1. Professional Writing and Research Skills
Practicum in LPSCS

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3. Steps in Developing a Research Paper
Understand the Assignment
What ideas are you being asked to present?
Who is your audience?
Select a Topic
Use books, encyclopedias, governmental websites, and/or the Internet
Discuss options and ideas with experts on the subject
Accept a topic defined by the person who assigns the paper

4. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued)
Gather Resources
From the Internet
From books
From journals
From magazines
Create a Bibliography
Use the correct format
Use the correct style (e.g. MLA or APA)

5. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued)
Conduct Research
Evaluate the correctness of the information
Evaluate the credentials of the author
Evaluate how current the material is
Evaluate whether or not the material is based in opinion or fact
Evaluate the reliability of the authors

6. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued)
Develop an Outline
Clarify your ideas before writing the paper
Organize the order of your ideas
Write the Rough Draft
In your words, write down the information
Transfer ideas in your outline into sentences and paragraphs
Get all of your ideas down on paper

7. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued)
Complete the Citations
Include citations within the paper
Use the appropriate format
Modern Language Association (MLA) style
American Psychology Association (APA) style
Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) method

8. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued)
Revise and Edit
Read the rough draft
Rearrange your thoughts as needed
Take out any unnecessary information
Add any needed information
Proofread
Read the paper aloud
Check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation

9. Research
Thorough and systematic investigation into a topic to discover or revise information about the topic
Where to Gather Resources
Internet
Conduct searches
Check the reliability of information
Books
Library or bookstore
eBooks
Journals or magazines
Online

10. Research (continued) Bibliography
A list of works compiled according to a common principle (i.e. authorship, subject, place of publication, or printer)
Use the appropriate format (e.g. MLA, APA, etc.)

11. Writing Outline Rough draft Citations within the paper
A general sketch indicating only the main ideas
Use systematic numbering
Rough draft
The first attempt at a piece of writing
Put in essay structure
Citations within the paper
“The act of giving credit to an author or an authority or a precedent”
Avoid plagiarism

12. Writing (continued) Revisions Proofread
Changing something that is already written
Improve the writing and the paper
Proofread
Checking and documenting needed corrections in a text
Make it accurate

13. Plagiarism
Using the language and/or ideas of another author without permission and/or taking credit for another author’s work

14. Plagiarism (continued)
Give credit for
Direct quotation
Information coming from any type of media (e.g. book, magazine, website, movie, song, etc.)
Replications of visual material (e.g. charts, pictures, diagrams, etc.)
Information gathered from interviews
Online information
Anything that originates with someone else’s thought or ideas

15. Plagiarism (continued)
Don’t give credit for
Common Knowledge
Generally accepted facts (e.g. water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit)
Culturally accepted facts (e.g. national holidays)
Your own thoughts, ideas, experiences, opinions, etc.
Results gathered from your own experiments or lab work
Your own pictures, videos, or illustrations

16. Resources http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/skill28.htm
Do an Internet search for dictionary and key terms