Research Writing Simplified: A Documentation Guide, 8th edition

Research Writing Simplified isolates the skills related to research and moves students through a series of stepped learning activities that provide practice and reinforcement.At only 80 pages, this is the most concise research guide available—and the most effective.

Research Writing Simplified offers focused, sequenced practice in the skills and conventions of research writing, as well as practical advice and general guidance about the writing process.  Exercises include practice in summarizing, paraphrasing, correctly introducing and formatting direct quotations, the various options for in-text documentation, and correct format of works cited/reference pages. These practice exercises can be the basis of in-class instruction, or they can be assigned as homework. Because answers for some exercises are provided, students can also use Research Writing Simplified as a self-teaching guide. 

• Unique format and approach offer students opportunities to practice core competencies and build crucial research skills through exercises that focus on the various stages of researching and writing.
• Guidance to incorporating and citing sources is specific to writers of college papers.
• Strong coverage of plagiarism includes discussion of common knowledge and causes of plagiarism with examples and exercises.
• Help with choosing topics, creating thesis statements, outlining, and using the World Wide Web to search for topic ideas encourages strong research skills.
• “Using Computer Sources” provides advice for conducting keyword searches, and how to access online resources including email, listservs, newsgroups, browsing the web, IRC's, and MU's.

What’s New in This Edition

·         The text has been updated throughout to reflect the digital revolution taking place in research including the most current guidelines from MLA, APA, and CMS.

·         In the Controlled Source Research section excerpts of articles related to the topic of "Life in Contemporary Society" are given. This provides a way for students to practice using research without having to find the sources themselves. It also gives instructors control over the source material to better identify problems in its use.

·          To promote more student focus on details of MLA/APA citations exercises on punctuation have been added.