This market-leading text provides readers with step-by-step guidance through the research writing process, from selecting and narrowing a topic to formatting the finished document. Writing Research Papers backs up its instruction with the most complete array of samples of any writing guide of this nature. The text continues its extremely thorough and accurate coverage of citation styles for a wide variety of disciplines. The fourteenth edition maintains Lester's successful approach while bringing new writing and documentation updates to assist the student researcher in keeping pace with electronic sources.   Available in two formats–perfect-bound and spiral-bound with tabs, a handier format at a slightly higher price)–Lester's text is one that readers will keep throughout their college careers.

Table of Contents:
  Preface Chapter 1   Writing from Research             1a Why Do Research?             1b Learning The Conventions of Academic Writing             1c Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism             1d Understanding a Research Assignment                         Understanding the Terminology             1e Establishing a Schedule   Chapter 2   Finding a Topic             2a Relating Your Personal Ideas to a Scholarly Problem                         Connecting Personal Experience to Scholarly Topics                         Speculating about Your Subject to Discover Ideas and to Focus on the Issues 2b Talking with Others to Find and Refine the Topic             Personal Interviews             Online Discussion Groups 2c   Using Online Searches to Refine Your Topic             Using an Online Subject Directory             Using an Internet Keyword Search 2d   Using the Library’s Electronic Databases to Find and Narrow a Subject 2e   Using the Library’s Electronic Book Catalog to Find a Topic 2f   Developing a Thesis Statement, Enthymeme, or Hypothesis 2g   Drafting a Research Proposal             The Short Proposal             The Long Proposal Your Research Project   Chapter 3   Organizing Ideas and Setting Goals 3a Using a Basic Order to Chart the Course of Your Work 3b Using Your Research Proposal to Direct Your Notetaking 3c Listing Key Terms and Phrases to Set Directions for Notetaking 3d Writing a Rough Outline 3e Using Questions to Identify Issues 3f Setting Goals by Using Organizational Patterns 3g Using Approaches across the Curriculum to Chart Your Ideas 3h Using Your Thesis to Chart the Direction of Your Research Your Research Project   Chapter 4 Gathering Sources Online 4a Beginning an Online Search             CHECKLIST: Evaluating Internet Sources 4b Reading an Online Address 4c Using a Search Engine             Subject Directory Search Engines             Robot-Driven Search Engines             Metasearch Engines             Specialized Search Engines             Educational Search Engines             Educational Search Engines Maintained by Libraries 4d Searching for Articles in Journals and Magazines             Online Journals             Online Magazines 4e Searching for Articles in Newspapers and Media Sources 4f Searching for Photographs and Other Visual Sources 4g Accessing E-Books 4h Using Listserv, Usenet, and Chat Groups 4i Examining Library Holdings via Online Access 4j Finding an Internet Bibliography 4k Conducting Archival Research on the Internet Your Research Project   Chapter 5   Gathering Data in the Library 5a   Launching the Search 5b   Developing a Working Bibliography 5c Finding Books on Your Topic             Using Your Library’s Electronic Book Catalog             Using the Library’s Printed Bibliographies 5d   Finding Articles in Magazines and Journals             Searching the General Indexes to Periodicals             Finding Indexes by Topic in Appendix B             Using the H. W. Wilson Indexes             Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature Social Sciences Index Humanities Index Searching for an Index to Abstracts             Searching for Abstracts of Dissertations 5e Searching for a Biography 5f Searching for Articles in the Newspaper Indexes 5g Searching the Indexes to Pamphlet Files 5h Searching for Government Documents 5i Searching for Essays within Books 5j Using the Microforms Your Research Project   Chapter 6   Conducting Field Research 6a Investigating Local Sources             Interviewing Knowledgeable People             Writing Letters and Corresponding by E-mail             Reading Personal Papers             Attending Lectures