WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS FOR A&S COMPETITIONS
Magistra Rosemounde of Mercia (copyright Micaela Burnham 2004)
Bibliography format (examples)
Books:
Author’s last name, Author’s first name; Title of book, Date published, ISBN number
Periodicals:
Author’s last name, Author’s first name; “Title of article,” Name of periodical, Date published
Websites:
Author’s last name, Author’s first name; “Title of article,” Web address; Organization/person maintaining site, Web address for main page of site
Footnote format (example)
1. Author’s last name at Page number.
or
1. Title of source at Page number.
For the next footnote citing the same source
2. Ibid. at Page number.
Magistra Rosemounde of Mercia (copyright Micaela Burnham 2004)
- Types
- Instructional/How to: these tell the reader how to do something, i.e making soap
- Persuasive/Argumentative: these develop a hypothesis and present research to support it.
- Hypothesis
- Argument
- Conclusion
- Historical/Expository: these describe a particular thing or event and gather research from a variety of areas to fully develop a complete picture of it.
- Some papers include more than one of these areas.
- Research
- Sources
- Primary source—a source from the time period and place of your subject matter
- Secondary source—a source that has compiled primary sources by subject matter
- Tertiary source—a source that has excerpted various secondary sources
- Bias and point of view
- Many sources have a bias or point of view, especially primary sources.
- Know your source so that you can determine bias
- Many religious texts from period can be unreliable due to bias
- Interpretation
- There are often multiple ways to interpret primary sources
- Using as many sources as possible is an aid to interpretation
- Look at the bibliography of your secondary sources to see what primary materials they used
- How many sources?
- As many good sources as possible
- You will be expected to use all well-known secondary and primary sources
- Repetitive secondary, and especially tertiary sources are unnecessary
- Cutting edge research
- Cutting edge research is research in an area that has not been explored by others in depth, or at all. There are many areas within the SCA timeframe that have not been developed with academic research.
- This will make your research more difficult as there will be little in the way of secondary materials to aid you.
- Most or all of your sources will be primary.
- This is not for the novice researcher, as some experience in interpreting sources will be necessary.
- This type of research is long term, time consuming, and difficult, but is also very rewarding. Some SCAers have been published in mundane journals, spoken at academic conferences, and even received grant money to undertake projects of this type.
- Cutting edge research is research in an area that has not been explored by others in depth, or at all. There are many areas within the SCA timeframe that have not been developed with academic research.
- Web sources
- Most sources on the web are tertiary at best—often they are some kid’s term paper. The web is not the best place to do research.
- Sites that are good:
- University sites
- Museum sites
- Original manuscripts reproduced on-line
- Photos of extant items on-line
- Academic texts reproduced on line
- Sources
- Organization
- Papers should be put together in a well organized fashion that logically follows the content of the paper.
- Introduction
- what paper is about
- type of paper
- what you intend to tell the reader
- Background information necessary for the reader’s understanding
- Body of the paper
- Divide into appropriate sections as necessary
- Use introductory paragraphs for sections, and introductory sentences for paragraphs.
- Organize in a systematic fashion. Some of these are:
- Chronologically
- By geographic area
- By type of thing (for a garment, fabric, color, pattern, decoration)
- By sources used
- By social class
- By usage (for breads; bread that you eat, bread that is used for animal fodder, bread that is used as a utensil, bread used for religious purposes)
- Conclusion or ending
- Should be consistent with the body of the paper
- Should tie back in to the introduction
- Introduction
- Organization should follow the content and theme of the paper.
- Outline your paper before beginning writing. This will aid you in organization and show you where you may have gaps in your research.
- Papers should be put together in a well organized fashion that logically follows the content of the paper.
- Writing
- Assume that your reader has a high school education.
- Do not write in an archaic or contrived academic style—even academics do not write like this anymore. Write like you talk.
- Diction, spelling, and grammar
- There are no excuses for errors in these areas
- Use the Harbrace Handbook if you have difficulty
- Write in the active voice whenever possible; The boy caught the fish, not, the fish was caught by the boy.
- Use as few words as necessary and avoid adverbs. Write more like Hemmingway and less like Faulkner.
- Footnotes
- Footnotes are necessary in most research papers.
- What should be in the footnote:
- Source (author’s last name is sufficient if the source is in your bibliography as it should be)
- Page number
- If you are quoting someone, who it is
- Any necessary explanation
- You shall use a footnote for the following things:
- Quotes from sources
- A theory or idea that is not your own
- Facts not commonly known
- You may use a footnote for the following things:
- An interesting aside, that would otherwise interfere with the flow of the paper.
- A comparison
- A conflicting theory or fact from another source that does not relate directly to your paper’s theme.
- Bibliography: a list of your sources; be consistent
- No particular style is required, but you should include the following things:
- Title
- Author/compiler/editor/translator
- Date published (or ISBN where date is not available)
- You may include the following:
- ISBN number
- Publisher
- Library of Congress number
- Sources other than books
- Periodicals: Author, Title of article, Name of Periodical, Volume number, Date and Year published
- Web pages: Author, Title of page, Web address of page, Who operates and maintains page
- Extant objects or art: Name of object, Maker of object (if known), Location of object; if it is in a book or on a website include that bibliographical material as well
- No particular style is required, but you should include the following things:
Bibliography format (examples)
Books:
Author’s last name, Author’s first name; Title of book, Date published, ISBN number
Periodicals:
Author’s last name, Author’s first name; “Title of article,” Name of periodical, Date published
Websites:
Author’s last name, Author’s first name; “Title of article,” Web address; Organization/person maintaining site, Web address for main page of site
Footnote format (example)
1. Author’s last name at Page number.
or
1. Title of source at Page number.
For the next footnote citing the same source
2. Ibid. at Page number.