James Baquet

    Mark is chatting with his classmate Ming in the common room of their dorm.

    Mark: Hi, Ming. What are you working on?

    Ming: Oh, it’s frustrating! My teacher wants us to write a research paper “the old-fashioned way.”

    Mark: What does he mean by that?

    Ming: He said: “No computers. Paper and pen only. Use books and magazines, not online materials.” I don’t know what to do!

    Mark: Wow. Your teacher is kind of cruel.

    Ming: He said if we could do it this way, we could easily do an electronic one.

    Mark: Did he give you any other directions?

    Ming: He wants us to turn these things in, one per week:

    Topic/Bibliography cards/

    Note cards/Outline/Rough draft/Final draft

    Mark: The “topic” sounds easy enough. That’s what you want to write about.

    Ming: But he said we may have to adjust it to fit the length of the paper.

    Mark: How long is the paper?

    Ming: Three to five pages.

    Mark: Okay, so “Africa” is too big, and “The Meaning of the Word ‘Africa’” is too small.

    Ming: Exactly. I’m thinking of “The Importance of the Nile in Ancient Egypt.”

    Mark: That should be about right. Next, I guess you should go to the library and find books and magazine articles about the Nile.

    Ming: But I’d have to use the library’s computer to do that!

    Mark: I think that’s okay. We used to have card catalogues, but those are all gone.

    Ming: All right. So I make cards with a proper bibliographic entry on each. For books: author, title, publisher, date, and so on. A little more information for magazine articles.

    Mark: Right. These will be useful in writing the bibliography for your final draft. Next, take notes on separate cards, one fact per card.

    Ming: That should be easy. If I use the books’ exact words, I should put quotation marks, right?

    Mark: Right. But it’s better to paraphrase. And of course, make a note on the card where you found the fact, so you can make footnotes later.

    Ming: Uh-huh. Then I think I should make the outline, right?

    Mark: Right. You can do this by arranging the cards in different ways until you find the ones that make the most sense.

    Ming: For the Nile, maybe something about agriculture, religion, navigation...

    Mark: Yes, but let your notes guide you. Now, the outline would be in the traditional form: I., A., 1., a. and so on.

    Ming: Roman numerals for the top levels, capital letters for the next, then Arabic numerals, and finally small letters.

    Mark: Now, just add the note cards to the outline and you have your rough draft. Once that’s done, rewrite it with footnotes and the bibliography.