and Public Addresses 6b Investigating Government Documents 6c Examining Audiovisual Materials, Television, and Radio 6d Conducting a Survey with a Questionnaire 6e Conducting Experiments, Tests, and Observation Your Research Project   Chapter 7   Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism 7a Using Sources to Enhance your Credibility 7b Placing Your Work in Its Proper Context 7c Understanding Copyright 7d Avoiding Plagiarism             Common Knowledge             Correctly Borrowing from a Source 7e Sharing Credit in Collaborative Projects 7f Honoring and Crediting Sources in Online Classrooms 7g Seeking Permission to Publish Material on Your Web Site Your Research Project   Chapter 8   Reading and Evaluating Sources 8a Finding Reliable Sources 8b Selecting a Mix of both Primary and Secondary Sources 8c Evaluating Sources             Evaluating the Key Parts of an Article                Evaluating the Key Parts of a Book             Evaluating the Key Parts of an Internet Article 8d Outlining a Source 8e Summarizing a Source 8f Preparing an Annotated Bibliography 8g Preparing a Review of the Literature on a Topic Your Research Project   Chapter 9   Writing Effective Notes and Creating Outlines             Gathering Printouts, Photocopies, Scanned Images, and Downloaded Data             Writing Notes of High Quality 9a Creating Effective Notes             Honoring the Conventions of Research Style             Using a Computer for Notetaking 9b Writing Personal Notes 9c Writing Direct Quotation Notes             Quoting Primary Sources             Quoting Secondary Sources 9d Writing Paraphrased Notes 9e Writing Summary Notes 9f Writing Précis Notes 9g   Writing Notes from Field Research 9h Creating Outlines Using Academic Models             A General All-Purpose Model             Model for Advancing Your Ideas and Theories             Model for the Analysis of Creative Works             Model for Argument and Persuasion Papers             Model for Analysis of History             Model for a Comparative Study 9i   Writing a Formal Outline             Using Standard Outline Symbols             Writing a Formal Topic Outline             Writing a Formal Sentence Outline Your Research Project   Chapter 10   Drafting the Paper in an Academic Style 10a Focusing Your Argument             Maintaining a Focus on Objective Facts and Subjective Ideas 10b Refining the Thesis Statement Using Questions to Focus the Thesis Adjust or Change Your Thesis during Research if Necessary 10c Writing an Academic Title 10d Drafting the Paper from Your Research Journal, Notes, and Computer Files Writing from Your Notes Writing with Unity and Coherence Writing in the Proper Tense Using the Language of the Discipline Using Source Material to Enhance Your Writing Writing in the Third Person Writing with the Passive Voice in an Appropriate Manner 10e Placing Graphics Effectively in a Research Essay 10f Avoiding Sexist and Biased Language Your Research Project   Chapter 11   Blending Reference Material into Your Writing by Using MLA Style 11a Blending Reference Citations into Your Text Making a General Reference without a Page Number Beginning with the Author and Ending with a Page Number Putting the Page Number Immediately after the Name Putting the Name and Page Number at the End of Borrowed Material 11b Citing a Source When No Author Is Listed Citing the Title of a Magazine Article Citing the Title of a Report Citing the Name of a Publisher or a Corporate Body 11c Citing Nonprint Sources That Have No Page Number 11d Citing Internet Sources Identify the Source with Name or Title Identify the Nature of the Information and Its Credibility Omitting Page and Paragraph Numbers to Internet Citations 11e Citing Indirect Sources 11f Citing Frequent Page References to the Same Work 11g Citing Material from Textbooks and Large Anthologies 11h Adding Extra Information to Intext Citations One of Several Volumes Two or More Works by the Same Writer Several Authors in One Citation Additional Information with the Page Number 11i Punctuating Citations Properly and With Consistency Commas and Periods Semicolons and Colons Question Marks and Exclamation Marks Single Quotation Marks 11j Indenting Long Quotations 11k Citing Poetry Quoting Two Lines of Poetry or Less Quoting Three Lines of Poetry or More Indenting Turnovers for Long Lines of Poetry Retaining Internal Quotations within a Block Providing Translations 11l Handling Quotations from a Play 11m Altering Initial