A Short Guide to Writing Research Papers in the History of Women in the Christian Tradition

The following notes and references are meant to help you to organize and compose a traditional academic research paper in the history of Christianity, with particular focus on the status of women. You may find the basic sequence and resources helpful in other disciplines, too, especially in religious studies, theology, and biblical studies. Short or long, your research paper can be crafted in five steps:

1. Choosing a Topic

Your topic may be chosen for you, but, if not, aim for one that is (1) interesting to you, (2) manageable (with readily available sources) and malleable (so you can narrow in on an especially interesting or important aspect), and (3) arguable. Your research paper will essentially be an argument based in the available primary and secondary sources and authorities.

With reference to Her Story, topics might be suggested by points in the chapters or readings, by questions posed in the Study Guide, by the additional sources in the bibliographies, or by your own religious or historical interests. Historians are interested not only in knowing in-depth and accurate information about their topics, but they also are interested in putting what they write about into a broad context. You should be concerned, therefore, about one or more of the following as you investigate a particular historical phenomenon:

causes of or influences on your topic
effects or significance of your topic
evolution or development of your topic over a period of time
historical disagreements about your topic
a comparison/contrast of your topic with similar historical phenomena in a particular period

Possible areas for further research:

What are the significant shifts in Christian thought on the nature of women and how have these views affected women?
Many feminist historians believe that traditional models for representing Western history, such as an upwardly sloping line, are not appropriate for women's past. What model would you suggest for women in the Christian past and why?
How have religious orders for women developed over Christian history in terms of institutional life? Did they offer women self-determination and equality?
Was the Protestant Reformation more good news than bad news for women who sought self-determination and equality?
What role has Mary Magdalene played in the Christian tradition? How is she viewed by feminist theologians?
How does the office of deaconess reflect attitudes toward women in various periods of Christian history? Is it still a viable role for women?
What influence did women's church-based voluntary societies have on secular American society and culture?
Explore the interaction between Christian churches and sects, and the suffrage movement.
Choose a Protestant denomination in the United States that ordains women and trace the history of this issue within the group. Analyze and evaluate the factors that were most important in opening ordained offices.
How does knowledge of the church in the first century shed light on Paul's teachings about women?
How has the debate in the Roman Catholic Church over women's ordination to the priesthood evolved? What is its current status?
What impact has the feminist critique of language had on Christian communities?
Explore the interaction between the Mormon community and feminism.
Choose one of the evangelical/holiness women discussed in the text and investigate her perspective on Christianity. How did Christianity function for her as the basis for gender equality and self-determination?
Compare and contrast the ways the debate on female preaching unfolded in two or more Protestant denominations.
Write a paper that describes the evolution of feminist theology since the 1960s, including the development of Womanist and Mujerista theologies.
How have women throughout Christian history been critics of the Bible before the development of modern feminist exegesis?
In terms of women's status, did the early church conform to or challenge Greco-Roman culture? Jewish culture?
Analyze and evaluate the success of women's efforts to challenge patriarchy in the colonial churches of the seventeenth century.
What significant images and issues have been associated with Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the church of the twentieth century?
How has sexism and misogyny been perpetuated in the writings of male theologians?
Develop some examples of women who found power and influence outside of dominant, mainstream Protestantism in America and explore what made this possible.
What gave rise to the controversy over the 1993 "Re-Imagining Conference"? What impact has it had?
Did the sectarian communities in America do more to subvert or reaffirm the Victorian ideology of true womanhood?
Do clergywomen and clergymen have different styles of preaching and leadership?

Some print resources which might also help you in choosing a topic and beginning a research paper are:

Booth, Wayne, Gregory C. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Kennedy, J. Library Research Guide to Religion and Theology: Illustrated Search Strategy and Sources. 2d ed. Ann Arbor: Pieran, 1984.
Luey, Beth. Handbook for Academic Authors. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Preece, Roy. Starting Research: An Introduction to Academic Research and Dissertation Writing. New York: St. Martin's, 1994.

2. Researching Your Topic

Material about your topic will be found in a wide variety of historical sources. In most cases, you can build your research by moving from general to specific treatments of your topic.

One caution: In your research, it is vital that you not allow your expanding knowledge of what others think about your topic to drown your own curiosities, sensibilities, and insights. Instead, as your initial questions expand then diminish with increased knowledge from your research, your own deeper concerns, insights, and point of view should emerge and grow. You might even try to reach new conclusions or arrive at a new perspective about your topic.

A. Consult Standard Sources and Build Bibliography

Encyclopedia articles, dictionaries, and other standard historical reference tools contain a wealth of material--and helpful bibliographies--to orient you in your topic and its historical context. Look for the best, most authoritative, and up-to-date treatments. Checking cross-references will deepen your knowledge. Some of the most widely used resources, available in most college libraries, are:

General Reference Tools

Encyclopedia of Religion. Mircea Eliade, ed., et al. 16 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1993.
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. F. L. Cross & E. A. Livingstone, eds. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Westminster Dictionary of Church History. Jerald C. Brauer, ed. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1971.
New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. J.D. Douglas, ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, [1974].
Library of Christian Classics. Vols. 1-26. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1953-1966.
New Encyclopedia of Judaism. Geoffrey Wigoder, ed., et al. New York: New York University Press, 2002.
Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. Everett Ferguson, ed. 2nd ed. New York: Garland, 1998.
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. Hans Joachim Hillebrand, ed. 4 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
New Catholic Encyclopedia. Edited by the Catholic University of America. 18 vols, plus supplements. McGraw-Hill, 1967-.
Patrology. Berthold Altaner. Trans. Hilda C. Graef. New York: Herder & Herder, 1960.
Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Joseph R. Strayer, ed. 10 vols. New York: Scribner, 1982-89.
Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. Norman P. Tanner, ed. London: Sheed & Ward, 1990.
Papal Encyclicals. Claudia Carlen, comp. [Wilmington, N.C.]: McGrath Pub. Co., 1981.
Documents of Vatican II. Austin P. Flannery, ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984.
Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith. Donald McKim and David Wright, eds. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001

Reference Tools on American Religion

Documents of American Catholic History. John Tracy Ellis, ed. Wilmington, Del.: M. Glazier, 1987.
Encyclopedia of American Religions. J. Gordon Melton, ed. Wilmington, N.C.: McGrath Pub. Co., 1978.
Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience: Studies of Traditions and Movements. Charles Lippy, ed. New York: Scribner, 1987.
Encyclopedia of American Religious History. Edward L. Queen, ed. New York: Facts on File, 1996.
Dictionary of Christianity in America. Daniel G. Reid, ed., et al. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1990.
Encyclopedia of African American Religions. Larry G. Murphy, ed., et al. New York: Garland Pub., 1993.

Reference Tools for Biblical Studies

Anchor Bible Dictionary. David Noel Freedman, ed., et al. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Women's Bible Commentary. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, eds. Exp. ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1998.
HarperCollins Bible Commentary. James L. Mays, gen. ed., et al. Rev. ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000.
HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, Paul J. Achtemeier, gen. ed., et al. Rev. ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996.
Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. G. A. Buttrick, et al. Nashville: Abingdon, 1962.

