All papers should be typed, double-spaced. Font size should not exceed 12 points, and should be a standard, easily readable font, e.g., Times, Courier, Century Schoolbook.

Page numbers should be inserted in the document with a header. Page numbers should appear in the upper right-hand corner of your pages, beginning with your first page of text . A page number should not appear on your title page.

Any idea that is not your own should have attribution – APA guidelines for referencing are required.

When you write, organize your writing: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. Outline what you want to cover prior to writing, this will help to ensure that your writing proceeds in a logical manner. Ask yourself – what are the important ideas about this subject? What should come first in my paper? What comes next? Organizing your ideas can only improve the level of your writing.

Do not use the narrative voice unless you are writing about your own experience. The use of personal pronouns in the narrative voice, "I," "you," and "we," are inappropriate for use in a research paper, unless these words are being used in a direct quote.

Please proofread your papers for grammatical and spelling errors. Here are some examples of common mistakes:

The following words have different meanings. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Computer software that does spell-check does not recognize these mistakes as these words are usually correctly spelled, just misused in your document:

• NO, KNOW, and NOW
• WHETHER and WEATHER
• THEY’RE, THERE, and THEIR
• YOUR and YOU’RE
• HOUR and OUR
• TO and TOO
• DO and DUE
• EFFECT and AFFECT
• LOOSING and LOSING
• ITS, IT’S, and IT

In general, check your use of apostrophes. Ask yourself, do you want to indicate possession?

As you proofread, check that the subject and verb of each sentence agree with one another (e.g., plural-plural, singular-singular).

Do not begin sentences with conjunctions (OR, BUT, AND). Use separate sentences or a conjunction/compound sentence.

When using referents (words that stand for something else) make sure that their meaning is clear. For example, the meaning in the following sentence is unclear – "The cup and the saucer were made of china. It was broken." In this case the "referent" is the word "it," and it is unclear if the referent is "referring" to the cup or the saucer. Another suggestion – referents must agree with the words to which they refer. For example: "The horse galloped quickly. They were foaming at the mouth." "Horse" is singular, and its referent should be singular: use "he" or "she." Additionally, if the subject of the sentence is "he" or "she," do not use their later in the same sentence as a referent, use "his" or "her."

When your paper has more than one page, STAPLE the pages together.

Beware "new age" language in your writing. This type of language is appropriate only when quoting someone’s actual words. Examples are words and phrases like "deals with," "totally," "yadda, yadda," "like," et cetera.