Research Paper Format Guidelines

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Research papers are some of the most dreaded assignments in high school or college, because most instructors are very critical when grading the papers. Not only must research be done, but the paper's content must be insightful and it must be written in correct research paper format. To help take some of the stress out of writing research papers, here's an easy guide that will help you to use the right research paper format.

Become familiar with your teacher's requirements. Some instructors want a title page and table of contents, while others would prefer that you left these additions to your paper out. Whichever the case, you need to be sure to follow their formatting requirements in order to get the most points possible.

If they require a title page, this usually means that they want the first page of your paper to have the title of the paper, your name, and sometimes your instructor's name. The title page should be completely separate from the rest of your content and not include any extra elements.

When writing a table of contents, guide your reader to the important parts of your paper and their corresponding page numbers. You should list your introduction, each major point or topic addressed in your paper, your conclusion, and your works cited. You also need to add a page number to each of these sections should indicate where each section begins.

In order to follow research paper format guidelines, you should double space your entire paper. This cleans up the appearance of the paper and improves readability. Do not type your paper in all caps as this will actually take away from the professionalism of your paper and can result in your instructor taking off points for formatting errors.

Finally, be sure to bind each page of your research paper together using either a paper clip or a staple. Most teachers prefer that their students do not use a three ring binder or document envelope to submit their papers because it can be cumbersome for a teacher to carry a stack of binders home to grade.