Basic Guidelines for Research Papers
- First, all research papers should be in Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) format. CMS covers both the format for citations, and for the entire text of the paper. Refer to A Manual for Writers for specific instructions on margins, line spacing, page numbers, etc. Students are responsible for reading and applying these rules. Please note that if you use a different style (APA or MLA), there are differences, and each use of an alternative style will affect the grade of the assignment
- The page requirements for the assignment are 4-5 pages. Cover pages, bibliographies, and endnotes pages (if used) do not count towards your research paper page total.
- All citations should be done using the footnote or endnote citation options. Parenthetical citations are not to be used.
- The research paper should include at least five primary sources and five secondary sources. As you collect your sources, also follow these specific requirements for sources:
- Secondary sources should be academic in nature. Journal articles must be from peer reviewed academic journals. Books should be written at an appropriate (college) level, and should be from professional historians.
- Primary sources can come from internet sites and from published collections of primary documents. You may also rely on primary resources that are printed in one of your secondary resources, but only if the entire document is in it.
- You may use non-academic sources, but they do not count towards your minimum requirement. In other words, if you wanted to use a non-academic magazine article, you would need six secondary sources: five academic books/articles and the non-academic magazine article.
- You can include non-traditional sources. Interviews, pictures, art reproductions, and music are just a few of the sources that you can use in the assignment. A picture or music file should not be included in the document. You may analyze it and include your conclusions, but the file or picture should not appear. Provide a citation to the picture or file so that the reader can find it, if they need to do so.
- Finally, the due date for this assignment is on the course calendar, and all other requirements for formatting, citations, and miscellaneous parts of the your papers (such as the bibliography) are explained in the required text, A Manual for Writers.