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Student's Guide to Writing College Papers
High school students, two-year college students, and university students all need to know how to write a well-reasoned, coherent research paper—and for decades Kate Turabian’s Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers has helped them to develop this critical skill. In the new fourth edition of Turabian’s popular guide, the team behind Chicago’s widely respected The Craft of Research has reconceived and renewed this classic for today’s generation. Designed for less advanced writers than Turabian’s Manual of Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Seventh Edition , Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams here introduce students to the art of defining a topic, doing high-quality research with limited resources, and writing an engaging and solid college paper. The Student’s Guide is organized into three sections that lead students through the process of developing and revising a paper. Part 1, "Writing Your Paper," guides students through the research process with discussions of choosing and developing a topic, validating sources, planning arguments, writing drafts, avoiding plagiarism, and presenting evidence in tables and figures. Part 2, "Citing Sources," begins with a succinct introduction to why citation is important and includes sections on the three major styles students might encounter in their work—Chicago, MLA, and APA—all with full coverage of electronic source citation. Part 3, "Style," covers all matters of style important to writers of college papers, from punctuation to spelling to presenting titles, names, and numbers. With the authority and clarity long associated with the name Turabian, the fourth edition of Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers is both a solid introduction to the research process and a convenient handbook to the best practices of writing college papers. Classroom tested and filled with relevant examples and tips, this is a reference that students, and their teachers, will turn to again and again.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
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180 people want to read
About the author
Kate L. Turabian
5 books12 followersWho was Kate Turabian?
Kate Larimore Turabian (1893–1987) was the graduate school dissertation secretary at the University of Chicago for nearly three decades, from 1930 to 1958. She was also the editor of official publications for the university.
She was born Laura Kate Larimore on Chicago’s South Side, where she was also raised, graduating from Hyde Park High School. A serious illness prevented Kate from attending college. Instead she took a job as a typist at an advertising agency, where she worked alongside a young Sherwood Anderson.
She met her husband, Stephen Turabian, in 1919, and began working at the university as a departmental secretary a few years later. In 1930 she became the university’s dissertation secretary, a newly created position in which every accepted doctoral thesis had to cross her desk. It was there that she wrote a small pamphlet describing the correct style for writing college dissertations. That pamphlet eventually became A Manual for Writers and has gone on to sell more than nine million copies in eight editions. She also authored The Student’s Guide for Writing College Papers.
Chicago has always insisted on the highest standards for the substantive content of dissertations at the university; Kate Turabian enforced the highest standards for the form of those dissertations as well. A Manual for Writers carried her reputation for exactitude well beyond the halls of Chicago.
One of her colleagues in the Office of Official Publications, Lois F. Madsen, described Kate as
a legend on the University of Chicago quadrangles.… A devout Episcopalian, an accomplished cook, an enthusiastic and adventurous traveler, and a voracious reader whose erudition earned the respect of scholars of all ranks despite her lack of the customary academic credentials. After her years of devoted service to the University, trudging in her sturdy oxfords from her apartment on the south side of the Midway to her office on the third floor of the Administration building, she acceded to her husband Stephen’s longing for a warmer clime, and retired to California.
Her husband died in 1967, while they were on a vacation in Paris. Kate passed away twenty years later, at the age of ninety-four. John Marshall wrote a warm tribute in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on October 27, 1987:
Kate L. Turabian was our trusted guide and mentor, the absolute authority, the one who knew all there was to know about the strange world of proper term papers.… A Manual for Writers was one of the first books we bought in college and it was one of the only books we kept with us through all four years and probably beyond. To write a term paper without a well-worn copy of Turabian handy was unthinkable. Our writing on term papers might be weak, our research haphazard, our insights sophomoric, but, thanks to Kate L. Turabian, our footnotes could always be absolutely flawless.
source
Kate Larimore Turabian (1893–1987) was the graduate school dissertation secretary at the University of Chicago for nearly three decades, from 1930 to 1958. She was also the editor of official publications for the university.
She was born Laura Kate Larimore on Chicago’s South Side, where she was also raised, graduating from Hyde Park High School. A serious illness prevented Kate from attending college. Instead she took a job as a typist at an advertising agency, where she worked alongside a young Sherwood Anderson.
She met her husband, Stephen Turabian, in 1919, and began working at the university as a departmental secretary a few years later. In 1930 she became the university’s dissertation secretary, a newly created position in which every accepted doctoral thesis had to cross her desk. It was there that she wrote a small pamphlet describing the correct style for writing college dissertations. That pamphlet eventually became A Manual for Writers and has gone on to sell more than nine million copies in eight editions. She also authored The Student’s Guide for Writing College Papers.
Chicago has always insisted on the highest standards for the substantive content of dissertations at the university; Kate Turabian enforced the highest standards for the form of those dissertations as well. A Manual for Writers carried her reputation for exactitude well beyond the halls of Chicago.
One of her colleagues in the Office of Official Publications, Lois F. Madsen, described Kate as
a legend on the University of Chicago quadrangles.… A devout Episcopalian, an accomplished cook, an enthusiastic and adventurous traveler, and a voracious reader whose erudition earned the respect of scholars of all ranks despite her lack of the customary academic credentials. After her years of devoted service to the University, trudging in her sturdy oxfords from her apartment on the south side of the Midway to her office on the third floor of the Administration building, she acceded to her husband Stephen’s longing for a warmer clime, and retired to California.
Her husband died in 1967, while they were on a vacation in Paris. Kate passed away twenty years later, at the age of ninety-four. John Marshall wrote a warm tribute in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on October 27, 1987:
Kate L. Turabian was our trusted guide and mentor, the absolute authority, the one who knew all there was to know about the strange world of proper term papers.… A Manual for Writers was one of the first books we bought in college and it was one of the only books we kept with us through all four years and probably beyond. To write a term paper without a well-worn copy of Turabian handy was unthinkable. Our writing on term papers might be weak, our research haphazard, our insights sophomoric, but, thanks to Kate L. Turabian, our footnotes could always be absolutely flawless.
source
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 26, 2015
I was fortunate to have gone to a very large institution, its over 4000 students and suburban tax base allowing for a great variety of courses at different levels, including large accelerated and advanced placement class selections. This, along with The Lively Art of Writing, was a recommended resource in high school, introduced to us by English teachers, but relevant to all term paper assignments, of which there were many.
March 14, 2016
This is basically the same material as in A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, organized in the same way and using many of the same examples. It is aimed at freshmen rather than Ph.D. students, but the differences are slight. A fine guide, nonetheless, and I'm sure useful for its target audience.
August 14, 2023
Just took this book out of my shelf to refer to - I have had this book for about 6-7 years now and every class that involves paper writing I have referred back to it. This is a great book! Could not recommend it for writing enough
August 19, 2007
It has... well... how shall I put this... a friggin' typwriter on the cover! Ok, not to judge a book by its cover... the information, though 30 years old, is still valid. This book goes through step by step everything you need to know to write a college paper. So, OK, I guess.
July 1, 2013
Valuable reference. I picked this book up deciding to refine my writing while looking ahead to graduate school. Those plans didn't work out, so the only regret with this read is not picking it up before undergrad.
November 7, 2015
Great book for college students or really anyone who is writing a large paper. It breaks down the process into manageable bits. It's not the most intriguing book about writing I've read, but there was some wisdom in it that helped me work on a 25 page thesis and made it not so scary.
November 26, 2012
College level editing guide. Old.
August 15, 2013
Invaluable resource for all writers.
January 20, 2016
Started using this more to talk about concerns/issues in instruction sessions.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews