Hit “save.”

When you're all done, hit Save, and upload your paper into the Assignments area in your classroom. Do a little dance. Maybe a “YESSSSSS!!!!” or two with some vigorous arm pumping. And strut a little bit, because you got done a LOT quicker, so you can go enjoy yourself while the other unfortunates are still slaving away on their papers, bored to tears.


Last, and this came from a former student who was a former Marine (so I knew the guy had some smarts): "Doc, trying to do a paper with no specific research title is like trying to drive around a city with no street or highway signs. You have no idea where you're going, what to look for, and you'll soon run out of gas and be in a lousy mood." That sound like what you do and feel like when you have to do a paper? You CAN change all of that.
Please, please, please, follow the advice of me and some of your peers. You will spend less time on a paper, enjoy not only the process but also the finished product. You'll increase your knowledge, and you'll get a higher grade. Every time you use the above methods, you will be able to do the sequence faster and faster and faster.

HOW TO TYPE YOUR PAPER (III)

Next, get all print in same font size. Place your cursor on the top line of the very first page of the paper (the title page). Left click your mouse and hold it down and highlight everything from the first to the very last page that you have so far. Select either Times New Roman 12 or Arial 10 as your font and size. Click on it. Now your entire paper is one, correct, consistent font and size, regardless of what it was when you typed and/or copy and pasted onto the file originally. Hit Save.

Now, highlight everything, and use your word processor to double space between every line, which includes between each paragraph. Hit save.

Next, go back and make sure the title page and table of contents have the spacing and centering format as shown on the GOOD PAPER and in the Course Guide and adjust as necessary, making sure each chapter starts on its own separate page.

Go put in the page numbers in the table of contents. Only put the number(s) that is the first page number for the first page of the chapter. Don’t put all the page numbers that encompass the entire chapter.

HOW TO TYPE YOUR PAPER (II)

Rule #2 Explanation. In the Bibliography, put sources in alphabetical order by first letter of last name of author, then number them consecutively, in ascending order.

Go back in text of the paper, starting with Chapter 2. Then, look at the name in parentheses right behind that first source, and see what number it is in the Bibliography, and REPLACE THE NAME WITH THE NUMBER in that chapter.
Do this for all the source info for every chapter.

Hit “save” when done.


Rule #3 Explanation. Your source info is your proof, your “independent verification and fact presenter”, if you will. They are not your words. YOUR words are the words that lead to, and then from, each source quote. This is where you type in your own thoughts, beliefs, ideas, etc. Think of your source info as bricks and your own words as the mortar.

When you have finished typing in your own words, hit “save.”

Rule #4 Explanation. This is risky, because no spell checker known to man is sharp enough to pick up misspellings when the word is spelled correctly, but it’s the wrong word, such as “too” and “to.” TIP: Use the spell checker, and then your eyes. Hit “save.”

Rule #5 Explanation. Do this for each chapter, one chapter at a time. As you complete a chapter, scroll down to the next chapter heading, such as Chapter 3, Chapter 4, whatever), and scroll it down to a new separate page, since each chapter must begin on its own separate page. Hit save.

HOW TO TYPE YOUR PAPER (I)

You’ve already done a LOT of the typing already! That’s everything you put in the “shell” of your paper when you did your research!

Rule #1. Put source info in the text in correct order.

Rule #2. Put source info in the Bibliography in correct order.

Rule #3. Connect your source information with you own words.

Rule #4. Spell check.

Rule #5. Format the paper.


Rule #1 Explanation. Go into the file where you have your course research paper, and put the source info in each chapter into some logical sequence, and hit “Save.” TIP: There is always something in each quote that gives a tip as to which quote should go before or after the other quotes, such as dates, events, developments, etc. There is also just plain logic as to what should go first, second, third, whatever, in any chapter.

Hit “save” when done.

Type in your first segment in the search engine of our library.

TIP: Best to start with articles/journals. Leave books for later.

Rule #3 Explanation. SCAN – don’t read every word -- the article/journal. If you don’t see what you want, go to the next source.

If you do see what you want, highlight that part of the text and do a “copy.” Go into your C drive research paper file and do a “paste” right under the “Chapter 2”. Then hit “save.” Go back to the article/journal and get the author of the source info and out it in parentheses immediately following the source info.

Repeat the process as many times as you think is necessary to get as much in the way of source material for that chapter. DO NOT, at this point, be concerned about the order in which the different source info is in, in that chapter.

TIP: If you think you want to research books online, that will only work if you can view all the text. In that case, don't even look at the title. IF THE WORD OR WORDS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ARE NOT IN THE INDEX, THEY'RE NOT IN THAT BOOK. STOP!!! CLOSE THE BOOK. PUSH IT ASIDE. GO TO THE NEXT BOOK.

If you have to research books in person, write down the quote from the source and source info (author, title, publisher, etc), and then type that info directly into your course paper shell, the same as if you were doing a copy/paste. Do a “Save” when you have written all the quotes and source info from books.

Just keeping typing in your segment words, looking for info in journal/articles/online books, and pasting that info into the chapter for which it is supposed to go.

TIP: Forget about taking any quotes from newspapers or magazines. Too much spin to meet publication deadlines.

When you are done with the research, you may not know it, but at this point you should have your paper one-third to one-half completed.

The last part is actually typing your paper -- or at least what is left to be needed to be typed.

HOW TO DO YOUR RESEARCH (II)

When you open up the file, all you’ll have is one blank page. Make the margins 1 inch on both sides, and top and bottom. Start the pagination by having your software put a header with the number 1 at the top, right-hand portion of the page (doesn’t matter if your word processor doesn’t allow for the 1 to be printed on the first page. Some do, some don’t. Those that don’t, start the numbering with a 2 on the second page.)

I want you to go ahead and put in the title page and table of contents page, using the format I show in the GOOD PAPER, as well as the Course Guide. That will take two pages. On the third page, go ahead and put Chapter 1, centered about six spaces from the top. Leave about a dozen spaces and type in Chapter 2, centered. THIS IS KEY. You are going to start your research with Chapter 2, and it is right under the words “Chapter 2” that you will be pasting your research from your sources as well as typing in what you can’t copy/paste.


Rule #2 Explanation. BIGGEST HELP IS USING THE APUS ONLINE LIBRARY (OL). GO THERE FIRST! LOOK, ITS WE -- THE PROFS AND THE LIBRARIAN -- THAT PUT MOST OF ALL THE SOURCE MATERIAL IN THE ONLINE LIBRARY SO YOU KNOW IT'S GOTTA BE RELEVANT TO THE COURSES WE TEACH OR IT WOULDN’T BE THERE. THERE IS A VERY GOOD POSSIBILITY THAT EVERY BIT OF RESEARCH YOU NEED IS ALREADY CATALOGUED AND WAITING FOR YOU, RIGHT IN THE OL.

BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME IS SIMPLY TYPING A BUNCH OF WORDS IN A SEARCH ENGINE. Just type in your first specific segment from the title (same as the chapter heading from Chapter 2). Since you are typing in something very specific, you should get something very specific. SAVES HOURS OF WASTED RESEARCH TIME SLOGGING THROUGH BROAD, GENERAL, NON-SPECIFIC sources.

HOW TO DO YOUR RESEARCH (I)

Doing your research is going to go a lot faster than you think. Do the research correctly, and when you get to the last part -- actually typing your paper, you should already done from one-half to one-third of the paper!!!

Rule #1. Create a file on your hard drive for your paper. Entitle it “Course Research Paper”. This will be the “shell” of your paper, but it will fill up fast.

Rule #2. Start with the first segment of your title.

Rule #3. Copy and Paste directly into your research paper.

Rule #1 Explanation. This file is where you will actually copy and paste your research and write the rest of the paper.

Rule #3 Explanation (II)

Here are a few examples of actual papers from my students, which were titled perfectly, by getting them into their essential segments:

“AN AL-QAEDA BOMB ATTACK WITH AN IMPROVISED EXPLODING DEVICE AT THE ROSE BOWL STADIUM DURING THE ROSE BOWL GAME: HOW TO PREVENT SUCH AN ATTACK.” (Note: This will look familiar, not only because I almost used it verbatim, above, but also because it is the exact title used in the “GOOD PAPER” file, that you are supposed to read.)

“A Pandemic Influenza Attack in the United States: What an Pandemic Attack is; How an Influenza Virus is verified; How an Influenza Virus is Classified; Who is at Highest Risk for Contacting the Influenza Virus; How to Reduce the Risk; Treatment of the Victim.”

“The Physician-Assisted Suicide Law in Oregon: What the Law allows: What the Law does not allow; Why it was Passed In Oregon: How it got Passed in Oregon; How a Claim for Medicare Reimbursement is Handled under the Law; How I Believe the Law could be Amended to be more Humane to the Patient.”


Here is the key to success in getting a research paper topic: THIS IS NOT JUST A MENTAL EXERCISE. YOU CANNOT JUST SIT DOWN AND THINK YOUR TOPIC INTO EXISTENCE.
DON'T JUST READ WHAT I HAVE, ABOVE. ACTUALLY GO THROUGH THE PROCESS AND WRITE IT DOWN AS YOU GO THROUGH IT.
DON'T JUST READ WHAT I HAVE, ABOVE. ACTUALLY GO THROUGH THE PROCESS AND WRITE IT DOWN AS YOU GO THROUGH IT.
DON'T JUST READ WHAT I HAVE, ABOVE. ACTUALLY GO THROUGH THE PROCESS AND WRITE IT DOWN AS YOU GO THROUGH IT.

Now you're ready to begin your research, and those individual, bite-size segments in the title are going to get REAL important REAL fast!!!

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.

I’m now going to explain – and show – what I mean by the Rules

Rule #1 Explanation. Incredibly, I have gotten papers that have no direct relationship at all to the course the student is in. This should be self-explanatory. You submit a paper that is not directly related to the course you’re in, and you get a zero. Period. No excuses.

Rule #2 Explanation. Start with trying to get the title. TITLE of a course research paper is defined as: “The presentation of the essential segments of the paper.” Follow the instructions in “Tips on Selecting Your Research Title.”

Don’t make the reader guess EXACTLY what’s going to be in the paper, based upon your title. Spell it out, in great detail.
TIP: You can almost always do this by spelling out the WHO, WHAT, WHEN , WHERE, HOW and WHY.

Here is a too-short and unspecific title: “An Al Qaeda attack using weapons of mass destruction.”

The reader has almost no idea what that paper would contain. It doesn’t tell the reader when, where, how, what specific weapon, etc.

Here is the long -- correct – and specific title: An Al Qaeda Attack, Using Anthrax, in the New York Subway System, During the Morning Rush Hour, Utilizing Aerosol Dispensing, and How to Prevent Such an Attack.”

I. 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.