TUTORIAL

FOR WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS

USING PAPERTOOLSPRO^TM

Introduction-

Read extensively-

Overview sources

Internet and paper sources

Expert sources

Good reading skills

Ideas Page-

Pre-reading questions

Ideas from reading

Create outline

Getting started-

Register as new user, Login, Enter new project, open started project,

Change style, Note Edit screen

Helpful resources-

Help files

Tutorial

Resources: Avoiding Plagiarism, Evaluating Sources,

MLA, APA…References, Citation Formats

Browse Internet

Thesis statement-

Taking notes -

Enter quotations, summaries, paraphrases

Edit quotations, summaries, paraphrases

Identifying note’s contents by slug/descriptor and up to 3 keywords

Working with notes and quotations-

Preventing unintentional plagiarism; notes in own words, sentence

structure, voice

Edit note, delete note

Create desktop folder for pertinent files

View notes—three ways

Entering bibliography information-

Books, Periodicals, Laws/Court Decisions, Media

Identifying source of information as bibliography and citation entry

Primary/secondary source designation

Edit bibliography information

View Bibliography list

Appending citations-

Quotation and Summary/Paraphrase textboxes

Previously entered citations

Using a citation manager program (CMP)-

Creating a bibliography-

Making an outline from an Ideas Page-

Organizing notes using a search query-

Delete All Notes / Delete Project-

Back Up Data-

Preventing Problems-

INTRODUCTION

PaperToolsPro^TM will help you write research papers with ease, rigor, and integrity. It lets you:

· collect and document sources and notes

· create accurate reference lists and bibliographies in MLA, APA, ACS, CBE, AAAS and Chicago Manual Style

· write notes using quoted material and/or information in your own words

· append correctly formatted in-text citations to notes that can be transferred to a draft in a word-processing document

· access formatted citations and bibliography entries from a citation manager program (CMP)

· query a database of your notes and organize them into a paper

· create a bibliography of works cited listed in alphabetical order

You will understand how to:

· avoid plagiarism

· evaluate sources

· access additional style sheets

· format citations

And in the end—

write research papers reflecting your best work.

A research paper is a written report of information, ideas, and insights that the writer has found by consulting experts in the area of the topic. In order to prepare this final paper, writers must keep careful notes and cite the source of all information, maintain a clear focus on a thesis, organize the information so that the thesis is logically and thoroughly explained, and present the documentation of the sources to the reader with an accurately formatted bibliography and citations so that the reader can access the same sources. In order to explain the research to their readers, writers must understand the material and explain it in their own words and in their own voice without intentional or unintentional plagiarism.

PRELIMINARY WORK: READ, READ, READ

Although the final product of a research paper is a piece of writing, the process to achieve this goal requires the use of your best researching, reading, and writing skills.

Successful research papers are based on many and varied quality sources. Therefore, the first step to writing a research paper is searching for excellent sources. As Zora Neale Hurston said: “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”

Overview Sources:

Encyclopedias are good first sources to consult for an overview of a topic. However, specialized encyclopedias are the best first source because you may find a two-page discussion of the overall issues related to your topic along with a bibliography of 18 sources that are the most significant to your topic—not a bad beginning!

Internet and Paper Sources:

Although students may believe that Internet keyword searches, such as a Google search, will provide all the information they will need, more in-depth material can often be found in longer texts like books, located by searching a library’s online catalog for subject headings. The results of such searches identify locations to browse in the stacks and provide cross references to related topics. Browsing in the stacks can result in surprising discoveries of sources and references that may not be known otherwise or may be cataloged in several places in the library.

Keyword and Subject Heading Searches

Keyword searches both on search engines and on databases are unpredictable and may provide too many hits. (Searching Google by typing in the keywords <Guatemala Civil War> brought 2,800,000 hits!) Results are often listed in the order of relevance in terms of the frequency that the keyword/s appear on a web page rather than by the importance of the subject matter. Furthermore, the results relate to the entered word, not cross-referenced or related subjects. Keyword searches depend on your ability to choose the precise keyword or synonym to get results, whereas subject headings give you all the choices available.

However, keyword searches may catch topics that do not have subject headings in library catalogs. Therefore, it is best to use both search methods to obtain the information you need. Keep in mind, though, that the purpose of commercial search engines may be to please advertisers, not users; the purpose of libraries is to organize information and materials so they are retrievable by users. Because librarians are eager to help, use their expertise.

Expert Sources:

Wherever you find your material, always look for sources by experts who are the significant voices in the academic conversation about your topic. They will provide insights and ask questions that will stretch your mind. Interviewing an available expert on your topic can provide rewarding results. Evaluate every source so that you are using the best information available from the best minds who know your topic. (See below: Evaluating Sources page from Resources menu)

As you find sources that show promise for your topic, create a bibliography entry for that source and write an annotation in the Summary/Paraphrase textbox for that source. (See below: Taking Notes and Creating Bibliography)

Good reading skills:

Successful research papers also result from good reading skills that focus on a purpose. Some of the material you will read may challenge your perceptions, knowledge, and perhaps beliefs as well as your reading skills. Rereading a passage that is unclear may not be sufficient to understand it. Employ the reading strategies you have learned throughout your education, such as creating a concept map or a Venn diagram, writing questions, reactions, arguments, or connecting information to what you already know. You must be able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the new information; put it into your own words; and then explain it in your paper to an audience. (PaperToolsPro™ will help you put information in your own words in: Notes and Quotations)

THINKING WITH THE IDEAS PAGE

PaperToolsPro™ provides an Ideas Page, a text editing page, to jot down ideas and responses to your reading.

