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Infosheets

Our WAC information sheets offer help on a variety of writing issues.

Infosheet 1 - Organizing Your Paper

Here’s a brief look at the work each part of your paper needs to do.

Infosheet 2 - Planning your introduction

Every writing assignment needs an introductory paragraph. Here are some pointers for planning your introduction.

Infosheet 3 - Planning the Body of your Paper

The body of your paper is where you organize your information and ideas into a coherent argument.

Infosheet 4-Planning your Conclusion

Here’s a brief look at what a good conclusion does.

Infosheet 5-Some key terms for writing papers.

Here are brief explanations of some key terms.

Infosheet 6 -Developing Thesis Statement

Here are the basics of what a thesis is and how you develop a thesis statement

Infosheet 7 - Organizing a Data-driven Research Paper

Here are the basics of organizing a data-driven research paper.

Infosheet 8 - Data-driven Research Papers: The Introduction

The goal of the introduction is to explain your study. Introduce the research question and summarize and cite the research done to date.

Infosheet 9 - Data-driven Research Papers: Research Design and Methods

This section explains how you will do the research you propose.

Infosheet 10 - Data-driven Research Papers: Reporting Your Findings

In this part of the paper (also called the results section) you provide the reader with the analysis of the collected data.

Infosheet 11 - Data-driven Research Papers: Writing Your Discussion

Here are a few steps that will help you write an effective Discussion.

Infosheet 12 - Arguing Your Thesis

Here are some pointers to help you argue your thesis.

Infosheet 13 - Making Claims

A claim is a statement of something as a fact or an assertion of something as true. You need to make claims in order to argue your thesis in a research paper.

Infosheet 14 - Using Evidence

Evidence is the published data or expert opinion that you cite to support the claims you make in a research paper.

Infosheet 15 - Types of Sources

Sources are where you get the evidence (published data or expert opinion) to support the claims you make in your research paper or other writing assignment.

Infosheet 16 - Citing Sources

Citing sources means giving the reader information about where your evidence comes from.

Infosheet 17 - Ways to Use Sources or Incorporate Evidence

Once you have located a source, how do you incorporate the evidence from that source into your argument?

Infosheet 18 - Quoting Evidence from Sources

Quoting is one of the ways you can incorporate evidence from a source into your research paper or other writing assignment.

Infosheet 19 - Paraphrasing Evidence from Sources

Paraphrasing is one of the ways you can incorporate evidence from a source into your research paper or other writing assignment.

Infosheet 20 - Summarizing Evidence from Sources

To summarize means to state the main ideas of a passage briefly in your own words.

Infosheet 21 - In-text Citations Using APA Style

In APA style, in-text citations are placed within sentences and paragraphs to tell the reader what evidence is being quoted, paraphrased, or summarized and whose evidence is being cited.

Infosheet 22 - Listing References Using APA Style

References cited in the text of a writing assignment must appear in a reference list or bibliography at the end of your paper.

Infosheet 23 - Choosing or Understanding Your Topic

Your topic is the general area of your writing assignment. Choosing your topic, or making sure you understand your topic if one has been assigned, is the first step in writing a good essay or research paper.

Infosheet 24 - Basic Paragraph Format

A paragraph develops a single idea in detail and advances your argument by providing support for your paper’s thesis.

Infosheet 25 - Different Types of Paragraphs

Here are some of the most common and useful types of paragraphs.