Student Writing Guide

    The first step in writing a research paper is also the one many people find the most challenging: finding a specific topic to write about. Your course syllabus may have specific requirements about the topic and structure of your paper, but not always. Do, however, pay careful attention to any directions the syllabus gives.

    There is always one important resource for the early stages of crafting a paper: your professor. Sometimes professors require you to submit your topics for approval, usually early in the term, with the goal of helping you find a suitable subject to research. Even if they don’t require formal approval, you can always reach out to your professor if you have any doubts about your topic or are having trouble finding one.

NARROWING YOUR TOPIC

    While the general subject of your paper may be broad (evangelical ecclesiology, the image of God, the Spanish mystics of the 16th and 17th centuries), the topic of your paper needs to be narrowed down to something specific so that it’s a) manageable in a paper of 2,000-4,000 words, and b) something that can be argued effectively. Ultimately your paper is going to make a claim and argue for its validity, presenting a point of view that you feel strongly about with regards to your topic. The process of narrowing down your topic is meant to work towards that claim.

    Here is an example taken from The Craft of Research, pages 37-8 (see Additional Resources):

• Free will in Tolstoy (very broad subject)
• The conflict of free will and inevitability in Tolstoy’s description of three battles in War and Peace (narrowed, specific topic)
• In War and Peace, Tolstoy describes three battles in which free will and inevitability conflict (claim)

**Tip: Start Early  Sometimes we need to read a bit about an area or topic before we can decide what we’re interested in exploring. Begin to do that exploring early in the term, before you get overwhelmed with all the other work and reading you need to do.

**Tip: Brainstorming  Start listing all the different possible topics you can think of. For each one, try writing down what you know about a particular topic, getting your thoughts out on paper or in digital form so that by looking at them you can get a better sense of both what you know and what you don’t. Making your thoughts a bit more objective can be useful for finding connections and generating questions.

RESEARCH QUESTION

    The goal of narrowing down your paper topic is to find your research question. Your research question is simply what you specifically want to learn about as you research. The question that you ultimately present in your paper may change somewhat as you read about your chosen topic and learn from other scholars. In many ways, this is the most important thing to define early and clearly, as it will define your learning experience in writing.

Examples:

• What account can modern Anglicans give their fellow Protestants for their practice of infant baptism?
• How does keeping the Sabbath form our Christian witness?
• How did John Donne theologize, which is to say: how did he speak of (and with and for) God?

    Once you have a specific topic and a preliminary research question, you’re in the best position to start research. Research can be either pure (meaning that it deals primarily with understanding something better) or applied (meaning that it has some practical importance for daily life). Looking at the sample research questions from the previous section, studying how John Donne theologized might be ultimately classified as pure research while working out how Anglicans can explain why they baptize infants could count as applied research.

    It’s important to recognize that in the humanities—a discipline that includes theology as a field—pure research can be just as valuable as applied research. Either way, there will be a significance to your research that you’ll need to present in your paper’s conclusion (see the next section, Anatomy of a Paper). You will not necessarily know what that significance is when you start, but as you read and study, keep these points in mind:

• Am I hoping simply to understand my topic better?
• Am I hoping to find some practical solution to a problem?
• Why is my topic important and who will care the most? 

    In your research you will (among other things) find material from other scholars to engage with, learn more about your topic than you did before, or even track down information that’s alluded to in one of your sources but isn’t fully explained. 

THREE KINDS OF SOURCES    

    There are often three kinds of sources you may use in your research: primary, secondary, and tertiary. These categories don’t work for every field of study, but they’re appropriate for the kind of work we often do here at Regent.

Primary Sources:  A primary source is something that’s giving you the “data” you’re analyzing. It’s central to the subject you’re researching. In a history paper, a primary source is anything from the period you’re studying, whether a document or artifact. In a theology paper, you might be studying Augustine’s concept of original sin in which case his writings are the primary source. In art criticism, the primary source is the novel, film, painting, or piece of music that you’re thinking critically about.

