This course takes up the skills needed to prepare and write a formal research paper. The students learn and practice the skills involved in research reports for such major disciplines as the Social Sciences, Humanities, Human Services, and English. These include: choosing an appropriate topic and limiting its focus; using library reference materials; outlining and taking notes; using quotations and paraphrases; preparing footnotes and bibliography; and, finally, incorporating these skills in the development of a typed manuscript.

      Taking Professor Forbes’ class opened my mind to clearly identify a topic and specify my research paper. Prior to this class I would choose a very broad topic, which would drive my paper into a totally different direction than was originally planned. As a result, my topic would change and cost me countless hours of additional research, forcing me to change my introduction, which was about the original topic.

    The frustration induced by such an occurrence would often lead me to have anxious feelings about writing a research paper. I experienced the same feeling when I arrived at Professor Forbes's class; however, I now have a different feeling and approach to the “English Research Paper” since having been introduced to Professor Forbes’s class.  I am able to choose a topic and concentrate on one area of that topic; this allows me to write freely without losing track of my creative thoughts, and prevents me from wandering off to another category irrelevant to my paper. Utilizing class exercises and homework assignments on "Topic Selection" greatly increased my writing skills.