1.

Format and citations

1. Your paper should be double spaced with a 12 point font (preferably
Times New Roman) and 1 inch margins.
2. You should include page numbers (preferably at the bottom of each
page).  Please be sure to use the same font and size as the rest of your
paper.
3. You should choose one of the major citation formats (MLA, APA,
Chicago, etc) and consistently follow its guidelines
4. If you are using a citation style that uses footnotes, you are still required
to include a bibliography (organized alphabetically by the first word in
each entry) at the end of your paper
5. If you are using a citation style that does not use footnotes, you must
include in text citations as well as a bibliography
6. Your bibliography should use a hanging indent
7. If you are using an online tool or citation machine to help you with your
citations, please double check to make sure that everything is correct
8. When naming your document for submission, please use the following
format: Last Name, First Name Paper # (Philpot, Brianna Paper 1)
9. Submit your document as a doc/docx or .pdf on NYU classes
b. Content
1. First: you need to write a thesis sentence--this is the argument of your
paper.  A good thesis sentence answers an interesting question. A thesis
sentence is debatable; a statement of fact is not a thesis statement.  If you
don’t know where to start, begin by asking questions about the text(s).
2. Second: you need to determine how to support your argument.  Divide
your paper into subtopics (these subtopics will become paragraphs).  
3. Third: collect evidence from the text to support your points.  Create
bibliographic citations for these sources as you find them and construct
your bibliography.
1. You may include new evidence (or exclude some of the evidence
you have already gathered) as you write, but having a base of
evidence from which to draw will save you time and energy while
you are writing your paper.
ii. Fourth: write your body paragraphs, incorporating your textual evidence
from step 3.  Insert in text citations or footnotes as you write.
iii. Last: write your introduction and conclusion.  Never write your
introduction first.  Your paper may evolve as you write it, and when you
get to the end you will find that your introduction doesn’t fit with your
paper anymore.  Save time and effort by saving this step for the end. The
introduction should include background information about the topic at
hand.
1. Think of it this way: you can’t introduce a person you don’t know. 
You don’t know your paper until you’ve written it.
ii. You can find an example outline from a real paper here.
b. Organization
 i. Your introduction should tell me what your paper is going to be about. 
The first 1-2 sentences should tell me what topics you’re going to cover in
your paper or the questions you’re going to address.  The last 1-2
sentence(s) should be your thesis.
ii. The first 1-2 sentence(s) (topic sentence) of every succeeding paragraph
should tell me what that paragraph is going to be about.
iii. The first sentence of every paragraph should also appropriately transition
between topics.
iv. Your last paragraph should summarize your paper and provide concluding
remarks.  Do not introduce new arguments in your conclusion.  You may
wish to think of your conclusion as the inversion of your introduction:
begin by restating your thesis before summarizing the results of your body
paragraphs and offering conclusions.
v. Your bibliography should be on the last page(s).