Secondary Sources:  A secondary source is scholarly literature—books, journal articles, other research papers, or lectures—that has been based on a primary source; any work that other researchers have done on your topic is a secondary source. If Augustine’s writings about original sin is a primary source, a biography of Augustine written by a modern scholar is a secondary source.

Tertiary Sources:  A tertiary source synthesizes and reports on secondary sources, like a textbook that surveys a period, an encyclopedia article, or even Wikipedia. Tertiary sources can be useful for helping you get a handle on your broad subject, and their bibliographies can point you to other helpful resources, but be wary of relying on them for your argument and avoid needing to cite or quote them in your paper.

        For help finding material related to your topic, the Allison Library has a Finding Resources page as well as a Research Guide for some of the general areas of study you’re likely to be working in here at Regent.

ENGAGING WITH SOURCES

    When you have some books, articles, essays, or other material to engage with in your research, it’s important to approach it with a generous, charitable spirit. Read first to understand what a writer is arguing and what their argument is, then look at their work more critically. Do they leave some questions unanswered? Do they assume where they should rely more on evidence? Do you agree with their argument, but see how it can also be validated by something they don’t address? Understanding someone else’s ideas before jumping in with our own is how we listen well—in writing research papers as well as in conversation!

    When taking notes from your sources, make sure to clearly mark when you’re taking the author’s own words and when you’re using your own; write down the page number as well so you can easily find that idea later in context, and so you can cite it properly in your paper.

    Chapter 4 of Turabian’s Manual for Writers, “Engaging with Sources,” has more helpful insights on how to approach a source and how to take good notes during your research.

    This section will go over the ordinary structure of a research paper. It is strongly recommended that you write an outline for your paper before producing a full draft. This will help you plan for all the points you need to make, where the emphasis of your argument should be, and make sure that you’re covering all the requirements that your professor has for the paper.

    The main thing to keep in mind when outlining your paper is that you are raising a question, answering it, and backing up your answer with evidence. You’re making a claim about your topic, one that you think is important, and your paper consists of an argument by which you will back up your claim. The main pieces of a good research paper are:

• Introduction
• Thesis Statement (which ends your introduction)
• Argument
• Conclusion

    Whatever your assigned word count is, use most of it for your argument, leaving your introduction and conclusion only a paragraph or two. We advise breaking down a 2,000-word paper to something like this:

• Introduction — 250 words
• Argument — 1,500 words
• Conclusion — 250 words

**Tip: Some professors view citation footnotes as part of the word count, some do not. Check with your professor if you’re unsure.

INTRODUCTION

    In the introduction, you’re preparing your reader to engage with your argument and why it matters. Here’s a simple structure: First, set up the context of the question you were researching. Second, ask your research question, in its final form. Finally, give your answer to the question, with either a summary of your argument or how you will tackle the problem (this is your thesis statement).

    In The Pyramid Principle, Barbara Minto recommends a slightly different but similar structure, summarized as SCQA:

• Situation: start with an agreed-upon and recognizable point
• Complication: …yet there is also a problem/threat/hurdle to be overcome
• Question: ask what the solution is or how to overcome the problem (your research question)
• Answer: the solution you’ve found, or the argument you’re going to make (your thesis statement)

For more on this SCQA approach, see here.

THESIS STATEMENT

    This one sentence is perhaps the most important part of your paper, and what every professor looks for when grading. It is a clear, concise statement of your argument and thesis: the entire reason you’re writing this paper on this topic. It is the claim you’re making as well as the answer you’re giving to your research question.

    Sometimes a thesis statement is more or less an outline of your entire paper within one sentence. You state your answer to the question and indicate what each of your points are. “In this paper I will argue that… based on…” This is sometimes called a deductive thesis statement.

