography and citations using the MLA style.

Colorado State University Writing Center

http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/index.cfm?guides_active=sources&category1=15&category2=14

This site provides an overview of both the MLA and APA documentation styles.

APA

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html

Everything you need to know about using the APA style to create your bibliography, cite works, and format quotations for your research paper.

American Psychological Association (APA) Home

http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html

The APA home page provides information about using the APA style. You can also purchase the official APA manual from this website.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5^th ed.)

Get it from the ODU Library!

This is the official American Psychological Association (APA) manual, available in the ODU library. Consult this book for help in structuring your bibliography and citations using the APA style.

Chicago

Bedford/St. Martin's Reference Guide

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html

Need to know how to reference an email or listserv message? Maybe you just want to know how to reference a book. Find out how to reference anything using Chicago, MLA, or APA on this website.

Journalism Resources

http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/journalism/cite.html

This comprehensive resource will show you how to reference anything you want to reference.

Turabian

 Long Island University

http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/cittur.htm

 A easy-to-follow guide about using the Turabian style to document your sources.

 A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate Turabian

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226816273/qid=1068352939/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9357103-2431001

The Turabian Manual for writers - everything you need to know about Turabian style.

Books on Writing Research Papers

Some of the books listed below are available from the Old Dominion University library. Others are available for purchase from online book suppliers.

Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Research Papers (Quick Guides)

by Laurie E. Rozakis

Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide (Writing Research Papers (Spiral), 10th Ed)

by James D., Jr. Lester

The Little, Brown guide to writing research papers by Michael Meyer

Get it from the ODU Library!