WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER

GO TO THE WRITING TIPS FILE ON BLACKBOARD. 

Read the Tips for Technical Writing particularly item #1, items #5-12, #13B and #14 Headings

DOING LIBRARY RESEARCH

R1.       Start your research early!  If ODU's Library does not have the articles or books you need or they are not available directly from the Internet, there may be a two to three week delay in receiving the items through Interlibrary Loan.

R2.       If you use the Internet to do research, start with Old Dominion's Library. The web site is http://www.lib.odu.edu/ or you can get to the Library from the standard menu or the Quicklinks menu on ODU's homepage.  Using an Internet search engine is not appropriate for academic research unless you use sites that are considered authoritative.  The FASB, GASB, and GAO websites would be fine for research.  Do not use chat rooms or the web-page of someone who has a prejudice for or against your topic (Example:  You are looking for information on gun control.  The NRA will be prejudiced against gun control while the James Brady web-site will be prejudiced toward gun control.  Look for a website that presents a balanced point of view or present information from two opposing websites, as long as their evidence is supported by research and not just anecdotes.)

R3.       If you are new to doing a research paper, choose Research Assistance from the Library Menu.  You may want to look at the Guides and Tutorials section at:

            http://www.lib.odu.edu/libassist/tutorials/index.htm

             A.         First look at the item on Plagiarism at http://www.lib.odu.edu/libassist/tutorials/Plagiarism/StudentHandout.htm 

            B.         Next look at the menu item labeled "How to Guides" on the far right, and select some of the items on how to evaluate information at the bottom of that menu to understand the differences between original sources and secondary sources, as well as explaining a good source versus a poor source.

C.         The "Start your research here" selection may be of great help if you are totally lost!  http://www.lib.odu.edu/libassist/tutorials/start/index.htm

R4.       Again, before beginning to write a research paper, read the item on plagiarism.  Failure to cite sources can result in a zero for the paper.

R5.       Most academic research depends heavily on articles in journals and newspapers. Searching for such items is done by accessing Information Resources from the Library Menu. 

1.       Choose  Resources by Subject.  Under Business and Public Administration, choose Accounting.  OR

2.       Choose Databases.  Select Business and Economy. 

ABI/Inform and General Business File (InfoTrac) are good sources to select. 

In the subsequent menus, Article Citations and Fulltext are your best choices.  Remember to search years other than the current ones (sometimes called a backfile).

                A.                  If you are researching a topic that is old (prior to 1990)  or if you have difficulty

            sorting the content of articles on-line, it may be better to use a reference work called the Accountant's Periodicals Index in the ODU Library Reference Room.

B.                  If you believe there are books on your topic, choose Catalog Search from the

Library Menu.  Try typing a variety of spellings and word combinations during the catalog search (occasionally the data entry people who created the database had bad typing days!).

R6.       If you identify an article that is not available in full text through the Internet, you have two options to obtain the article or book.

A.                  First, check the library catalog via Catalog Search.  If the Library holds the journal or book, you can copy the article at ODU's Library

            B.         If ODU's Library does not have the holding or you are at a Distance Learning site, you should utilize ODU's Interlibrary Loan system.  Choose Library Services from the Library Menu.  Select "Interlibrary Loan."  Place an ILL request.  The next menu gives a list of the types of publications you can request.  Complete the request on-line or print a copy, complete the information and fax it to Interlibrary Loan.

WEBSITES FOR ACCOUNTING INFORMATION

American Institute of CPAs      www.aicpa.org

American Accounting Association        www.aaahq.org/index.cfm

FASB  www.fasb.org

GASB      www.gasb.org

GAO      www.gao.gov

FASAB    www.fasab.org

REFERENCING A RESEARCH PAPER

R7.       FOOTNOTE ITEMS THAT ARE NOT YOUR ORIGINAL THOUGHT!  Do not just footnote direct quotes; footnote anything you did not know when you started the paper.  Otherwise you are guilty of plagiarism.  Additionally, you can have more than one reference for a thought.  My personal best record was twenty-three references for the same fact.  That strongly suggests that this is a correct assumption when multiple sources state the same thing.

R8.       Do not string quotes together to create a research paper.    Besides being awful writing, it is considered plagiarism.  You should paraphrase the research you have gathered and only use direct quotes for incredibly strong emphasis.  Often a direct quote is used to start a paper; either as your thesis you plan to prove as correct, or as something you disagree with and plan to prove it is wrong.

R9.       Direct quotes are always enclosed in quotation marks and referenced.  If the quote is short, it is included in the narrative.  It the quote is long or you wish to emphasize it, single space the quote and double indent it ten spaces from both margins.