At the start of the research process, brainstorm and list questions that you will need to answer in order to discuss your topic in the final paper (Fig. 1). The Ideas Page, a convenient place to enter these questions or topics that may direct further research, is always visible on the Note Editor screen. As your research progresses, answers to these questions will generate more questions to add to the list.

(Fig. 1)

In addition, while reading sources and taking notes, use the Ideas Page to list the main ideas that you might use in your paper as well as help you see the connections between ideas. Periodically ask yourself if you have encountered any new main ideas to add to the list. This list of main ideas will provide the basis for an outline for the paper (see Making an Outline from the Ideas Page).

The content of the Ideas Page can be transferred to a word processing file by copy/paste or drag/drop. An instructor may want the Ideas Page handed in periodically and/or with the final paper to monitor student progress.

GETTING STARTED

Login:

Find detailed directions for registering for a free demo or a paid subscription by clicking Help Files on the left of each web page or at the top of each screen of the program. Then choose Help>Register for Free Demo or Help>Register for Paid Subscription

Once you are registered and have logged in, you are ready to start a new project. Log in at www.PaperToolsPro.net and enter your ID, Password, and User name and click Login to PaperToolsPro or Free Demo.

Enter New Project or Open Started Project

To create a new project, enter the project name, thesis statement and choose a bibliography style (Fig. 2). If you do not yet have a thesis statement when you create a new project, you can enter a thesis statement from the Note Editor screen. Check the bottom box for balloon help while learning the program by moving the mouse over critical areas of the screen. Once you have projects started, choose on the project you started from those listed in the drop-down lists. Click Continue to proceed to the Note Editor screen (Fig. 4).

If you choose MLA style, the following message will appear:

MLA style does not require URLs in bibliography entries for Web sources. However, your teacher may want you to include them. Please check the box below if you want to show URLs in bibliography entries.

During your research you may find the need for easy online access to a source you already have. Therefore, always copy/paste the URL into the indicated textbox when entering bibliography information so that PaperToolsPro™ can automatically append it after each note's citation. This will occur even if you have chosen not to include URLs in the bibliography.

(Fig. 2)

You can also access this window to create a new project from the Note Editor screen by clicking the Projects tab at the top of the screen.

Change Style

The style you have chosen appears in the right top of the Note Editor screen. If you want to change the style at any time while taking notes, choose the new style by pulling down the menu under Change to style: and click Save Style (Fig. 3). PaperToolsPro™ will automatically change all the citations and bibliography entries to the new style.

(Fig.3)

Note Editor Screen

The Note Editor screen (Fig. 4) is the main screen from which all information is entered or from which links to additional data entry screens appear. In the explanations of the Note Editor screen functions that follow, the screen shots provided will show only those parts of the Note Editor screen that are relevant.

(Fig.4)

HELPFUL RESOURCES

Every screen at the top right corner provides buttons for access to documentation that will assist both the novice and experienced user. On the Note Editor screen these files are accessed from the tabs at the top of the screen.

Help Files: brief directions with accompanying screen shots for learning to use PaperToolsPro^TM. The list of topics is shown below (Fig. 5).

(Fig. 5)

Tutorial: directions how to use PaperToolsPro™ to write a research paper, organized according to the steps in the process for writing a research paper with links to instructions for each of the steps (Fig. 6). Specific information or topics within the document can be accessed through the links at the top of the page or searched by Find.

(Fig. 6)

Resources: 4 different pages of information needed to write a research paper:

· Help in avoiding plagiarism—

This page discusses the seriousness of plagiarism, the many forms that plagiarism—intentional or unintentional—can take, ways to avoid plagiarism using PaperToolsPro™, suggestions for time management, and the issue of copyright infringement (Fig 7).

(Fig. 7)

· Suggestions for evaluating sources so that you choose valid, reliable, and scholarly sources—

This page provides questions to consider when deciding to use either a paper or electronic source for your research (Fig. 8). Just as you would go to the best doctor available for medical information, you will want to use the best and most appropriate sources to produce your best work.

(Fig. 8)

· Further paper and electronic sources for MLA, APA, ACS, CBE, AAAS, The Bluebook for legal styles, and Chicago Manual of Style—

Although PaperToolsPro™ creates bibliographies in the style you choose, this page lists books and websites that can offer further assistance in creating bibliography entries should you not have a school handbook or a school website with this information (Fig. 9).

(Fig. 9)

· Help to create correctly formatted citations

PaperToolsPro™ provides the bibliographic information for creating a citation for every note entry, but sometimes you may be given too much. Each PaperToolsPro™ citation includes the author’s last name, the title, (the date where appropriate to the style), and a place to enter a page number.

However, some information may need to be deleted when creating the citation in the final copy of the paper because PaperToolsPro™ gives citation information needed by a researcher, not necessarily a research paper writer. For example, MLA style does not include a title unless the paper lists two works by two authors with the same last name. Since a researcher may eventually use a second source by the same author, both sources must be carefully distinguished by their titles. Therefore, the title is included. There are several of these kinds of situations that are explained on this page for each of the six styles available (Fig. 10).

Return to this page or your school’s handbook when writing the final draft of the paper to make sure all citations are correctly formatted.

(Fig. 10)

Browsing the Internet:

Browse the Internet with pre-set URLs or enter a specific URL. Click Internet tab at the top of the Note Editor Screen. This will link to a screen where directions explain how to add, go to, or delete a website listed in the textbox (Fig. 11).