    Sometimes a thesis statement is more of an explanation of what you will use to explore your problem, and hold back on what your actual answer to the research question is until your conclusion. “In this paper I will explore… through looking at…” This is sometimes called an inductive thesis statement. The advantage of this second approach is that it gives you a stronger lead-in for your paper’s conclusion. But make sure you know what your answer is going to be, and be clear in your thesis statement about what you’re using to argue it.

    Always aim for as much clarity as possible in your thesis statement.

ARGUMENT

    Chapter 5 of Turabian’s Manual and chapters 7-12 of The Craft of Research offer valuable guidance for crafting an argument for your thesis.

    Your paper’s argument will usually have several points to make, each offering different evidence or engaging with different sources. Each one can be thought of as a smaller claim within the larger claim of your thesis statement; it is either a perspective or a piece of significant information that you believe needs to considered in your argument and hopefully helps prove that your claim is valid. There isn’t a firm rule about how many points your argument should contain, but three or four is a good amount to aim for. A longer paper might have more, but shorter papers probably shouldn’t have less. Your professor may indicate certain things they’d like you to touch on, so always follow the instructions given in your syllabus or in class.

    As part of engaging with your sources generously and charitably, be sure to not misrepresent their ideas, especially if you are going to argue against them. Also, always acknowledge and try to address any counter-arguments someone might make against your points.

CONCLUSION

    The primary purpose of a conclusion is to show the value of what you’ve researched and argued. Start with your paper’s main point: either restate your thesis, or finally answer your question (if you chose an inductive thesis statement in your introduction). Emphasize the significance of your research: Why does this matter? How does this help us? Additionally, you can point out any implications the answer has for the field of study, as well as what further research might be needed or other questions that were raised in your research.

    Conclusions can be especially difficult, but aiming at describing why your argument is important should help you find a strong place to end your paper.

    This section of the Guide is intended to outline some of the expectations professors will have of your paper’s formatting, writing style, and etiquette. You will need to be consistent in these things as you write your draft.

FORMATTING TITLES AND NAMES

    The titles of book-length works, journals, artworks, films, or other longer works are generally written in italics and with the appropriate capitalization of the main words (this is called ‘headline-style capitalization’). For example: 

An Introduction to the Old Testament

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Christianity Today

The Tree of Life

    The titles of shorter works like articles, book chapters, short stories, poems, or songs are written within quotation marks. For example:

“The Function of Fashion in Eighteenth-Century America”

“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”

“All You Need Is Love”

“‘Old faith is often modern heresy’: Re-enchanted orthodoxy in Coleridge’s ‘The Eolian Harp’ and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Note in that final example how the punctuation and capitalization of the original has been largely preserved, BUT because we put double quotation marks (“ ”) around the title, the double quotation marks that were used in the original article’s title have been turned into single quotation marks (‘ ’). Also, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem, but is usually considered a longer work and its title was italicized in the original article.

    When identifying other scholars in your paper, use their full professional name the first time you mention them: Dennis Edwards, C.S. Lewis, Carmen J. Imes. All subsequent references to their name should be only the surname: Edward, Lewis, Imes.

    For more on the style of titles, names and special terms, consult Chapter 22 in Turabian’s Manual for Writers.

PUNCTUATION & GRAMMAR

    We will not cover the basics of English punctuation or grammar here, as it’s assumed that you have a general grasp of the English language when attending Regent. (If you’re an ESL/EAL student and struggling with grammar or punctuation, consider booking an appointment with our ESL/EAL tutor in the Writing Centre here and also see the ESL/EAL Resources of this Guide.)

    However, there are some common punctuation questions that come up when writing a research paper. As general rules, keep the following in mind:

Closing quotation marks are placed after a comma or period, but before a colon or semicolon. Here are two examples:

“The heart is a vessel that cannot remain empty,” Catherine of Siena writes.

Heidegger claims that “the speech of genuine thinking is poetic”; therefore, the poet must also be a thinker, and the thinker must accomplish “a thinking which has all the purity and thickness and solidity of poetry.”

