Humanities and Creative Writing Subject Guide: Write a paper

 Research your topic

After conducting some preliminary background reading, form your research question. This can guide you through the rest of the process.

Use the resources described in this guide to find background information, books, and articles.

Work through the sources that you find systematically. Look for both quality and quantity in sources. Can you find enough about the writing idea to begin to narrow it down into a manageable writing topic? 

When in doubt, ask a librarian!

 Write your assignment

Consider the following advice when writing research papers:

• Allow plenty of time
• Formulate a question that you will then try to answer
• When you take notes, check your transcriptions of verbatim quotations for accuracy, and be sure to record your sources accurately 
• Organize your notes systemically
• When you convert your written notes into a first draft, get your ideas down onto the paper without worrying about spelling and punctuation. Later, when you revise, you will be concerned with such matters
• If you quote a source, do not assume that the quotation is self-explanatory
• Acknowledge all sources that you found helpful, including those that you do not quote directly but nevertheless use
• When you revise your draft, keep you readers in mind: Provide the necessary background information and definitions of terms, and reorganize the material if necessary
• Keep your research paper in view
• Edit the final version, checking the grammar, punctuation, and spelling

The above advice is adapted from A Short Guide to Writing About Art

Turnitin

Turnitin is an online plagiarism prevention platform that can compare submitted academic assignments against an extensive database of published and unpublished information, and provide a report on the degree of similarity between the assignment and the material in that database.  

According to University policy, students should be able to submit their assignments to Turnitin and review the similarity report prior to final submission. To facilitate this, the Library maintains a practice Turnitin Assignment on a designated course site on HKBU Moodle. Students can self-enroll into this course to submit their assignments.

Click here for more information about Turnitin