(Fig. 11)

THESIS STATEMENT

When you login and create a new project, a textbox is provided to enter a thesis statement (Fig. 12). This thesis will then appear in the upper right corner of the Note Editor screen (Fig. 13). Because the thesis will and should change as you do your research and write your paper, the thesis can be edited here on the Note Editor screen. You may want to consider including keywords from your reading in order to connect your research to your thesis. By having a working thesis statement in front of you at all times, you can maintain a focus to your work. If you choose not to enter a thesis statement when creating a new project, you can type or revise a thesis in the Thesis Statement textbox on the Note Editor Screen and click Save Thesis. Also notice that the project name appears in the middle of the screen, left of the Save Thesis button. Because you can work on several projects at the same time, you will always know which project is on the screen.

(Fig. 12 – 13)

TAKING NOTES

Note taking is a four-step process:

1. Enter quotations, summaries, and paraphrases

2. Identify a note’s content by a descriptor/slug and up to three keywords

3. Save the note or update a revision

4. Document the source of that information in the form of a citation and bibliography entry.

Step 1: Enter quotations, summaries, and paraphrases

To enter a new note, click NEW NOTE near the top of the left column (Fig. 14).

(Fig. 14)

A screen will appear containing two textboxes (Fig. 15). In the top one, labeled Quotation, enter a quotation by typing it, by copy/pasting it, or by drag/dropping it from the original electronic source.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT USE ANY DOUBLE QUOTATION MARKS IN THESE TEXTBOXES BECAUSE THEIR CONTENT WILL NOT SAVE IN THE DATABASE; USE SINGLE QUOTATION OR APOSTROPHE IF NECESSARY.

In the second textbox, labeled Paraphrase, enter a summary or paraphrase of the quotation in the upper textbox.

Finish by clicking Return to Note Editor screen at the bottom of the screen.

(Fig. 15)

When you return to the Note Editor screen, two textboxes in the left column under the New button contain the Quotation and Paraphrase entries you just made (Fig 16). These shortened, thumbnail entries will help you search for a particular note. They cannot be used to edit entries already made; any changes in these thumbnail boxes will not be saved.

Edit Quotation and/or Paraphrase textboxes:

Click Edit Quotation, Paraphrase button (Fig. 16) to access the window in Fig. 15, where you can revise your entry. Click Return to Note Editor Screen and SAVE/UPDATE to save these changes and modify the thumbnail boxes. The two boxes below NEW NOTE showing a thumbnail of the quotation and paraphrase button can help find a specific note to edit.

(Fig. 16)

Step 2: Identify a note’s content by its slug/descriptor and up to three keywords

Useful notes are identified by their unique contents and their connections to other notes taken. This is done by assigning each note a descriptor and up to three keywords.

Enter Slug/Descriptor

Identify the contents of each note by assigning each a descriptor so that you can identify and access each note one at any time. Never use the same descriptor twice so that every note has a unique designation. Enter the descriptor into the Slug/Descriptor textbox (Fig. 17).

Enter New Keywords

Keywords identify the group or cluster of information to which this note can be assigned (Fig. 17). Every entered keyword should be unique and no keyword should be contained in any other keyword in that category. For example, avoid two keywords in the Keyword 1 category, like <stormy weather> and <weather>. Type a keyword you have not yet used into the appropriate Keyword 1-2-3 textbox.

Step 3: Save note

After you have typed a Descriptor and any new keywords, click SAVE/UPDATE.

Insert Used Keywords

All the Keywords 1, 2, and 3 that you entered and saved so far are listed in corresponding textboxes in the middle of the screen. After you entered your notes and Descriptor and clicked SAVE/UPDATE, you can click a previously used keyword from these lists and that keyword will appear in the Keyword textbox without having to retype it (Fig. 17).

Click Insert Keywords after you finish.

(Fig. 17)

To summarize:

· Click SAVE/UPDATE after you have typed anything in the yellow textboxes in the left column—quotation, summary/paraphrase, descriptor, a keyword never used before.

· Click Insert Keywords when you are inserting keywords from the lists of already used keywords. Do not click SAVE/UPDATE when inserting keywords.

As you read and as your Ideas Page develops in range and detail, you will begin to see ideas relating and grouping together. Thinking about what is on your Ideas Page and your thesis statement with possible keywords included, select descriptors and keywords that reflect the ideas that are emerging. By using keywords to identify your notes, you are essentially creating your personal library of information about your thesis statement; and like the database used by your school or public library to access information, your keywords will enable you to access the information in the library you are creating in PaperToolsPro™. Keywords may also come from the keywords you use in your database searches. Later, these ideas and groups of notes will help you organize your notes and create an outline.

NOTES AND QUOTATIONS: To enhance understanding and avoid plagiarism

If you are entering a quotation, copy accurately the passage or copy/paste or drag/drop it from an electronic source into the Quotation textbox.

IMPORTANT! DO NOT USE DOUBLE QUOTATION MARKS IN THESE TEXTBOXES BECAUSE THE ENTIRE CONTENT OF THE TEXTBOX WILL NOT SAVE IN THE DATABASE; USE THE SINGLE QUOTATION OR APOSTROPHE IF NECESSARY.

You will want to make sure you understand any entered quotation by putting it in your own words, in your own sentence structure, and thus in your own voice. Because the quotation is above the summary/paraphrase, you can easily compare the original with your rewording so that your paraphrase or summary is indeed in your own vocabulary, sentence structure and voice.

Unintentional plagiarism usually begins when a paraphrase or summary is not carefully worded in the user’s own words. Therefore, this process is crucial to writing a paper with rigor and without plagiarism.

