DO NOT:    • Use a  plastic or paper folder or binder of any kind!  Use a staple or paper clip.
                    • Print it with fancy fonts.  Just use standard print like this is.
                     • Put your paper title in quotes.
                     • Use right-justification.  Let the lines be ragged on the right side of pages!

DO:

• Put your name, the class, the paper number, revision (if it is one), and date at the top right of the first page (or your title page, if it is a separate page) like this:  ----->
                                                                                                               Anne Onymous
                                                                                                                Hon 102, Paper #1
                                                                                                                9:15 Class
                                                                                                                Revised  10/14/01

• Use page numbers.  If you put them at the bottom, number every page.  If you put them at the top, don't put a number on the first page.

• Give your paper a title.   Use boldface and slightly larger than normal print if you like.  Don't put it in italics or quotes, although parts of it should be in italics or quotes if they are themselves titles.  Whether you use all caps in your title is up to you.  Examples of titles:

        Wrong:   "WARFARE IN PLATO'S REPUBLIC"
        Right:     WARFARE IN PLATO'S REPUBLIC
        Wrong:  "Socrates Makes a Mistake"
        Right:  Socrates Makes a Mistake

• Start the body of the paper two lines below the title, if you don't have a separate title page.

• Use 12 or 14 point print-size with one-inch margins all around, and use double-spacing.

• If it is a revision, include the previous version and teacher's comments and suggestions.

• Include a bibliography at the end, even if it's only two items!  It can be entitled "Works Cited" or "Works Consulted," or "Bibliography" (without quotes), whichever is appropriate.

• Include, at the end, photocopies of the pages from sources that you reference in footnotes,
with the relevant sentences highlighted or circled.  For all electronic sources, printouts substitute for photocopies.  You need not turn in a photocopy of a whole article or book chapter!  (You may if you wish.)  But if the photocopied page(s) do not include the author and title then you must either include a photocopy of the title page, or scribble them on the photocopy.  Exception: you do not need photocopies for references to any of the course textbooks.

What Is a Revision?

A revision, or a rewrite, of a paper is very different from just correcting mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, documentation details, and the like.  If that's all you do, it will not improve your grade significantly.  It will usually not improve it at all. A genuine revison (or rewrite) involves much bigger changes and more work, such as: doing more research and finding and using better sources; changing the organization (outline, structure) of the whole paper; changing the structure of paragraphs by having new and better topic sentences and changing the order and content of sentences within paragraphs; adding more content, or providing more detailed explanations of vague or obscure points.  A revision is a big deal.  Just making mechanical corrections is busy work that should be routinely done before you hand a paper in.

We expect you to get "mechanical" matters (spelling, punctuation, documentation, etc.) about 95% right the first time.  We expect you to use spelling checkers and grammar checkers before you first turn in a paper.  If you suspect you have special difficulties with mechanics, you should take your completed paper to the Writing/Reading Center and get a tutor there to go over it with you  before the due date!  You should not feel the least bit embarrassed or reluctant to make use of the WRC's services.  If you think you might benefit from WRC help, it's rather foolish not to give it a try at least once,  especially when it is easily available just down the hallway from the Honors Program rooms!
 

HOW TO AVOID SOME COMMON SURFACE ERRORS

• Take your paper to the Writing/Reading Center (it's best to call 26191 for an appointment); they'll help you "polish" it!  Take Hacker along so they can see the details of the Chicago style.

• Whenever you use "they" be sure the antecedent is plural!  These are all singular: he, she, it, one, everyone, each.

• Footnotes.  Indent the first line of a footnote.  Single-space within a footnote, double-space between footnotes.  Use complete information (title, publisher, etc.) only in the first footnote for a source; abbreviate later footnotes for the same author.  See Rampolla for details.  It is nice (but not necessary) to use smaller print for footnotes.

• If you can't get your word processor to do the footnotes correctly, then either: 1) use endnotes (see the example Plato and Lincoln paper), or 2) scribble a note to let us know that you are aware of what isn't quite correct!

• Bibliography. See Rampolla 72. Double-space within and between entries. Alphabetize by author (not editor).  Do not number the entries.  Use hanging indentation.  For articles in anthologies, giving beginning and ending page numbers for the article is optional.  For periodicals, beginning and ending page numbers are required.