Contractions  Academic writing generally avoids contractions, preferring cannot instead of can’t and does not instead of doesn’t. But when quoting a source, reproduce their text as written no matter its style. (This Guide is adopting a slightly less formal style, so contractions are being used here even though we’re discussing academic writing.)

[sic]  When a source has misspelled a word or appears to make some other kind of obvious writing error, insert the abbreviation “sic” within your quotation in square brackets immediately following the error. “Sic” is an abbreviation for the Latin sic erat scriptum (“thus it had been written”) and indicates that the spelling is original to your source rather than your own mistake.

“Julius Caesar was considered a hero of antient [sic] Rome.”

Paragraphs are groups of sentences which form complete units of thought. There is no standard length for a paragraph, although it’s advisable to not make them too long; half a page is a good indicator, but not a firm rule. Start a new paragraph when you are moving to a new thought or idea in your paper, like when you’re beginning to engage with a new source, or talking about a different aspect of your source.

**Tip: Reading aloud when proofreading will help you engage with your paper in a different way and make it easier to spot errors of spelling and grammar (like skipped prepositions or conjunctions).

WRITING ETIQUETTE

    As outlined in the Academic Catalogue, Regent College is a Christian academic community that takes relationships seriously, seeking to understand and live these relationships in light of our Biblical and theological commitments. The college welcomes students as diverse and varied as the whole people of God and seeks to create an environment in which students feel safe to engage in courteous and respectful conversation in the pursuit of truth, as we seek to be formed and reformed by the Scriptures. Among the implications of these commitments are the following:

Gender neutral language

    Recognizing that the English language continues to change, and that words like “man,” “men,” and “mankind,” once intended to be inclusive of both genders, are now experienced as painfully exclusive, it is a commitment of the Regent community to prayerfully pursue in all our speaking and writing a thoughtful awareness of both genders in our use of language; the use of illustrations using examples from both genders; and avoidance of stereotypical representations of either gender.

    In written work, we encourage students to aim towards bias-free language, as a mark of our love and respect for our neighbours and out of a desire that both genders should feel included in our discourse and neither should feel excluded by it.

Equitable treatment

    All persons and views discussed in written or oral presentations should be fairly represented and assessed. It is all too easy in argument to set up “straw women and men” whose views and opinions, inadequately represented, are then easily dismissed. Do not caricature others' work. It is a matter of respect and integrity that we avoid this in our discourse.

    Regent’s standard for assignment formatting is: 

• 1 inch margins
• 12pt Times New Roman font
• double spaced text
• left justified

TITLE PAGE

    All research papers at Regent require a title page. Have the title centre justified about one-third down the length of the page, bolded, and written in the same font as your paper (Times New Roman) but two or three points larger. About two-thirds down the page, near the bottom, put your name and student number, the course number and name, the professor’s name, the date, and the word count. Some professors may not specify what information to put on the title page, but include one anyway as a matter of course.

    An example of this format can be found here.

Formatting for citations, quotes, footnotes, and bibliography will be covered in the next section.

    It should go without saying that since you will be doing research for your paper, you must always present your research within your paper and show where you found information, data, quotes, and other people’s ideas.

QUOTING, SUMMARIZING, AND PARAPHRASING

    In Section II of this Guide (Research), we pointed out that when taking notes from your sources you should always mark precisely when you’re copying a quote and what page and book you got it from. 

    Although your paper should be primarily your own words and thoughts, you will need to back up your claims and reasoning by appealing to your research. This can be through direct quotes, but you may also choose to summarize what you found from a source or paraphrase what another scholar has said. Turabian (77-8) offers the following guidelines:

• Summarize when details are irrelevant or a source isn’t important enough to warrant much space.
• Paraphrase when you can state what a source says more clearly or concisely or when your argument depends on the details in a source, but not on its specific words.
• Quote for these purposes: The words themselves are evidence that backs up your reasons; The words are from an authority who backs up your claims; The words are strikingly original or express your key concepts so compellingly that the quotation can frame an extended discussion; The words express a claim you disagree with, and to be fair you want to state it exactly.