For example, the famous Hamlet quotation is in the Quotation textboxes below. The Paraphrase textbox of Fig. 18 shows an unacceptable rendering of the original quotation (To live or to not to live, that is the dilemma.) because it merely substitutes synonyms for several words in the original quotation and may not reflect an understanding of the quotation. It does not change the sentence structure, thus risking plagiarism occurring in the paper when this note is carried into the draft. In Fig. 19 (Hamlet struggles to decide if he should commit suicide.) the paraphrase not only reflects the user’s own words and avoids plagiarism, but also has required the user to understand the original quotation. If the similarity in vocabulary and sentence structure is too great, rework, rethink, and rewrite the second textbox as shown in Fig. 21.

(Fig. 18 - 19)

Notes should be thoughtfully entered to reflect

· an honest rendering of the original source

· the relationship of the new information to other notes you have taken

· some aspect of your thesis statement.

Good research generates understanding, not just textboxes and databases filled with information. You have to work at building insights into the material through interpretation and synthesis. Use the Ideas Page to help you build a scaffold of knowledge and understanding.

Because PaperToolsPro^TM prompts you to provide this information, you should find yourself actively engaged in what you are doing:

· carefully reading your sources

· critically thinking about what you are reading

· understanding your topic more thoroughly than before

Review the Avoiding Plagiarism instructions from the Resources tab.

Edit Note

Go to the note you want to edit by entering the note number in the textbox at the bottom of the left column and clicking Find or by clicking the <<< or >>> buttons.

1. To edit any entered quotation, summary or paraphrase, click Edit Quotation, Paraphrase to see the textboxes where you entered the original information. Make any revisions you choose and click Return to Note Editor screen. Edit the Descriptor or Keywords manually if necessary and click SAVE/UPDATE.

2. To edit inserted keywords, click keywords in corresponding textboxes, then click Insert Keywords.

3. To edit the citation choice, select the citation you want from the Precious Citations textbox and click Insert Citation.

4. Click SAVE/UPDATE only to save keyboard entries you typed in; if you have simply clicked to insert keywords or a citation, you do not have to click SAVE/UPDATE afterwards.

Delete Note

You can mark any note as deleted by clicking “Remove” in the drop-down next to the SAVE/UPDATE button in the left hand column. The note is not actually deleted from the database. It is simply removed from consideration in processes like organizing and saving notes described below. Bibliography references can also be marked as deleted; that process is also described below.

View Notes

To scan through your notes or go to a specific note, go to the bottom of the left column where the current note number is displayed as well as the total number of notes taken. In the textbox, you can enter a note number and click Find or toggle back and forth with the arrow keys (Fig. 20).

(Fig. 20)

There are four ways to view your notes.

· A few words of a note

The two text fields directly below the Edit Quotation, Paraphrase button give the first few words of the quotation and summary you entered. This can be helpful while scanning through your list of notes (Fig. 21).

(Fig. 21)

· The entire quotation and summary entered

Go to the note you want to view and click Edit Quotation, Paraphrase. The full note entry will appear. From here you can edit a note by clicking into the textbox and typing a revision (Fig. 22).

(Fig. 22)

· The entire note entry

Click here to view entire note will give all entered information for the selected note (Fig 23).

(Fig. 23)

· A list of all the notes entered

For a complete listing of all of your notes, click the View Notes button at the bottom of the left hand column of the Note Editor screen. Then click the View Notes And Internet References button to get a listing of the notes (Fig. 24).

(Fig. 24)

All the notes are listed in chronological order. Each note will include the descriptor, keywords, quotation, summary, and citation (Fig. 25).

If the source came from an online source, the URL as a link and access date will also be listed. This is important to users should they wish to access the electronic source from the note quickly, especially for those who choose not to include URLs in MLA style. This is also important to teachers who ask students to hand in a paper print-out of all notes taken as displayed in the View All Notes page or to hand in an electronic copy of the list as an attachment to email. On an electronic copy, the teacher can efficiently click the URL to verify the content of that note from the source cited

The list of notes will include all notes entered, even those that were marked as removed. This lets you change your mind should a note contain information you realize is of value after you removed it.

To save these complete notes and references as an HTML file, go to your Internet browser’s File>Save As menu; or copy/paste or drag/drop part or the entire list of notes into a word processing file.

(Fig. 25)

To find a word or phrase in the notes, go to Edit>Find menu at the top of your browser, enter your search, and click.  Every use of that word will be highlighted.  Below (Fig. 26) shows the browser finding the name “Crane” in the list of notes.

(Fig. 26)

Create a desktop folder for all pertinent files—graphics, sound, video, web page, or text files

On your desktop, create a project folder where you keep all the material you have collected for each project in one place, like a scrapbook. Include any relevant web pages, sound or video files, or images you have accumulated. Because the Internet is a fluid medium and web pages can be deleted, saving a webpage used as a source into this desktop folder will guarantee you have access to that web page’s content even if it is deleted from the Internet. Save any HTML files from your project, such as the Ideas Page, bibliography, or notes in this folder on your desktop as a backup. This folder is also a good place to keep the word processing files containing the outline or draft of the paper.

Any media files used in your research project must be identified and source information must be included in your final bibliography. Because you may need to provide a caption or some identification in your project, create a note for every media item you have collected: enter a descriptor and keywords, and in the textbox where you put information in your own words, write the caption you will use to identify the item in your project. After you save the note, enter bibliography information following the directions below. This bibliography information may be required to appear after the caption and/or in the bibliography.

ENTER BIBLIOGRAPHY INFORMATION

Step 4: Identify the source of information

After entering information for your notes, you will want to indicate the source of this information and create a citation and a bibliography entry for it. In order to prevent plagiarism and to document accurately all researched information, PaperToolsPro™ will not allow you to enter a new note before the source of the previous one has been identified.

