Rule #3 Explanation (I)

If you, as author, write your own questions in the paper, that is ridiculous, because you are asking the reader for the answer. Wrong. YOU are the author. It is YOUR job to present facts, opinions and beliefs, not to question the reader.

If you have a direct quote in the paper that is taken from a source in the Bibliography, such as: “Are Americans aware of the cost of the Gulf War?” this is allowed, because it is not a question YOU wrote. Same deal in the Bibliography. If the title of the source is something like: “Is peace in Iraq possible?” that is also OK to have the question.


Following those 3 Rules, what you have also done is separate the entire paper into bite-sized segments that are real easy to research. You don't have any plural words in your topic title. You don't have any plural words in your Table of Contents. You have a very specific topic. You do not have any questions.

The bottom line is that you have gone from a very broad topic that could take you forever to research, to something very specific that you could create and research in less than two hours.

HOW TO SELECT YOUR RESEARCH TOPIC TITLE

Rule #1: The paper must directly relate to the course you’re in.

Rule #2: Make the title extremely specific. To do that, WRITE DOWN the essential segments of the paper and this will become BOTH your title AND the Table of Contents. The first chapter must be entitled Introduction and the last two entitled Summary and Conclusion, and Bibliography.

Rule #3: DO NOT put any questions ANYWHERE in the paper, and that includes the title and table of Contents, EXCEPT for questions that appear inside direct quotes you took from other sources, and anything in the Bibliography.