Reference Tools on Women and Religion

The Churches Speak On — Women's Ordination: Official Statements from Religious Bodies and Ecumenical Organizations. J. Gordon Melton, ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991.
Goddesses and Wise Women: The Literature of Feminist Spirituality, 1980-1992. Anne Carson. Freedom, Ca.: Crossing Press, 1992.
Feminism and Christian Tradition: An Annotated Bibliography and Critical Introduction to the Literature. Mary-Paula Walsh. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999.
American Women in Church and Society: 1607—1920, A Bibliography. Dorothy C. Bass. [New York: Auburn Program at Union Theological Seminary], 1973.
Women in American Religious History: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide to the Sources. Dorothy C. Bass. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1986.
Of Spirituality: A Feminist Perspective. Clare Benedicks Fischer. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1995.
Women and Religion: A Bibliography Selected from the ATLA Religion Database. Chicago: American Theological Library Association, 1983.
Methodist Women: A Guide to the Literature. Kenneth E. Rowe. Lake Junalaska, N.C.: General Commission on Archives and History, the United Methodist Church, 1980.
Breaking Through: A Bibliography of Women and Religion. Clare Benedicks Fischer. Berkeley: Graduate Theological Union Library, 1980.
Notable American Women, 1607—1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Edward T. James, ed., et al. 3 vols. Cambridge: Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.
Dictionary of Feminist Theologies. Letty M. Russell and J. Shannon Clarkson, eds. Louisville: Westminster John Knox , 1996.
An A to Z of Feminist Theology. Linda Isherwood and Dorothea McEwan, eds. Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.
Women in Christian History: A Bibliography. Carolyn DeArmond Blevins, ed. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1995.

Online Resources

Although not all Web sources meet scholarly standards, some very good theological reference tools do appear online. Some of them are collected or linked here:

Graduate Theological Union Roman Catholic Resources at library.gtu.edu
Mark Goodacre's "New Testament Gateway," a wealth of links to the best NT-related sites: www.ntgateway.com
"Scholarly Collections" on the Web have been linked by Douglas E. Oakman at www.plu.edu/~oakmande
"Finding God in Cyberspace: A Guide to Religious Studies Resources on the Internet" includes access to theological library catalogs and information about electronic journals: www.fontbonne.edu/libserv/fgic/contents.htm
"Diotima: Materials for the Study of Women & Gender in the Ancient World" offers primary sources and extensive bibliographies at www.stoa.org/diotima
"Theology and Religion Resources," a compendium of links to journals, bibliographies, and institutions, collected and reviewed by Alistair McGrath, Oxford University: www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/religion

It's wise to start listing the sources you've consulted right away in standard bibliographical format (see section 5, below, for examples of usual formats). Assigning a number to each one facilitates easy reference later in your work.

B. Check Periodical Literature

Important scholarship in women's religious history is frequently published in academic journals and periodicals. In consulting the chief articles dealing with your topic, you'll learn where agreements, disagreements, and open questions stand, how older treatments have fared, and the latest relevant tools and insights. Since you cannot consult them all, work back from the latest, looking for the best and most directly relevant articles from the last five, ten, or twenty years, as ambition and time allow.

The place to start is the ATLA Religion Database, which indexes articles, essays, book reviews, dissertations, theses, and even essays in collections. You can search by keywords, subjects, persons, or scripture references. Other standard indexes to periodical literature, most in print but some now available on CD-ROM or on the Internet, include:

Lexus/Nexus Academic Universe (Net)

Religious and Theological Abstracts

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (Net, CD)

Dissertation Abstracts International (Net, CD)

Catholic Periodical and Literature Index, 1930-

Humanities Index (Net, CD)

Academic Search Premier/Periodical Abstracts/ProQuest (Net)

Religion Index One/Religion Index Two

Online resources are less systematically available and up-to-date. But you can find links and some full articles and bibliographies online. Guides to the many religious studies and theological Websites are housed at:

"Religion on the World Wide Web": www.virginia.edu/religiousstudies/admin/research.html
"Wabash Center Guide to Internet Resources for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion": www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/Internet/front.htm

C. Research the Most Important Books and Primary Sources

By now you can also identify the most important books for your topic, both primary and secondary. Primary sources are actual historical documents or artifacts that provide data for interpretation: the Bible, conciliar decrees, interviews, memoirs, baptismal registries, and sermons, for example. Secondary sources are all the articles or books that analyze or interpret primary sources. Your research topic will probably require you to look at a combination of primary and secondary sources.

