Chapter Ⅰ What is a Research Paper 1
1.1 Definition 1
1.2 Organization 1
1.3 Working Procedure 2
Chapter Ⅱ The Research Topic 4
2.1 Negotiating a Topic 4
2.2 Narrowing Down the Research Topic 11
Chapter Ⅲ Taking Notes 14
3.1 Evaluating Sources 14
3.2 What to Take Notes about 17
3.3 Tips of Note-taking 17
3.4 A Sample Note 18
3.5 Taking Notes on a Computer 18
3.6 Types of Notes 19
3.7 Plagiarism 22
Chapter Ⅳ Writing the Paper 28
4.1 Writing an Effective Thesis Statement 28
4.2 Working out an Outline 29
4.3 Types of Outlines 31
4.4 Sample Outlines 31
4.5 Writing the Abstract 33
4.6 Writing the Introduction 37
4.7 Writing the Body 46
4.8 Writing the Conclusion 53
4.9 Revision 59
4.10 Final Draft 59
Chapter Ⅴ Documenting Sources ：MLA Style 60
5.1 In-text Citation and Content Notes 60
5.2 Documenting Sources： Works Cited 76
Chapter Ⅵ Works Cited Format ：MLA Style 85
6.1 Books 85
6.2 Magazines and journals 100
6.3 Newspapers 103
6.4 Other Sources 105
6.5 Database Sources 107
6.6 Sources on the Internet 108
Chapter Ⅶ Alternative Documentation Styles 110
7.1 APA Style Documentation 110
7.2 Chicago Style Documentation 122
Chapter Ⅷ Using Appendix 129
8.1 Using Appendix 129
8.2 A Sample Appendix 129
Appendix A Sample Research Paper in MLA Style 143