dragonbook

41 15. Always have someone else read your paper before you turn in the final draft. It’s nice to get the opinion of someone who writes well, but anyone who can read can tell you if your ideas come across clearly or not. 16. Professors are often willing to look over your work and discuss your paper with you before you turn in the final draft. Make sure, however, that you’ve put some effort into the assignment yourself before seeing the professor. It’s best to have at least a tentative thesis and an outline of what you intend to write before you talk with your professor. 17. Be sure to avoid plagiarism, i.e., taking someone else’s ideas/words without giving them proper credit. Remember that, even if you mention your source in your footnotes, you may still be plagiarizing. The best way to handle secondary source material is to remember that, while you are usually not an expert on the topic discussed by your sources, you can be an expert on what the author of the source says. Suppose, for instance, that while doing a research paper on the Ante-Nicene church, you come across the following remark: The Montanist eschatological position was almost the reverse of that of the Gnostics. They were believers in the literal resurrection, believers in the millennium, and especially firm believers in prophecy and its fulfillment. The proper way of using this idea in your own paper is to say something like this: According to Art Marmorstein, Montanist eschatology was very different than that of the Gnostics. He notes that, unlike the Gnostics, the Montanists believed in the resurrection, the millennium, and in the fulfillment of prophecy. One of the problems students face is that professors are not always as clear as they might be in telling you what they are looking for in a paper. Dr. Benkert-Rasmussen uses the rubric below to evaluate papers in her classes. It is an excellent guide to the kind of things professors are looking for whether they tell you so or not.