The key to successfully writing your paper is organization (writing skills help, too!). Here are
some tips that may be helpful:
- You should have a clear idea of your research hypothesis by now. Make sure that this is stated
clearly at the beginning of your paper (or presentation).
- Summarize the articles you have collected, identifying the main points. If you have made a
photocopy of an article or book chapter, highlight the sentences or paragraphs that are most
applicable to your topic.
- Start writing the sections that are clearest to you (these don't always have to be written in
order). Provide background information and then add your supporting ideas.
- Once you start writing you will be able to identify areas where you still need more
information. You can then develop a new targeted search strategy to retrieve more information. Your
concepts may be much narrower than at the beginning stages of your research.
- Make sure that you have the correct citations for all of your resources (don't wait until the
last minute on this one).
The format of your writing will differ depending on the expectations for the research.
Click here for a list of websites that will provide you with more information about writing
skills, literature reviews and annotated bibliographies
.
It is important to provide information on where you obtained the information that was used in
your research.
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Cite your references
An important part of presenting your research is to acknowledge the sources you used to gather
the information. One way of organizing your references is to use bibliographic management software.
This software allows you to create your own files of references and can assist you in formatting
them according to the publication style you are using. Three of the most popular programs are
ProCite,
Reference Manager and
EndNote.
Click here for more information on using this software to organize your citations
.
Papers that are written by students for courses at MSASS must adhere to the format created by
the
American Psychological Association
(APA). Copies of the print version of
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
are on reserve in the Harris Library.
Click here for websites that offer additional information on using the APA format for
citations
.
Note:
Don't forget to
spell-check
and
proofread
your document. You need to do both. They are NOT the same thing.
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Present your research
The presentation of research can take many formats, although typically a paper or report will be
written to summarize the findings. Often, in addition to a written report, the research needs to be
presented to classmates, colleagues or another audience. Sometimes you want to include an
audiovisual aid in your presentation. The Harris Library has an extensive
video collection
on a number of topics relating to social work and social welfare.
Click here for information on how to locate video titles in the online catalog
.
Click here to do a Video / DVD Search
.
Increasingly, presentation software is being used in group settings to share the main ideas of a
project. A number of websites exist that provide information on how to effectively use presentation
software.
Click here for a list of these sites
.
Everyone has different comfort levels in front of an audience.
Click here for additional information on speaking techniques that may assist
you in your presentations
.
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