To be completely clear: You must always cite a source even when only summarizing or paraphrasing, not only when quoting.

    When a quote runs to four or fewer lines in your paper, integrate them directly into your text, with quotation marks. When a quote is five or more lines, set it off as a block quotation; this is single-spaced, with a single blank line before and after it, and the entire quote is indented to the same length as the beginning of a paragraph.

    For more guidance about direct quotations and avoiding plagiarism, see Chapter 25 of Turabian’s Manual.

CITATIONS

    For citing sources of information, quotes, and other people’s ideas, Regent’s standard format is found in A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian, currently in its 9th edition as of this writing. This is a condensed version of the Chicago Manual of Style, normally used for published works; Turabian’s guide modifies it to be suitable for students writing papers in school.

    Copies of the Turabian guide can be found in the library’s reference section as well as the stacks. It is strongly recommended that you make use of these or buy your own copy, as the published book gives a more comprehensive list of examples than is often found in online tip sheets and will help you cite all kinds of sources properly. The official Turabian tip sheet can be found here.

    A professor may direct you to use a different style guide for citations, such as SBL or MLA, and you should follow their instructions. Once again: if in doubt, ask your professor!

    Many Regent students have found help in generating citations with the application Zotero. The Allison Library has put together a Guide to Using Zotero. Remember: always check your paper’s footnotes and bibliography before handing it in to make sure the formatting is correct!

    Regent’s norm is to use the notes-bibliography style in Turabian rather than the author-date style (again, check with the professor if you’re not sure). In this format, there are always two main parts to a citation: the footnote at the bottom of the page on which you cite a source and the entry in your bibliography (which is sometimes also referred to as a ‘works cited’ page). 

    A bibliography is a list of all the sources you’ve used in researching for your paper, an easy way for people to look at where your work came from. Sometimes people also include sources that were important to their thinking, but which were not directly cited in their paper. You can easily build this list while you research and have it ready to append to your paper when finished.

    See the following section for examples of how to cite some of the most common types of sources you’ll use at Regent.

    The official tip sheet for Turabian style citation can be found here. We also strongly recommend using a copy of the Manual for Writers which is more comprehensive and covers all types of source material.

    Please note that while the Turabian guide does allow for endnotes (citations collected together at the end of your paper), the norm at Regent is footnotes (citations at the bottom of the page throughout your paper).

    The marker for a footnote is always placed immediately following the closing quotation mark OR at the end of a sentence in which you’ve integrated the quote into your own phrasing, such as this:

Moses also exhorts God to “remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel” when He is about to destroy the Israelities for worshipping the golden calf (Ex. 32:13).⁵

(For clarity, in the paper this example is taken from, the author quoted the Bible and so provided a parenthetical reference, but then needed to cite a scholar's commentary in the footnote for the insight they received from that source.)

    A footnote itself is always in the same font as the rest of your paper (Times New Roman), but at 11pt rather than 12pt. The first line is always indented in Turabian formatting, with the rest of the lines flush with the margin, just like a paragraph. If you want, the indent can be less than it would be for a paragraph, but it must still be clearly indented.

    The bibliography appears at the end of your paper starting on its own page, in the same Times New Roman 12pt font of your paper. Make sure to title it ‘Bibliography’. Each entry is arranged by alphabetical order according to author's last name. The first line of each entry is flush with the margin, and every line after is indented.

    Turabian’s examples, as well as those offered here, show the formatting for both a footnote (marked with F) and a bibliography entry (marked with B).

Books with a Single Author

F: Cynthia Long Westfall, Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle's Vision for Men and Women in Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016), 80.

B: Westfall, Cynthia Long. Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle's Vision for Men and Women in Christ. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016.

Books with Multiple Authors

F: Milton J. Coalter, John M. Mulder, and Louis B. Weeks, Vital Signs: The Promise of Mainstream Protestantism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 49.