You can identify a source by

a. entering bibliography information to create a bibliography listing

b. insert a previously used source

First time a source is used

Click Enter Bibliography (Fig. 27) located above the keywords boxes to bring up a window that lists all the groups and kinds of sources you can select. Find the group that best represents the source you are using and click the button beneath the row where it is listed. For example, if you are using a scholarly journal, click Periodicals (Fig 28).

(Fig. 27 - 28)

· Books, Anth. button is for books, anthologies, reference books, pamphlets, corporate publications and government publications. (PaperToolsPro™ uses the term <anthology> to refer to several selections collected in one work, each by different authors or each as a chapter in a work by the same author.)

· Periodicals button is for periodicals, newspapers, scholarly journals, and web articles.

· Media button is for TV/Radio programs, films/videos, sound recordings, works of art, personal interviews, lectures, and maps/charts.

· Law, Court button is for court decisions and statutes.

Clicking a button will bring up a screen where you will choose the kind of the source in that group that you are using. After making your selection, click Go. Fig. 29 shows all four possibilities.

(Fig. 29)

Next will appear a screen to enter bibliographical information relevant to the kind of source you chose.

The Book Category screen (Fig. 30) will handle sources that require information for a book, anthology, reference book, pamphlet, corporate and government publication. Fill in as much information as you have about your source. In other words, if the source has only one author, enter that information; if there is an editor, enter that. Leave blank those textboxes for which you have no information. So if there is no editor, leave that section blank.

At the bottom of the screen are textboxes to enter additional information for an online source. The first line of text boxes (Internet Access Date and URL) must be filled in if the source was found at a website.

Sources obtained from a web page found through the use of a database must include database information in the bibliography. Therefore, fill in as much of the last two lines of this screen as possible:

· Database Name—the company that offers a collection of many and various database subscriptions.

· Article Access No.—the number that the database uses to identify individual articles so that the reader can find this article as you did.

To help you enter this information, you will find prompts in the middle of the page.

Accessing Media Files

The source of all media files (documents, jpgs, sound files, movie clips, web pages) used in your research project must be identified and included in your final bibliography or in a caption. Each bibliography entry screen contains a textbox for recording the names of media files and the ability to identify where it is saved on your computer. When you enter the bibliographic reference, find USING THE BROWSE BUTTON toward the bottom of the window and click Choose File, which will let you browse to this file. Click on the file and save its fully qualified path name along with the reference. Do not manually enter the path (Fig. 31).

(Fig. 31)

When you finish, click Submit at the bottom of the page, which will bring you back to the Note Editor Screen.

Below is an example of a screen to enter bibliographic information for a book.

(Fig. 30)

Because of the diversity of materials and ways to present references and citations from sources on the Internet, you should make every effort to guide the reader to the information cited. Therefore, cite specific documents rather than home or menu pages and provide addresses that work. Remember that one purpose for documenting your information is to guide the reader to retrieve the same information that you found.

PaperToolsPro^TM will put the information in the correct order and punctuate the entry for you, but you must spell, capitalize, and abbreviate correctly.

The Periodical Category screen (Fig. 32) creates bibliographies and citations for periodicals, newspapers, scholarly journals, and Web articles. Once again, if the source was obtained online, fill in the Internet access date and URL; if it came from an online database, fill in the last 4 rows. The screen pictured here is for making a bibliographic entry for a scholarly journal.

(Fig. 32)

The Media screen is for less traditional sources such as TV/Radio programs, films and videos, sound recordings, CDs and tapes, works of art, maps and charts, interviews, and lectures. If the source is a TV/Radio program or a film or video, be sure to add the job (producer, director, writer, etc.) in the drop-down menu after the name. If the source is a map or chart not found in an identifiable source, click <Map> or <Chart> in the drop-down menu before the description. If the source was accessed through the Internet, click <Web> and enter the Internet access date and URL. If the source comes from a paper copy, click <Print>; if is neither a print nor web source, pull down the <Other> menu to identify the most appropriate kind (Fig. 33).

Remember to cite the source where you found the information, not where it can be found by some other source. Therefore, enter a work of art in this screen IF you found it hanging on a wall in a museum; enter it in the Books screen IF you found it printed in a book.

(Fig. 33)

The Law, Court screen is for entering sources that are legal cases or statutes. PaperToolsPro^TM will use the format from The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation to which MLA, APA, and Chicago Manual of Style defer for these kinds of sources (Fig. 34).

(Fig. 34)

Primary/Secondary Source Designation

Because some researchers need to create separate bibliography, works cited, or reference lists for primary and for secondary sources in the final paper, a drop-down menu appears at the top of the page to Indicate if primary source (Fig. 35). If the menu is not dropped down but left to appear blank, the source will appear on a list with other secondary sources. If the menu is dropped down to Primary Source, the source will appear on a list with other primary sources; and secondary sources will be listed together on a separate list. Both lists are alphabetized and correctly formatted. If you wish to integrate all sources, leave all sources as secondary, or blank.

(Fig. 35)

Edit Bibliographical Information

Go to the note from which you originally made the first bibliography entry and click SAVE/UPDATE in the left hand column or Enter Bibliography in the center column. That note number is always listed in the Citation textbox as well as in the Previous Citation textbox. For example: #12 in the Previous Citation textbox (Scholarly Journal#12: Crane the Literary Spirituality Review Pgs 14) indicates that this source was entered with note #12. The bibliographical entry can be edited only from note #12.

Clicking SAVE/UPDATE or Enter Bibliography from that numbered note will bring you to a window where you select to update or delete the bibliography reference (Fig. 36). Click SAVE/UPDATE to reach the bibliography entry screen where you may edit the information you entered. Click the drop-down list and choose Delete if you want to mark the reference as deleted. (No record is actually deleted from the database, but merely listed separately in the bibliography list as “delete” should you reconsider using it later.) Then click Update/Delete to complete the deletion process or edit the reference.