A.      The reference citation for a direct quote immediately follows the quote and includes the exact page number where the quote can be located in the journal.  That may mean you need to reference again further along in the paragraph.

            EXAMPLE:  by the shippers." [Parramore et al, 1994, p 137].

B.      Periods and commas in direct quotes go inside the quotation marks.

                  EXAMPLE:    by the shippers."

                C.      Colons and semicolons in direct quotes go outside the quotation marks.

D.     Question marks that are part of the direct quote go inside the quotation marks.

E.      Ellipses or three periods in a row are used within a direct quote to indicate the

            omission of part of the quote.  A space is put before each period and following the last period.

R10.     Always use original sources instead of secondary sources.  If you are writing about a GASB pronouncement, cite the pronouncement not an article discussing what is included in the pronouncement.  Textbooks are not considered appropriate sources for academic writing nor are a teacher's coursenotes.  Usually the information in a textbook has a bibliography of references the textbook author(s) used so look there for the original sources.

R11.     In business research papers, writers use what is known as Reference Footnotes. These footnotes come after the text they refer to, but before the period.  After writing a sentence that needs to be referenced, place a left bracket ( [ ) followed by the last name of the Author of the article or book, a comma, and the date of the publication followed by a right bracket    ( ] ) and a period.    Example   [Author, 2000].  See the narrative example below on Accounting Training for use of reference footnotes.

A.      The reference note for a direct quote includes the page the quote

                  was taken from.  Example [Author, 2000, p 100].

B.      If you have more than one citation for your facts they are all included in the set

            of brackets with the authors in alphabetical order, separated by a semi colon. Example [Andrews, 1999; Carter, 2000; Xu, 1997].

C.      If you have more than one citation for your facts by the same author, record the

            author's name one time followed by the dates of the various articles.  Example [Jones, 1994, 1995].

                  1)         If the author wrote two or more articles in the same year, the first is identified with an a, and the next with a b, and so on.  Example [Simmons, 1999a, 1999b].

D.     If there are two authors in a single reference, both names are included in the brackets with an ampersand.  Example [Smith & Jones, 2002].

E.      If there are more than two authors in your reference, use the first author's name

                  followed by et al.  Example [Johnson et al, 2001].

R12.     There should be a detailed bibliographic reference for each citation in the paper. 

A.   Each bibliographic entry contains the author(s), date written, name of the book or article, information on who and where the book was published, or information on exactly what journal volume, number and pages. Pages are indicated at the end of the reference following a colon; do not use pg. or pp.   See below for details on referencing different types of publications.

B.      Entries are put in alphabetical order by the last name of the author.  If no author is available, use the first word of the name of the article for the alphabetization.

C.      Each entry is single spaced, with the second and subsequent lines indented

                  five spaces.

D.     Single space between each bibliographic entry.

E.      If you want to impress the person reading the paper, you can write a two

            part reference section.  The first section is labeled References Cited and contains an entry for each cite in the paper.  The second section is labeled References Consulted and contains entries for each item you reviewed, but did not use in the paper.

 EXAMPLE OF REFERENCE NOTES WITHIN THE PAPER (READ R11)

                                       The Accounting Books of John Myers

JOHN MYERS ACCOUNTANT

Accounting Training

The Counting House.  John Myers' business and bookkeeping training came at Pennock and Myers Counting House located on Newton's Wharf in the center of Norfolk's wharf district.  Apprenticeship to a merchant was a common way to learn bookkeeping during this period [Previts & Merino, 1998; Previts & Sheldahl, 1977].  It has been estimated that in 1794, Myers and Pennock handled fifteen percent of Norfolk's total export business [Parramore et al, 1994].   Therefore, John received ample exposure to a variety of accounting transactions.

         During this period, Norfolk merchants were considered less than ethical.  An observer in 1804 noted that:

             "Easy money bred lax business practices, and Norfolk had a reputation for exports of poor quality and short measure . . . Local inspectors routinely certified damaged or deficient goods for export.  The same was true of imports . . .  Inspectors certified naval stores they never saw, and even provided blank certificates to be filled out as to quantity, quality, and the like by the shippers." [Parramore et al, 1994, p 137].

            Postlethwayt [1757] required that all transactions be recorded in the waste or day book, also called a memorial or memorandum book, as they occurred with a lengthy description of the transaction, and the terms and conditions of payment.

Parramore, Thomas C., Peter C. Stewart, and Thomas Bogger.  1994.  Norfolk: The First Four Centuries  (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia).