B: Coalter, Milton J., John M. Mulder, and Louis B. Weeks. Vital Signs: The Promise of  Mainstream Protestantism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

Books with an Author and Editor or Translator

Editor:

F: Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology, trans. R.A. Wilson and John Bowden (London: SCM, 1974), 15.

B: Moltmann, Jürgen. The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology. Translated by R.A. Wilson and John Bowden. London: SCM, 1974.

Translator:

F: Donald K. McKim, ed., How Karl Barth Changed My Mind (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), ix.

B: McKim, Donald M., ed. How Karl Barth Changed My Mind. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986

Books as Part of a Commentary Series

F: Christopher J.H. Wright, Exodus, The Story of God Bible Commentary, ed. Tremper Longman III and Scot McKnight (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2021), 366.

B: Wright, Christopher J.H. Exodus. The Story of God Bible Commentary. Edited by Tremper Longman III and Scot McKnight. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2021.

Journal Articles

F: James C. Pakala, “A Librarian’s Comments on Commentaries. 23, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John,” Presbyterion 33, no. 1 (Spr 2007), 36-48.

B: Pakala, James C. “A Librarian’s Comments on Commentaries. 23, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John.” Presbyterion 33, no. 1 (Spr 2007).

Biblical Passages

Passages from the Bible only need to be cited by book, chapter, and verse: eg. Jn 3:16-17. Identify the translation in your first reference (NIV, ESV, etc), but not after, unless you change which translation you use. The passage can be cited only in parentheses if you wish, but footnotes are also acceptable. Be consistent and cite in one style throughout. There’s no need to list the Bible in your bibliography.

REPEAT CITATIONS

    When you cite a book more than once, every citation after the first one is a shortened form of the footnote. Typically, it will include only the author’s surname and page number, but if you are referencing more than one title by an author you need to include a shortened form of the title as well.

    Harrison Warren, Liturgy, 37.

    Crouch, 163.

**Note: There is some confusion over whether the Latin abbreviation ibid. is acceptable to cite the same work as the footnote that immediately precedes it. Chicago style discourages its use, but Turabian (the modified form of Chicago) allows for ibid. This is one of those times when even your professor may not care, but you can check with them if you’re unsure to see what they expect.

PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS

    Sometimes short citations are all that’s required in an assignment, such as a book review where only that title is being referred to. These citations are generally placed where you would include a footnote marker, but they instead go before any comma, period, or other punctuation mark (like this).

    A parenthetical citation can include the author’s surname, shortened form of the title, and page number, but only include all three if there are multiple works by one author being cited:

    (Lewis, Abolition, 46)

    (Lewis, Great Divorce, 82)

    If only one book by the author is being cited, leave out the title. If only one book is being discussed, page numbers are generally all that is required:

    (46)

    (82-3)

    Regent College’s Academic Catalogue includes a page detailing the college’s standards regarding academic integrity and the processes for dealing with various offences. Among those offences is plagiarism. To quote the Academic Catalogue:

A student's work must be their own. Plagiarism is an academic offence in which someone presents, in whole or in part, the work of another person or AI text generator as his or her own work. Academic work properly involves the examination, critical evaluation, and utilization of contributions of other people. However, whenever someone uses the contributions of others in an academic setting, he or she must acknowledge the author of those contributions through footnotes or other acceptable referencing practices. Direct quotations must be clearly and properly indicated. Failure to do so, whether intentionally or accidentally, constitutes plagiarism. Plagiarism can occur in written work (e.g., failure to acknowledge the use of other people’s words and ideas) and in non-written work (e.g., failure to acknowledge the use of other people’s images or creations in a work of art, or of other people’s words in an oral presentation).

