Training Manual
We aid our writers to ensure their success, because their success is our success. Use this material to master the basic art for good writing.
Understanding the Assignment
All tasks are uploaded in our assignment portal. Each writer is assigned a unique user name, password, and link to sign in to the portal. All available tasks will be listed, and you can choose the task that you can easily finish before the due date. Before you accept the assignment, confirm you understand the following requirements:
- Page length (does not include cover page or reference list)
- Due date and time
- Topic
- Grade level
- Style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.)
- Any special source requirements:
- Do you have to reference the student's text book or specified articles? Have the necessary pages or articles been provided?
- Do any provided hyperlinks work?
- Do you have to build upon prior work (rough draft, previous assignment, etc.) done by the student? If yes, has it been provided?
- Any necessary personal information about the student:
- Personal info about the student is not usually necessary. For a personal essay (what I want in my future career, examples of discrimination or bullying in my life, etc.), you may need to know the age, gender identity, city of residence, or other information. Read the assignment carefully in advance and you will not be caught not knowing how to include personal reflections in the assignment.
DO NOT DELAY in asking any questions or requesting any necessary documents. If a rubric has been provided, use it as a resource. The rubric often provides you with an outline for the paper and necessary headings. It may also indicate how much space should be devoted to each section of the paper.
See the Resources listed in Section VI for useful links about academic writing.
Formatting
Always follow the instructions given for the assignment. Unless something else is required, use the following general formatting rules:
- Save your document with the assignment #/name as listed on the portal.
- 12 point Times Roman font
- 1 inch margins
- Double-spaced
- Do not center or justify.
- Write in essay form, not as numbered paragraphs.
- Indent all paragraphs.
- Exception: The one-paragraph abstract begins at the left margin.
- A paragraph must have more than one sentence. Most paragraphs should not be more than five to six sentences long.
- Make sure that no author name appears on the document. To remove your name as "author" follow this process:
- Click file:
- Right click Author and/or Last Modified By icon:
- Select "Remove person":
- Click file:
Style
Most assignments will specify whether to use APA or MLA style. Some assignments will let you choose as long as you are consistent throughout the paper. Other styles include Chicago, Turabian, Harvard, IEEE, etc., but APA and MLA are most common.
Write in Standard American English. Be careful of differences in spelling between British and American style. Write in third-person unless the instructions specify a first-person essay or that a section should be written in first-person. Do not use contractions or colloquialisms except in direct quotations.
APA Style
- Requires a cover sheet.
- Requires a running head and page numbers. First page header is different.
- Do not include an abstract for short papers unless specified by teacher. Headings and sub-headings are usually required.
- Requires a list of sources that begins on separate page entitled References. Citations must be carefully entered in APA style.
- Every in-text citation must appear in reference list; every item on reference list must be used in an in-text citation.
- Include DOI indicator if one has been assigned. Copy and paste to be sure you copy it exactly. In the reference list, the format is: doi: xxxxxxx
- Best sources for APA Style:
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition.
- APA Formatting and Style Guide - OWL - Purdue University. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
See the Resources listed in Section VI for other useful links about styles.
Be aware that some schools/teachers will have specific rules that do not comply exactly with APA. Follow the guidelines given in the assignment.
MLA Style
The MLA published its new guidelines in April of 2016. Differences from the previous edition include punctuation in citations are streamlined, volume and issue numbers are clearly identified as such, and the city of publication and type of media are no longer included. MLA encourages the use of citing containers (such as JSTOR, YouTube, etc.). If a DOI has been assigned, it should now be cited instead of the URL.
- No cover sheet. All identifying information is at top left of first page of essay.
- Insert page number at right margin in header like this: LastName #
- Requires a list of sources that begins on separate page entitled Works Cited. Citations must be carefully entered in MLA style.
- Requires a list of sources that begins on separate page entitled References. Citations must be carefully entered in APA style.
- Every in-text citation must appear in works cited list; every item on works cited list must be used in an in-text citation.
- Date of access is shown when citing electronic sources. It is usually best not to use the same date you are writing the paper as the date of access for all the sources.
- Best sources for MLA Style:
- MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Eighth Edition.
- MLA Formatting and Style Guide - OWL - Purdue University. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
See the Resources listed in Section VI for other useful links about styles.
Be aware that some schools/teachers will have specific rules that do not comply exactly with MLA. Follow the guidelines given in the assignment.
Choosing Sources
Follow directions given in the assignment carefully. The instructions will specify how many sources are required and will often specify sources that must be included. There may be instructions that specify a certain number of quotations (or paraphrases) must be included from each source.
Choose relevant, credible sources that are appropriate for the subject and grade level.
- Wikipedia is never an acceptable source unless the teacher has suggested it be used in comparison to other sources. However, Wikipedia can be helpful to you as a writer because it may help you think of a particular thesis statement, argument, or source to investigate.
- Avoid using personal blogs as a source. An exception would be if the assignment asks, for example, how high school students are using blogs for community activism or for three examples of false information being published in personal blogs. Blogs published by corporations such as Microsoft or newspapers such as Forbes or Fortune are usually acceptable.
- Do not choose sources that would not be available to the student.
- Follow instructions regarding how old reference sources may be. For a humanities paper, it may be acceptable to use sources that are quite old. For a paper on current events or on a controversial topic, sources should be recent.
See the Resources listed in Section VI for useful links about choosing sources for academic writing.
Avoiding Plagiarism and Finalizing the Paper
The Council of Writing Program Administrators (2003) defines plagiarism as deliberately using in an instructional setting "someone else's language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source." They acknowledge that sometimes there is not deliberate plagiarism, but sources are misused because a writer is careless or inadequately cites borrowed words and ideas. It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that all borrowed words and ideas are adequately cited so that the student does not face plagiarism charges and so that our company maintains our reputation for original work.
Steps to Finalize the Paper
- Double-check that you have followed the assignment and rubric.
- Double-check that all sources are cited correctly in-text and in the reference list.
- Spell-check in Word.
- It is strongly suggested that you use an anti-plagiarism service. You are responsible for ensuring that all borrowed words and ideas are properly credited.
- Scan paper to double-check your formatting. Check for blank lines, paragraphs that are not properly indented, extra pages, and other formatting issues.
- Submit finalized paper from your account.
How To's
ALWAYS follow assignment instructions. Sometimes certain sources must be included. You will usually be told the minimum number of sources.
THIS is a service that will help you generate citations. However, you are responsible for ensuring the citations are correct and properly formatted. Rely on the manuals or the OWL Center at Purdue discussed above.
APA 6.0 Templates for Microsoft Word
The following documents can be downloaded and used as templates for your APA 6.0 styled manuscripts and papers. If you wish to simply overwrite this document, download either the .doc (Word 93-2003) or the .docx (Word 2007) file.
If you wish to save the document as a template to use for multiple papers, download either the .dot (Word 93-2003) or the .dotx (Word 2007) file.
MLA Template for Microsoft Word
The following document can be downloaded and used as template for your MLA styled manuscripts and papers.
Turabian Template for Microsoft Word
The following document can be downloaded and used as template for your Turabian styled manuscripts and papers.
