刘洊波主编的《学术论文写作》是高等学校英语专业知识必修课，是学生学习和掌握英文论文写作语言和格式的基础教程，其目的是为学生课程论文的写作打下坚实基础，为以后的教学、科研和管理工作奠定良好的基础。本书充分考虑了我国英语专业学生英语论文写作水平普遍较低的实际情况，理论与实践相结合，安排学生大量操练。

A research paper may be a term paper for a university course, a published article in a journal, and a thesis or a dissertation as a partial requirement for a university degree. It is usually a lengthy documented report that focuses upon an academic topic and it is intended to inform the audience in the relevant field about the research topic, purpose, methods, results (findings),conclusions, and recommendations.

A research paper expresses the author's understanding of the topic based on experiments, facts, data and analysis. It is objective rather than subjective although the author's personal values, insights, and experiences have a great influence on the whole process.

A research paper is usually made up of the following parts:

1. Title page

2. Acknowledgements (optional)

3. Outline (optional)

4. Abstract

5. The text of the paper (introduction, body, and conclusion)

6. Notes (optional)

7. Works Cited

8. Appendix (optional)

The Chinese undergraduate students who major in English are comparatively weak when undertaking academic research and writing. Some are virtually ignorant of the basic rules and standards of writing academic research papers. It is with this in mind that the authors venture to write this handbook to help Chinese students of English to familiarize themselves with the basic steps, skills and techniques in writing a research paper. Emphasis is placed on explaining the accepted practice in the MLA (Modern Language Association) style and on illustrating the formats of citation and documentation.More specifically, this handbook consists of the following parts:

Chapter I, Negotiating a Topic, introduces some of the most popular ways and techniques among the students to work out a topic.

Chapter II, Narrowing Down the Research Topic, elucidates frequently used techniques for narrowing down a research topic.

Chapter III, Taking Notes, explains ways to evaluate sources, to take notes and to write different types of notes. It also introduces academic ways to avoid plagiarism.

Chapter IV, Writing the Paper, expounds standard ways to write a thesis.statement, an outline, the introduction, the body and the conclusion.

Chapter V, Documenting Sources: In-text Citation and Content Notes,explains in detail how to use in-text citation and when and how to use content notes.

Chapter VI, Documenting Sources: Works Cited, expounds the MLA style for Works Cited.

Chapter VII, Writing Abstracts, Appendices and Acknowledgements,describes the elements in an abstract, appendix and acknowledgements.

Chapter VIII, Alternative Documentation Styles, introduces the Chicago style and the APA (American Psychological Association) style in documenting sources.

This handbook also includes some common abbreviations, abbreviations of literary works and a sample paper in the MLA style.

The book is the result of the authors' ten years of experience in teaching academic research and writing to undergraduates, postgraduates and MA students. It has been tried and repeatedly revised at the School of Foreign Languages at Southwest China Normal University, Henan Normal University,Shanxi Normal University, Guizhou Normal University, Ningbo University,Yunnan Educational College, Xiehang Teacher's College, South ChinaUniversity of Technology, and Shaoguan College.

It was the joint efforts of both the editor-in-chief and the authors that have brought about the publication of the book, but each individual was assigned with a specific chapter or chapters. More specifically, Liu Jianbo designed the framework, and wrote the Introduction, Chapters VI and VII,and the Appendices. He also designed the Index and wrote the sample research paper. Xiao Jinyin wrote Chapters IV and VIII, Chen Hong, Chapters I and II, Gao Xiaofang, Chapter III, and Huang Dongfang, Chapter V.

Readers are kindly reminded that, due to the length constraints, some typesets in this book (such as double space and indentation) are not strictly in accordance with the guidelines. We apologize for any inconveniences this may bring about.

Introduction

Chapter I Negotiating a Topic

 1.1 Following Personal Interests

 1.2 Talking with Other People

 1.3 Brainstorming

 1.4 Reading Source Materials

1.4.1 Encyclopedias

1.4.9 Books

1.4.3 Periodical Indexes

1.4.4 Internet Resources

Chapter 2 Narrowing Down the Research Topic

 2.1 Considering the Audience

 2.2 Working Out a Preliminary Thesis

 2.3 Considering the Available Source Materials

Chapter 3 Taking Notes

 3.1 Evaluation of Sources

 3.2 Content of Notes

 3.3 Tips on Note-taking

3.3.1 Documenting Sources

3.3.2 Being Thorough and Concise

3.3.3 Putting One Item on One Card

3.3.4 A Sample Note

 3.4 Types of Notes

3.4.1 Direct Quotation Notes

3.4.2 Paraphrase Notes

3.4.3 Summary Notes

3.4.4 Combination Notes

 3.5 Taking Notes on Computers

 3.6 Avoiding Plagiarism

3.6.1 Forms of Plagiarism

3.6.2 Tips on Avoiding Plagiarism

Chapter 4 Writing the Paper

 4.1 Developing a Thesis Statement

 4.2 Working Out an Outline

4.2.1 Types of Outline Symbols

4.2.2 Types of Outlines

4.2.3 Sample Outlines

 4.3 Producing a First Draft

4.3.1 Writing the Introduction

4.3.2 Writing the Body

4.3.3 Writing the Conclusion

 4.4 Revising

 4.5 Preparing the Final Draft

Chapter 5 Documenting Sources: In-text Citation and Content Notes

 5.1 In-text Citation

5.1.1 Genera] Guidelines

5.1.2 Citing Two or More Authors

5.1.3 Citing Multiple Works by the Same Author

5.1.4 Citing Titles of Works

5.1.5 Citing Indirect Sources

5.1.6 Citing Two or More Works in a Parenthetical Reference

5.1.7 Citing Volume and Page Numbers

5.1.8 Using Ellipsis and Square Brackets.

5.1.9 Citing Literary Works

 5.2 Using Content Notes

Chapter 6 Documenting Sources:Works Cited

 6.1 General Guidelines

6.1.1 Author

6.1.2 Title

6.1.3 Place of Publication

6.1.4 Publisher's Name

6.1.5 Page Number(s)

 6.2 Works Cited Format

6.2.1 Books

6.2.2 Periodicals

6.2.3 Newspapers

6.2.4 Miscellaneous Sources

6.2.5 Electronic Publications

 6.3 Sample Works Cited

Chapter 7 Writing Abstracts, Appendices and Acknowledgements,

 7.1 Abstracts

 7.2 Appendices

 7.3 Acknowledgements

Chapter 8 Alternative Documentation Styles

 8.1 The APA Style Documentation

8.1.1 Author-Year System

8.1.2 APA Reference Guidelines

8.1.3 A Sample References List

 8.2 The Chicago Style Documentation

8.2.1 Note Numbers

8.2.2 Note Form

8.2.3 Endnotes and Footnotes

8.2.4 Sample First Note References

Appendices

Appendix A

Appendix B

Works Cited

Index