RESEARCH ESSAY GUIDELINES

1. Use a cover sheet. This should include your topic, your name and code or section of class, the name of the professor, date submitted and the name of your college (Southeastern University).

2. Put your last name and page number in the top right corner of each page beginning on page 1 (Example – McDonalds 1). The cover page does not get a number. Minus three points for putting a number on the cover page. Page 1 is the first page of text after the cover page.

3. There is a minimum of ten pages. This does not count the cover sheet or the bibliography page(s). Please use Times New Roman 12 point. Using a larger font is minus 10 points. There is a ten point deduction for each page short of ten pages.

4. Remember that this essay is a research essay and not an opinion essay. Your paper’s strength is the validity and number of footnotes that you have in the paper.

5. The opening paragraph should be an attention grabber, which should draw the reader to the relevance of the subject.

6. In the next paragraph, specify which topic you have researched and the purpose of your paper. Begin by noting the issue and stating your thesis. Explain why this is a relevant topic. In other words, why should the reader care about your topic?

7. Make the paper flow. Remember the strength of your paper is in giving close examination to the viewpoints that disagree with your position and showing the fallacies of thought that have arisen in them. Your paper is not an opinion paper but a research paper. This means that you will show through your research why your position should be advocated. The idea here is that your research is going to convince the reader!

8. One inch margins on all four sides of the sheet. Take care not to exceed the one inch margin at the bottom. Theology students must use Turabian style. Be consistent in your particular style. Do not mix styles. Biblical citations can be in text.

9. Proofread closely for spelling errors. Make sure you use the correct word (“there” or “their”). Use the third person in your paper. Use “this writer” as opposed to “I.” Minus five points for improper use of first or second person. Proofread for use of wrong tenses (past and present tense in the same sentence, “is” and “was,” “said” and “says.”

10. All quotations must be in proper format. Warnings. Do not quote just a web site. Give the name of the author of the article on the web site. If you cannot find a source to note, leave the web site out of your paper unless the web site is of unquestioned authority. Do not use Wikipedia for anything.

11. At the end of the paper, a separate page should be included with a “BIBLIOGRAPHY.” In alphabetical order of the author, put all the sources you have consulted. This must include at least all of your “Works Cited.”

12. A minimum of seven non-internet resources must be cited in the paper with at least two
sources coming from a periodical. Internet resources become acceptable as long as there is a print version available. Articles taken from the internet must be listed correctly in both the footnotes and the bibliography. It is important to note that internet articles must have an author listed and not just a web address. If you have not written a paper for college before, please take your paper to ACE to have them look over both your rough draft and completed work. The Bible and dictionaries do not count as sources. Minus ten
points for each listing in the bibliography that is short of ten sources.