To the unprepared, however, conforming to particular writing and formatting styles in high school and college research papers can be a real hassle, and many students find this requirement irritating, time consuming, and distracting. APA, MLA, and Chicago styles all have different requirements for presenting and citing information. Strict and correct adherence to the style favored by the instructor is absolutely necessary, and even minor deviations may result in a lowered grade for the project you're working on.
Dealing properly with headings, tables of content, page numbering, bibliographies, footnotes, etc. can be troublesome. But full compliance with standards of correct formatting is non-negotiable to many teachers, and patient submission to rigorous formatting requirements gives your work a professional look and feel that noticeably and significantly improves its value.
Luckily, software that interfaces with popular word processors to easily produce correctly formatted written projects with a minimum of fuss and bother is available for both Mac and PC platforms!
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Reference Point Software Templates cost only $28, work with both Mac and PC operating systems, and allow the user to compose properly formatted works in APA or MLA style using Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, or Corel WordPerfect (although I don't have personal experience with this product, numerous customer testimonials tout it's effectiveness and ease of use.
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Various online sites exist to help students with proper formatting and citation. The following are two you might like to visit:
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Dr. Scribe's Guide to Research Style:
http://www.docstyles.com/;
and an excellent writing help site produced by Purdue University:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/.
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Various, now you have no excuse.
Cite it right!
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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.