    As Christian students at a Christian institution, it is important we take our ethics around plagiarism seriously, as it is part of how we treat each other and each other’s ideas well even when we disagree. To avoid accidentally plagiarizing someone else’s work, here are some steps to follow when researching and outlining your paper:

• Take careful notes on what you read and where you found the ideas. Keep track of your sources as you go.
• Acknowledge all sources from which you use ideas. This includes books, journal articles, websites, email communication, film, etc.
• Always cite:
  • direct quotations taken from sources – place quotation marks “ ” around direct quotes as you write them down.
  • paraphrased ideas and opinions taken from someone else's work.
  • summaries of ideas taken from someone else's work.
  • factual information, with the exception of anything that is considered common knowledge.
• When reviewing your paper, ask yourself: Is the idea or argument presented mine? Are the words my own? Can my work be clearly distinguished from the work of others?

The college has also recently written a document specifically addressing the use of AI in assignments, which you can read here. 

The University of Toronto’s Writing Guide also has some valuable guidelines for properly and honestly distinguishing your own work from that of others.

    This Guide has extensively covered the process of writing research papers, since it’s the most common form of assignment you’ll be given at Regent. However, another common assignment in Regent classes is a book review. This is when you’re asked to summarize and evaluate an assigned text, usually in 1,000-1,500 words. As always, your professor may have detailed instructions about their expectations for a book review; follow their instructions and ask if you’re unsure about anything.

    Generally, a good review devotes most of its word count to summarizing the book, including the author’s main thesis and claim, the topic and argument of each chapter, who the intended audience is, and any other points you feel are crucial to understanding the author’s position.

    The review should start with this material before you proceed to your evaluation. This shows that you’ve read and understood what the author is trying to say, and that your critical engagement with the book is fair and charitable. In the evaluative portion of your review, focus on how you found the argument(s) effective or ineffective, rather than your own opinions and arguments on the topic (there isn’t room for them anyway). Some questions you might ask yourself and address: Did the author achieve what they set out to achieve? Were their examples or illustrations useful in helping to understand concepts? Do you think their intended audience would grasp the argument, or would a different audience get more from the book?

    Aim for a ratio of 2/3 summary, 1/3 evaluation. Parenthetical citations for quotes and pointing to particular passages is usually acceptable, but check with your professor. All the same formatting requirements as for a research paper (such as a title page and double-spacing) apply to a book review.

    The Writing Centre here at Regent is available for 30-minute consulting sessions. You can come with questions at any stage in the process, from finding a topic to making sure your citations are correct. You can book an appointment from the library website here.

Links below are to the catalogue entries for books held by the library, from which you see the call number of the book and find it on the shelf, recall it, or place it on hold.

STYLE GUIDES

A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 9th edition 

    by Kate L. Turabian

The SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd edition

    Billie Jean Collins, project director

BOOKS ON ACADEMIC PAPERS

The Craft of Research, 4th edition 

    by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. Fitzgerald

From Topic to Thesis: A Guide to Theological Research

    by Michael Kibbe

The St. Martin’s Handbook, 8th edition (9th edition on order for the library)

    by Andrea A. Lunsford

How to Write a Thesis

    by Umberto Eco

**Originally published in the 1970s, Eco’s book still offers valuable insights into the process of academic research and writing even though technology and available resources have since expanded considerably.

BOOKS ON WRITING

The Elements of Style, 4th edition

    by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White

Writing Theology Well: A Rhetoric for Theological and Biblical Writers, 2nd edition

    by Lucretia B. Yaghjian

On Writing Well and Writing to Learn

    by William Zinsser

OTHER ONLINE ACADEMIC WRITING GUIDES

Purdue University Online Writing Lab

University of Toronto: Writing Advice

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The following resources provide writing tips and guidance. We also encourage students to make an appointment with the EAL Writing Centre for help with any stage of research or writing.

Article Usage.pdf

Definition of Collocation.pdf

Collocations with Common Verbs.pdf

Common Preposition Combinations.pdf

Irregular Verbs.pdf

Linking Words.pdf

List of Academic Collocations.pdf

Signal Phrases for Introducing Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotations.pdf

Developing A Thesis Statement