To un-delete a source, follow the above procedure for deleting a source except have the drop-down menu read Include.

(Fig. 36)

Changing Category of Bibliography Entry

You cannot change the category of the bibliography entry you made. For example, you cannot change bibliography information entered as a web article to a scholarly journal or a book.

If you made the mistake of choosing the wrong kind of source, make another note identical in content to the first note entered under the incorrect source including descriptor and keywords. Then click Enter Bibliography to select the correct kind of source and enter that information. That new source will be added to the Previous Citations textbox. Finally, go back to the note with the faulty bibliography entry and mark the note as deleted, update it, then mark its reference as deleted. If you have more than one note with the correct category but the wrong source, go to each one and click the correct source from the Previous Citations textbox. The corrected source can then replace the incorrect source in all the textboxes where citations appear.

Deleted Bibliography Entry

Bibliography entries cannot ever be completely deleted from the database; however, they can be designated as deleted, in which case they do not appear in the bibliography listing of primary or secondary sources, but rather appear in a separate list entitled Deleted Sources.

APPENDED CITATIONS

Clicking Submit after entering bibliographic information automatically enters citation information into the Quotation and the Summary/Paraphrase textboxes, their thumbnail textboxes, and the Citation textbox at the bottom of the left column. These textboxes cannot be edited; no changes entered in these textboxes will be saved.

Depending on the style you chose, you will see an author, a date, a title, and a place to insert page numbers. When you transfer the note to your draft, you may need to edit this information to contain only what your chosen style requires. For example, if you are using APA style, you may need an author, a date, a title (if you have used more than one source by the same author), and page numbers (if you are using a quotation); if you are using MLA style, you may need an author, a title (if you have used more than one source by the same author), and page numbers. For help, consult the Citation Formats page from the Resources tab or your school’s manual.

The citations will follow each quotation and note when all your research will be put into a word processing file. Therefore, you will always know exactly where you obtained every piece of information in order to document it accurately in your paper.

Previously Entered Citations

If you are taking notes from a source for which you have already entered bibliographic information, you will not have to enter it again. A list of the sources you have used so far, whether entered through PaperToolsPro^TM or imported from a citation management program, appears in a textbox at the bottom of the right column.

You will notice that the sources are not listed alphabetically but chronologically with the accompanying note number with which the bibliography information was entered. Because the type of source is indicated for each entry, you can tell if you have used a variety of sources. Some topics may lend themselves mostly to books, or scholarly journals, or newspapers; some may best be researched in a variety of sources. Some assignments may require certain kinds of sources. This list will indicate the kinds of sources you have used.

Click the source you used from the list and the Insert Citation button for that citation to appear with the note (Fig. 37).

(Fig. 37)

A textbox will appear enabling you to enter a page number for that note if the source has one (Fig. 37).

(Fig. 38)

USING A CITATION MANAGER PROGRAM (CMP)

PaperToolsPro^TM enables the importation of citations and bibliography entries from a citation manager program (CMP). After you enter your quotation, summary and/or paraphrase and SAVE/UPDATE, click Import Sources tab at the top of the screen to open a window with two textboxes for importing sources (Fig. 39).

1. Make sure the bibliographic format in the citation manager program is the same as you designated in PaperToolsPro™.

2. Select the kind of source you are importing from the drop-down menu at the bottom.

3. Highlight the kind of source you wish to import in the CMP program.

4. Copy/paste or drag/drop the bibliographical reference from your CMP into the top Bibliography textbox. To transfer the bibliographic entry, experiment with the method that works for your computer and for the CMP you are using. You may need to hold down the Control or the Option key to make this work.

5. Copy/paste or drag/drop a citation from your CMP into the second textbox.

6. Formatting (italic, bold, underline) is not maintained during this transfer, so while viewing the original bibliography on your CMP, copy/paste the various segments of the bibliography from its textbox, in order, into the textboxes below it, one segment per textbox, assigning the correct format(s) to each one. Leave the formatting checkboxes unchecked for any segment that is not formatted. Directions are on the window.

7. Click Submit.

(Fig. 39)

Note: Italic, bold, and underline properties cannot be maintained in this process and the final citations and bibliography may require this editing in the final copy of the paper.

The imported citations are available to append to any note you take in PaperToolsPro™. They will be included in the list of citations on the Previous Citations textbox and in the Bibliography list. If you have a list of sources in your CMP program that you wish to import, transfer them to PaperToolsPro™ one at a time. A note must first be created and updated before the source can be imported to that note.

CREATING A BIBLIOGRAPHY

At any time during the process of taking notes and entering bibliographic information, you can see a list of the works you have entered by clicking the Bibliography tab at the top of the Note Editor screen.

· If you designated some sources as primary and some as secondary when you entered bibliographic information, two bibliography lists will appear, primary sources and secondary sources as shown in Fig. 40.

· If you deleted a bibliography entry, a third list called Deleted Sources will give an alphabetical list of those deleted sources. Should you want to include a Works Consulted list on the bibliography page of your paper, these deleted sources are available to include.

· If you did not indicate primary/secondary sources, all the sources that are not deleted will be alphabetized into one list.

These bibliographic lists can be saved as an HTML document on your desktop by going to File>Save As. All or parts of the list can be copy/pasted or drag/dropped from this page or from the saved HTML document into a word processing page for the bibliography, works cited, or reference page of the final paper. Use your word processor to create hanging indentations if your chosen style requires this formatting.