Capitals in Some Quoted Matter 11n Omitting Quoted Matter with Ellipsis Points 11o   Altering Quotations with Parentheses and Brackets Your Research Project   Chapter 12   Writing the Introduction, Body, and Conclusion 12a Writing the Introduction of the Paper Provide the Thesis Statement Provide the Enthymeme Provide a Hypothesis Relate to the Well Known Provide Background Information Review the Literature Review the History and Background of the Subject Take Exception to Critical Views Challenge an Assumption Provide a Brief Summary Define Key Terms Supply Data, Statistics, and Special Evidence 12b Writing the Body of the Research Paper Organize by Chronology Compare or Contrast Issues, Critical Views, and Literary Characters Develop Cause and Effect Define Your Key Terminology Explain a Process Ask Questions and Provide Answers Cite Evidence from the Source Materials Use a Variety of Other Methods 12c Writing the Conclusion of the Research Paper Restate the Thesis and Reach beyond It Close With an Effective Quotation Return the Focus of a Literary Study to the Author Compare the Past to the Present Offer a Directive or Solution Discuss Test Results Your Research Project   Chapter 13   Revising, Proofreading, and Formatting the Rough Draft 13a Conducting a Global Revision Revising the Introduction Revising the Body Revising the Conclusion Participating in Peer Review 13b Formatting the Paper to MLA Style Title Page or Opening Page Outline Abstract The Text of the Paper Content Endnotes Page Appendix Works Cited 13c Editing Before Typing or Printing the Final Manuscript Using the Computer to Edit Your Text 13d   Proofreading on the Screen and on the Printed Manuscript Your Research Project 13e Sample Research Papers in MLA Style Short Literary Research Paper Sample Research Paper   Chapter 14   Works Cited: MLA Style 14a Formatting the Works Cited Page 14b   Bibliography Form – Internet Sources 14c   Bibliography Form – Citing CDROM and Database Sources 14d Bibliography Form – Books 14e Bibliography Form – Periodicals 14f   Bibliography Form – Newspapers 14g   Bibliography Form – Government Documents 14h   Bibliography Form – Other Sources   Chapter 15   Writing in APA Style 15a Writing Theory, Reporting Test Results, or Reviewing Literature Theoretical Article Report of an Empirical Study Review Article 15b Writing in the Proper Tense for an APA Research Paper 15c Using Intext Citations in APA Style 15d Preparing the List of References Book Periodical Abstract Review Report Nonprint Material Internet Sources Web Sites Article from a Library Database CD-ROM 15e Formatting an APA Paper Theoretical Article Report of Empirical Research Review Article 15f Writing the Abstract 15g Sample Paper in APA Style   Chapter 16   The Footnote System: CMS Style 16a Inserting a Superscript Numeral in Your Text  16b Formatting and Writing the Footnotes  16c Writing Footnotes for Electronic Sources 16d Writing Subsequent Footnote References 16e Writing Endnotes rather than Footnotes 16f Writing Content Footnotes or Content Endnotes 16g Using the Footnote System for Papers in the Humanities 16h Writing a Bibliography Page for a Paper That Uses Footnotes 16i Sample Research Paper in the CMS Style   Chapter 17   CSE Style for the Natural and Applied Sciences 17a Writing In-Text Citations Using the CSE Citation-Sequence System 17b Writing a Reference Page 17c Writing In-Text Citations with Name and Year 17d Using Name-Year with Bibliography Entries 17e Sample Paper Using the CSE Citation-Sequence System    Chapter 18   Creating Electronic Research Projects 18a Beginning the Electronic Project 18bBuildingElectronic Presentations 18c Research Paper Web Pages and Sites Creating a Single Web Page Creating a Web site with Multiple Pages Using an Editor to Create Web Pages Importing, Entering, and Modifying Text Citing Your Sources in a Web Research Paper 18d Planning Electronic Research Papers Creating a Plan for Your Research Paper Designing Your Electronic Research Paper 18e Using Graphics in Your Electronic Research Paper Graphic File Formats Creating Your Own Digital Graphics 18f Using Sound and Video in Your Electronic Research Paper 18g Delivering Your Electronic Research Paper to Readers 18h Preparing a Writing Portfolio  18i Presenting Research in Alternative Formats Your Research Project   Appendix A   Glossary: Rules and Techniques for Preparing the Manuscript in MLA Style Appendix B   Finding Reference Works for Your General Topic   Credits Index