A Brief Introduction To Common Research Paper Formats
Writing a research paper is a rite of passage for high school students. Whether the paper is assigned in an English class, social studies class, or other elective class, students will not only need to learn to conduct research on a topic of their choice, but they will also need to learn how to use the format that the teacher assigned. What makes research papers so difficult for students is the fact that they need to use a format that they have never heard of before and that they do not understand how to use.
Why Formats are Used with Research Papers
Research paper formats are designed so that papers can be written with a standard design. The most commonly used formats in high school are the APA and MLA formats. The APA format is used in social students course. The initials stand for American Psychological Association. The other commonly used format is the MLA style which is used in language arts classes. MLA stands for Modern Language Association. These styles are used in all academic levels and they are used so that people who write papers for publication know what to include in their pieces.
What Formats Require Students to Do
The two styles have many common features. Both have special requirements for basic things like font, size, spacing, and margins. They have requirements for title pages and bibliography pages. They also have special requirements for in-text documentation. The requirements are different in each style, but they both require that students show what sources they used and where they used them in the papers.
Easy Ways to Use the Formats and Finish Major Projects
Students are often confused about how to document their sources, but the concept is nothing more than following a template. In most cases, students need to find the author, title, and publisher of the book, article, or website. There are often other things that they need to include, but each type of media requires different details. Teachers will often show their students websites they can use to get their bibliography entries completed quickly and easily. Some of the websites will enter information into the required places after students enter the URL of a website. Others will ask that students enter the details themselves. The websites then format the citation for the documentation style that students are using.