(Fig. 40)

Before finalizing your paper, review each entry to make sure it conforms to the style you chose. There may be some irregularities that may need your attention, such as:

• Eliminate one of the double periods where an abbreviation requiring a period is followed by another formatting period

• In APA, CBE, and AAAS styles, an author’s name is always needed or else the bibliography will begin with a date

• In APA and CBE styles, only the first word of a title is capitalized

• In ACS, CBE, and AAAS styles, use only initials, no first names

• In CBE style, fill in the website name in place of the hyphens following “Available from”

• In ACS and AAAS styles, make sure the number of pages are included at the end of the entry
• Use 3 hyphens in place of an author’s name if 2 or more sources are by the same author

Click Resources to MLA-APA References for detailed help with all styles or consult your school’s handbook.

MAKING AN OUTLINE FROM THE IDEAS PAGE

You should be adding main ideas to your Ideas Page throughout the note taking process. Review them to make sure you have listed all the main ideas you found from your research to support the thesis. From this list of ideas you will create an outline of your vision of the paper into which you will place your notes with appended citations.

Click VIEW Outline Page below the Ideas Page and a textbox will appear with a model, or template, to begin an outline (Fig. 41). Click Outline Instructions to put the following instructions on the screen while you construct your outline. Because you will be writing a draft on a word processing page based on the outline started on the Outline Page, you can copy/paste this work to the word processing page at any time and continue with the outline or draft.

(Fig. 41)

First, determine your paper’s main ideas. From the Ideas Page select the main ideas that explain the thesis statement. Enter them as Roman numerals in complete sentences in the order you think they should appear in the paper. Use as many Roman numerals as you need to develop the paper with main ideas. It is important to enter only main ideas as Roman numerals first so that you think of the paper in terms of the basic ideas and the organizational patterns first. See the example in Fig. 42.

(Fig. 42)

Next, determine developing points. After A. and B. enter complete sentences that explain or break down each Roman numeral into component parts (Fig. 43). Make sure every A. has a B. entry. Add more developing points by adding more capital letters. Each capital letter entry may be further broken down with 1., 2., etc. full sentence entries. Click SAVE Outline Page to save entries. Return to Ideas Page at any time by clicking VIEW Ideas Page.

(Fig. 43)

Adjust organization. As you think through your paper, you may see better ways to organize the information. Revise the outline accordingly.

Begin a draft. Once you have a working sentence outline, copy/paste the outline to a word processing page where you will write the draft. Use sentences in the outline as topic sentences for paragraphs. Copy/paste individual notes with their citations into the outline where they best explain topic sentences (Fig. 44). Expand each paragraph with your notes (quotations or paraphrases) and your explanation of those notes.

(Fig. 44)

Choosing Organization Pattern

By examining your final thesis statement and reviewing the research you have done, choose the organizational structure of your paper. Consider which pattern may best develop your thesis from the several common organizational patterns often used or a combination of these patterns:

· Analysis

· Argumentation/persuasion

· Cause/effect

· Chronological

· Comparison/contrast

· Information

· Problem/solution

· Strengths/weaknesses

These organizational patterns may help you think about the basic structure of your paper. However, your thinking process is the best guide for creating the organization of your paper. Keep asking yourself questions like: What do I have to include in order to make sure my reader understands my thesis? What else do I have to include? What is the most logical order of information?

From the following example of an Ideas Page (Fig. 45) we can create two possible outlines shown below (Fig. 45 and Fig. 46).

(Fig. 45)

The following thesis and outline would create a comparison/contrast paper from the same information (Fig. 46):

(Fig. 46)

The following thesis statement and outline have organized the same notes as a cause/effect paper (Fig. 47):

(Fig. 47)

ORGANIZING AND SAVING NOTES

Three Methods to Access Specific Notes

Method One: Working with the entire list of notes

Generate a list of all the notes that you have taken: quotations, summaries/paraphrases, citations, slugs/descriptors, and keywords. Save the list of notes as an HTML (File>Save As); or copy/paste or drag/drop any or all notes to a word processing document on your desktop so that they can be manually sorted and placed into an outline or draft. Or print them (File>Print) and even cut up the printed notes as traditional note cards for sorting.

In order to view the entire list of notes as you took them, click View Notes at the bottom left of the Note Editor screen.

On the screen will appear all the notes you have entered with all the identification entries you have made—descriptor, keywords, quotation, summary, and citation (Fig. 48). They will be numbered and listed in the chronological order that they were entered.

(Fig. 48)

Method Two: Accessing individual notes

Individual notes can be found by scanning the notes from the Note Editor Screen using the arrow keys at the bottom left column; or if you know the number of the note you are searching, enter it at the bottom left column. A thumbnail of the quotation and paraphrase will appear at the top of the screen. Clicking View this note at the left bottom of the screen will give you the entire note.

Copy/paste or drag/drop an individual note with its citation into the appropriate place in your sentence outline or draft on a word processing page (Fig. 49). When the notes are placed into an outline, the outline sentences can become topic sentences for most paragraphs and the transferred notes with citations become supporting details. 

(Fig. 49)

Amending Transferred Notes

Once your notes are placed into the outline, you can begin writing your paper by incorporating the information and citations from the notes into your paragraphs. Delete what you do not need from what has transferred into the paper. This may include deleting the title or page numbers if you do not need them for the citation. Also delete the author’s name if you have incorporated it into the text, a method that often provides smoother reading than the interruption in the citation. However, make sure you have included everything else you need for a citation.

Consult Citation Formats from the Resources tab on the Note Edit screen or your school’s handbook for specific details.

Method Three: Using a Search Query

PaperToolsPro allows you to sort notes by selecting notes with specific words in descriptors, keywords, and citations. Click the Organize Notes tab at the top of the Note Editor Screen.

