Books to help you organize, write, and format your paper

The following books are only a few of many designed to help you write a research paper. SELECTING A TOPIC, TAKING NOTES, ORGANIZING A DRAFT Turabian, Kate L. Students' Guide for Writing College Papers. 3rd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1976. (R / 808 / T92s / 1976))    A well-organized guide to writing papers, from choosing the topic to writing the paper in its final form. Includes advice on collecting information, outlining, taking notes, punctuation, etc. Best known for its chapters on format in footnotes and bibliographies. Replete with examples illustrating how the general rules apply to all manner of publications and problems. WRITING THE PAPER: STYLE AND USAGE Troyka, Lynn Quitman. Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writers. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993. (R / 808 / T86s)    This handbook is both a comprehensive guide to good English grammar, usage, punctuation, and spelling, and a guide to thinking critically and to research writing. It has a special section for English as a Second Language (ESL) students.    Strunk, William and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1979. (808 / S93 / 1979)   E.B. White, who revised the original of this "little book" and who wrote the introduction to it, says that this was Will Strunk's "attempt to cut the vast tangle of English rhetoric down to size and write its rules and principles on the head of a pin". As useful today as it was when first written (1919), the Elements is an essential guide for anyone who takes the English language seriously. THE FINAL PRODUCT: FORMAT AND DOCUMENTATION Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.. 4th ed. Washington: APA, 1994. (R / 150.6 / A51p / 1994)   The authoritative style manual for anyone writing in the field of psychology. Its chapters discuss the content and organization of a manuscript, writing style, the American Psychological Association style, and typing, mailing and proofreading. In addition, the final chapter describes the journals of the American Psychological Association.   Gibaldi, Joseph and Walter S. Achtert. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 4th ed. New York: MLA, 1995. (R / 808 / M685 / 1995)   This handbook is based on the MLA Style Manual and is intended as an aid for college students writing research papers. Included here is information on selecting a topic, researching the topic, note taking, the writing of footnotes and bibliographies, as well as sample pages of a research paper. Extremely useful for the beginning researcher.   Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th ed. Chicago: U Chicago P, 1996. (R / 808 / T92m / 1996)   Kate Turabian's standard guide for student writers, newly revised by John Grossman and Alice Bennett. Fourteen chapters cover everything you've ever wanted to know about putting a paper together, from its introductory chapters to its bibliography. Return to the Seven Steps of the Research Process  Return to Library Research: Guide