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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

Offers detailed guidance on how to develop, organize, and write a college-level research paper in the social and behavioral sciences.

Sources Consulted

There is a tremendous number of books, journal and magazine articles, and open access and for-profit web sites that give advice about how to write a college-level research paper. In particular, the college and university writing centers linked below were consulted while developing this guide. Refer to these sites to locate additional information about writing papers in your social sciences coursework, or, consult the resources cited in the individual text boxes that were used when specific content was written, updated, or revised.

NOTE: I strongly encourage school, public, or academic librarians, secondary school teachers, college and university faculty, writing center tutors, and other educators to adopt or modify the contents of this guide for their own purposes. Requests should be sent directly to the author [labaree@usc.edu]. In addition, please contact the author if you have any recommendations for additional bibliographic sources, suggestions for editorial changes, corrections of typographical/grammatical errors, missing sources, or general recommendations to improve the overall content and usefulness of this guide.

Study Skills Program. University of Canberra

Odegaard Writing and Research Center, University of Washington

"How to Write a Paper in Scientific Journal Style and Format." Greg Anderson, Department of Biology, Bates College

Howe Center for Writing Excellence, Miami University of Ohio

The Institute for Writing and Rhetoric. Dartmouth College

The OWL (Online Writing Lab). Purdue University

Rockowitz Writing Center. Hunter College

The Waldin Writing Center. Waldin University

Web Center for Social Research Methods. Cornell University Office for Research on Evaluation

Writing@CSU. Colorado State University

The Writing Center. University of Kansas

The Writing Center. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

The Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison

Writing Center. George Mason University

Writing at the University of Toronto

Writing Tutorial Services. Indiana University


Suggested Citation--Writing Guide:  Labaree, Robert V. Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper. USC Libraries, University of Southern California, last updated January 31, 2024, https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide.

Suggested Citation--Tab:  Labaree, Robert V. Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Conclusion. USC Libraries, University of Southern California, last updated January 31, 2024, https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/conclusion.

Suggested Citation--Sub-Tab:  Labaree, Robert V. Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Multiple Book Review Essay. USC Libraries, University of Southern California, last updated January 31, 2024, https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/bookreview/multiple.