All your notes will be broken down into lists of all Slugs/Descriptors, Keywords1, Keywords2, and Keywords3, Quotations, Summaries, and Citations used in your project as shown on the following screen (Fig. 50). These textboxes allow you to review all the information you have entered in these components.

(Fig. 50)

In the middle of the page below the above textboxes is a drop-down menu to either sort notes using a Search Query (Select criteria below) or Display all Records. If you pull down the menu to Select criteria below (Fig. 51), and click Display listing at the bottom of the page, the notes that meet the criteria you set will be printed on the screen.

(Fig. 51)

Establishing Criteria for Query

To use the search query to sort your notes, pull down the menu to Select criteria below.

Keeping the thesis and outline in mind, examine the quotations, summaries, descriptors, and keywords in the textboxes that contain these lists. You can review them in the textboxes at the top part of the page. Type your entry from these lists into the appropriate query textbox at the bottom of the page. Select AND or OR from the drop-down boxes between textboxes. Finally click Display listing at the bottom of the page. See Fig. 52.

(Fig. 52)

Examples

Suppose you want to choose and display all the quotations and notes that support a particular argument. Later, you may choose all the quotations and notes that do not support that argument and append them to the list already displayed. If you entered <Pro> and <Con>, for example, in your Keyword 1 textboxes, you could sort all your notes that support or oppose your thesis. If your Keyword 2 textboxes contained one-word identification for each argument you will be using, you can sort your notes by these arguments. Using methods like this with the help of your Ideas Page, you can organize your notes into a rough draft.

This screen from a sample database (Fig. 53) shows how all the notes that contained definitions of vocabulary used in understanding Buddhism were sorted out and displayed on this window. When the notes containing these definitions were originally entered, <Buddhism> was entered as Keyword 1 and <definition> as Keyword 2. To retrieve all those notes that have definitions necessary to understand Buddhism:

· Type <Buddhism> in the textbox next to Keywords-1 containing:

· Pull the drop-down box after Keywords-1 to AND

· Type <definition> in the textbox next to Keywords-2 containing:

· Click Display listing

If I wanted a list of all the notes that had either <Buddhism> for Keyword 1 OR <definition> for keyword 2, I would pull the drop-down box to OR, not AND.

The result is displayed as a list of all the notes that meet these criteria, namely definitions of Buddhist terms from notes which have <Buddhism> as Keyword 1 and <definition> as Keyword 2 (Fig. 53). Here we see Note 4, 6, and 7 meet this criteria.

These selected notes can be saved as an HTML file, printed, copy/pasted, or drag/dropped to a specific location in your outline or draft composed on a word processing page.

(Fig. 53)

Delete All Notes / Delete Project

Click View/Delete All tab at the top of the Note Editor screen. In the screen that comes up, enter your password and choose an option to:

· VIEW database

· DELETE all records but keep project

· DELETE entire project

· Return to Note Editor screen

·

If you choose DELETE all records for this project, but keep project, a window will appear listing all the records that have been deleted.

If you choose DELETE entire project including all notes and references, that is what will happen.

If you choose VIEW all notes and references, the following window of information will appear (Fig. 54). Allowing the user to view database tables is an aid to finding a problem in the event the database becomes corrupted or unusable in some fashion. Use the contact information below to relay any problems. This page will help your contact find the problem you are reporting.

(Fig. 54)

BACK UP DATA

Because PaperToolsPro™ is web based, all your data and database files are saved on a server, not on your computer. Therefore, you may want to back up your Ideas Page, bibliography and notes to your computer by frequently saving:

· Ideas Page—copy/paste or drag/drop contents to a word processing file

· List of bibliography—click Bibliography on Note Editor Screen and save as an HTML file (File>Save As…)

· List of notes—click View Notes in Note Editor Screen and save as an HTML file (File>Save As…)

· List of notes organized using the search query—save the displayed list as an HTML file (File>Save As…)

Or click View/Delete tab, enter your password and select View All Notes. This will print on the screen the entire project, which can be saved as an HTML file (File>Save As…).

Because this information is in an HTML or word processing format, they cannot be directly replaced into PaperToolsPro™. However, they preserve the data you have entered on your computer.

Preventing Problems

· Do NOT use the back button on the browser to return to a previous screen. Because some browsers may time-out before you want to go back to a screen, you may not be able to get back to that screen and you may lose data. Always use the navigational buttons provided by PaperToolsPro™.

· If it seems that the program is not properly functioning, empty the browser’s cache. If that does not work, close the browser and log in again.

· Avoid using autotype unless you know it works on your browser. For example, if you begin typing http://www.PaperTool and the rest of the URL automatically appears (http://www.PaperToolspro.net), the automatically entered keystrokes may not save.

· Use only single, not double quotation marks in the quotation and summary/paraphrase textboxes; the entry will not be saved if double quotation marks are used.

· For problems concerning the actual operation of the website or database, contact m3dsoftware@yahoo.com. For information about website content, plagiarism, citations, and bibliographies contact epenandinc@mac.com.

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As you can see, before you even begin to write a draft of your paper, you will have a thesis statement, your ideas organized from an understanding of your research rather than an arbitrary piecing together of note cards, written topic sentences for many of your paragraphs, and inserted supporting details from your notes with accompanying citations.

PaperToolsPro^TM will make you actively engaged in a process to

gather information from the best sources,

read them critically,

make connections between information and ideas researched,

keep careful record of where the information was found,

avoid plagiarism,

organize your information,

begin a draft with citations,

and create a bibliography for the final paper,

… so that the final product reflects your best work and has made the best use of your time.

Copyright © 2011 by Ronald Slatin & Dorothy Mikuska