Simmons, Charles H.  1801.  Simmons=s Norfolk Directory  (Norfolk: Augustus C. Jordan Printer).

-------- . 1806.  Simmons=s Norfolk Directory  (Norfolk: Augustus C. Jordan Printer).

Stern, Michael H.  1958.  "Moses Myers and the Early Jewish Community of Norfolk,"  The Journal of the Southern Jewish Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, January: 5-13.

HOW TO REFERENCE VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS (PLEASE READ R12!)

Book - Single Author

Chatfield, Michael.  1977.  A History of Accounting Thought (Huntington, New York: Robert E.  Krieger Publishing, Co.).

General Accountancy Office. 2005.  GAO-05-631T.  Homeland Security: Federal and Industry Efforts Are Addressing Security Issues at Chemical Facilities, but Additional Action Is Needed (Washington, DC:  U.S. Government Printing Office).

Book - Single Author - Several Volumes

Postlethwayt, Malachy. 1757.  The Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce,  2nd Ed.  Volumes 1 and 2, (London: John Knapton).

Book - Organization as Author

United States Government Accounting Office. 1994. Government Auditing Standards (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office).

Book - Several Authors

Morison, Samuel E., Henry S. Commager, and William E. Leuchtenburg.  1969. The Growth of the American Republic, Volume I ( New York: Oxford University Press).

Book Chapter - Single Author-- Editors

Coomber, Richard R.  1956.  "Hugh Oldcastle and John Mellis," In Studies in the History of Accounting, A.C. Littleton and B.S. Yamey (eds), ( Homewood, Illinois: Irwin): 206-214.

Periodical or Newspaper Article - No Author - "Title."  Year.  Newspaper, Volume, Number if available, Exact Date: page(s).

"Myers Family."  1804. American Beacon, Vol. 4, November 12: 2.

Periodical or Newspaper Article - Single Author

Daniels, G.W.  1923. "The Trading Accounts of a London Merchant in 1794,"The Economic Journal, Vol. 33, No. 132, December: 516-522.

Periodical or Newspaper Article - Several Authors

Coleman, Almand R., William G. Shenkir, and Williard E. Stone. 1974. "Accounting in Colonial Virginia: A Case Study,"  The Journal of Accountancy, Vol. 138, July: 32-43.

Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation - Single Author

Burak, Moses J.  1954.   Moses Myers of Norfolk,  Masters Thesis, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia.

Costa, Thomas M.  1992.  Economic Development and Political Authority: Norfolk, Virginia, Merchants-Magistrates 1736-1800, PhD Dissertation, The College of William and Mary,

            Williamsburg, Virginia.

Unpublished Manuscript - Several Authors

Costa, Thomas and Peter Stewart.  No date.  The Life and Legacy of Moses Myers: Merchant of         Norfolk, Virginia, Unpublished biography at the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk,Virginia.

Same Author - Several Publications (oldest date listed first) - the dashed line is 8 dashes

Stone, Williard E.  1976. "Accounting Records Reveal History: The Virginia Cobbler," The Journal of Accountancy, Vol. 142, July: 60-66.

--------. 1979.  "1794 Middletown, Delaware: From Accounting Records,"  Accounting Historians Journal, Vol. 6, No.1, Spring: 39-52.

--------. 1981. "A 1794 Ledger Demonstrates an Economic Transaction,"  Accounting and Business Research, Vol. 11, Summer: 243-248.

Same Author - Several Publications with the Same Date (notice the alphabetic character after the date)  - the dashed line is 8 dashes

Norusis, Marija J.  1988a. SPSS-X Advanced Statistics Guide.  (Chicago, Illinois:  SPSS, Inc.)

--------.  1988b.  The SPSS Guide to Data Analysis for SPSS.  (Chicago, Illinois: SPSS, Inc.)

Article from the Internet - Author

Leekpai, Chuan.  1997. "Policy Statement," www.thainews.com/bbqab/sys_e.htm. www.thaigov.go.th/general/policy/policy.htmAccessed Nov 20, 1998.

Article from the Internet - Organization as Author

Thailand Civil Service Commission.  1998.  "The Thai Civil Service System."

            www.infonews.co.th/CSC/system/sys_e.htm.  Accessed Nov 22, 1998.

Interview - Name.  Year.  Title, Employer or Organization, Location.  Interview Date.

Henry, Laurie.  2002.  Associate Professor of Accounting, Old Dominion University College of Business and Public Administration, Norfolk, Virginia.  Interview May 1.