Research Paper Guidelines

General Instructions

Filing of Research Papers with the Graduate School

Submit electronically through  OpenSIUC. A Microsoft Word document is preferred, Adobe pdf documents are acceptable.

Approval Form

All research papers submitted to the Graduate School must have an original approval form signed by the student's committee and the school director. This must be submitted to the Graduate School by a faculty or staff member from the graduate program.

Human Subjects

All copies of research papers submitted to the Graduate School that need the human subjects approval as defined by the Human Subjects Committee must file a copy of the approval letter with the Graduate School.

Deadline Dates for Submission

The dates are posted at the Graduate School for both deadlines to apply for graduation and the submission of papers. These deadlines are firm dates and no extensions will be given.

Organization Of Material

Download the Research Paper Template to use for your research paper. It contains all of the required formatting.

Organizational format should be as follows:

1. Title page
2. Approval page
3. Abstract (optional)
4. Acknowledgments / Dedication (optional)
5. Table of Contents
6. List of Tables with page references
7. List of Figures with page references
8. Text
9.  Exhibits (tables, figures, photographs, etc. when not distributed in the text)
10.  Bibliography (or appropriate title prescribed by style manual chosen)
11. Appendices (optional)
12. Human subjects committee approval letter when required 
13. Vita (final page of the paper)

There should be a judicious use of spacing to "set off" tables, charts, and figures; typically one double-space before and after the table. Again, once spacing is chosen, you must be consistent throughout.

If a research paper is to be copyrighted, an extra page must be inserted after the title page.  The copyright statement is to be centered on the page as follows:

Copyright by (your name) 20__

All Rights Reserved

Research Paper Template

Charts, Tables, and Figures

• Generally, students will use the computer to design figures and graphs.
• Table heading and style of headings must follow the style manual chosen. Generally, table titles are above the table and figure titles are below the figure, but the placement selected must be followed consistently.
• Spacing within the table may be single or double spaced based on the readability of the data.
• Font style and size should be consistent throughout the document, unless a table requires a smaller size. Six (6) point font should be the smallest used. Titles should be consistent in size and style of font as used throughout the document.
• There should be a judicious use of spacing to "set off" tables, charts, and figures; typically one or two double-spaces before and after the table. Again, once spacing is chosen, you must be consistent throughout.

Maps

Oversize maps may be included as a supplemental file.  

Appendix

List of terms, definitions, questionnaires, and other supplemental information which is useful, but not essential, to the body of the research paper may be included in an appendix. Appendix page numbers continue from the body of the paper with the same font and same position on the page.

Color

Color is permitted.

Additional Files

You may upload multimedia files (video or audio files). Follow instructions at OpenSIUC.

Formatting Guidelines

Fonts

• The document should be readable. The type face should be letter quality. Font style should be standard and not an unusual style such as Cursive, Script, or Italic. Some standard fonts are listed below:
  • Ariel, Bookman, Courier, Times New Roman
• The body of the document should use a 10 or 12 point font. Headings and subheadings may go up one size and up to 14 point but must be of the same font style as the body of the text. 
• Bold format may be used only as specified by the style manual chosen.
• Italics may be used only as specified by the style manual chosen. In general, it may be used for Genera, species, letters, words or phrases cited as an linguistic example, and foreign words.

Spacing

• The body of the document must be double spaced.
• Extended direct quotations should be presented consistently with the style manual selected.

Margins and Indentations

 ** MARGINS ARE ONE INCH ON ALL SIDES.

• Pages (Table of Contents, Chapters, Bibliography, etc.) that are required by the style manual to have a set top margin may have a larger than one inch top margin on those pages. Charts, tables, and figures may have greater margins than listed but may not go into the required margins.
• Paragraph indentations should be uniform five spaces. There should be no extra spacing between paragraphs.

Pagination

The following guidelines are for the pages preceding the text, i.e. Abstract, Acknowledgments, and Table of Contents.

• The pages preceding the text should be numbered in lower case Roman numbers. The numerals should be centered between the one and one-half inch margin on the left, the one inch margin on the right, and one-half inch up from the bottom edge of the paper.  
• Text pages, bibliography, and appendices should follow the style manual chosen. Numbers should consist of numerals only, without punctuation, embellishment, or running headers. Paging should be continuous including the bibliography, appendices, and vita. Except for preceding pages, the style must be adhered to throughout the document. The first page of text starts with Arabic numeral 1.

This recent guideline revision supersedes all previous editions. Take this into consideration as you review previous research papers from the library or your department.

Roles And Responsibilities

The Graduate Student's Responsibility

• Subject matter and content
• Organization and format
• Editorial, linguistic, and bibliographic quality
• Quality of text, figures, and tables
• Quality of data, evidence, and logical reasoning presented
• Presentation of the manuscript based on current style manual of the field and Graduate School guidelines

The Advisory Committee's Responsibility

• Approval of the subject matter and methodology of the research
• Approval of the organization, content, and format
• Review of the quality of data and evidence, logical reasoning, and the editorial, linguistic, and bibliographic quality
• Evaluation of the research paper as a basis for certification that the student has fulfilled the requirements of the degree for which the student is a candidate

The Research Paper Consultant's Responsibility

• Providing counsel and advice upon request by students and members of the student's committee about the format aspects of research paper preparation
• Checking the final draft of each research paper to insure that it has been prepared in conformity with the requirements of this guide

Graduate Program Style Manual

Each graduate program has selected one or more preferred style manuals and all students within the graduate program are to use one of those styles.

*APA:  American Psychological Association Publication Manual

*MLA:  Modern Language Association Handbook for Writers of Research Papers