Apart from books you've identified through the other sources you've consulted, you can find the chief works on any topic readily listed in:

Your college or university library's catalog
The Library of Congress Subject Index at http://catalog.loc.gov

Many theological libraries and archives are linked at the "Religious Studies Web Guide": www.ucalgary.ca/~lipton/catalogues.html. Some of the best library sites are:

Blais: Online Catalog of the Libraries of the Claremont College: blais.claremont.edu/search
Yale University Divinity School Library: www.library.yale.edu/div/divhome.htm
Princeton Theological Seminary Library: www.ptsem.edu/grow/Library/index.htm

The eventual quality of your research paper rests entirely on the quality or critical character of your sources. The best research uses academically sound treatments by recognized authorities arguing rigorously from primary sources.

D. Taking Notes

With these sources on hand — whether primary or secondary, whether in books or articles or Websites or church records — you can review each source, noting down its most important or relevant facts, observations, or opinions. Each point or cluster of points is put on a separate note card, keyed to a main bibliographical card for that source. As a memory aid for you, the main bibliographic card or entry for each source can also include a thumbnail sketch of its argument or import or point of view. Take notes only on the relevant portions of secondary sources, or you'll quickly be stoned to death with minutiae.

While students still use index cards to record their notes, a carefully constructed set of computer notes or files, retrievable by topic or source name or number, can be just as helpful. Either way — cards or computer — you'll need for each notable point to identify:

the subtopic

the source

the main idea or quote

This practice will allow you to redistribute each card or point to wherever it is needed in your eventual outline.

E. Note or Quote?

While most of the notes you take will simply summarize points made in primary or secondary sources, direct quotes are used for (1) word-for-word transcriptions, (2) key words or phrases coined by the author, or (3) especially clear or helpful or summary formulations of an author's point of view. Remember, re-presenting another's insight or formulation without attribution is plagiarism. You should also be sure to keep separate notes about your own ideas or insights into the topic as they evolve.

F. When Can I Stop?

As you research your topic in books, articles, or reference works, you will find it coalescing into a unified body of knowledge or at least into a set of interrelated questions. In most cases, your topic will become more and more focused, partly because that is where the open question or key insight or most illuminating instance resides, and partly for sheer manageability. The vast range of scholarly methods and opinions and differing points of view about many historical topics may force you to settle for laying out a more circumscribed topic carefully. While the sources may never dry up, your increased knowledge gradually gives you confidence that you have the most informed, authoritative, and critical sources covered in your notes.

3. Outlining Your Argument

On the basis of your research findings, in this crucial step you refine or reformulate your general topic and question into a specific question answered by a defensible thesis or hypothesis. You then arrange or rework your supporting materials into a clear outline that will coherently and convincingly present your thesis to your reader.

First, review your research notes carefully. Some of what you initially read now seems obvious or irrelevant, or perhaps the whole topic is simply too massive. But, as your reading and note-taking progressed, you might also have found a piece of your topic, from which a key question or problem has emerged and around which your research has gelled. Ask yourself:

What is the subtopic or subquestion that is most interesting, enlightening, and manageable?
What have been the most clarifying and illuminating insights I have found into the topic?
In what ways have my findings contradicted my initial expectations? Can this serve as a clue to a new and different approach to my question?
Can I frame my question in a clear way, and, in light of my research, do I have something new to say and defend — my thesis or hypothesis — that will answer my question and clarify my materials?

In this way you will advance from topic and initial question to specific question and thesis.

Topic: Protestant churches in America and the suffrage movement
Specific topic: Why did many Protestant lay people and clergy come to support suffrage after strongly opposing it?
Specific question: What people or events were responsible for this transition?
Thesis: Methodist pastor Anna Howard Shaw was key in this transition because she used the ideology of true womanhood and dispelled fears that suffrage was an atheistic movement.

You can then outline a presentation of your thesis that marshals your research materials into an orderly and convincing argument. Functionally your outline might look like this:

Introduction. Raise the key question and announce your thesis.
Background. Present the necessary literary or historical or theological context of the question. Note the "state of the question" or the main agreements and disagreements about it.
Development. Present your own insight in a clear and logical way. Marshal evidence to support your thesis and develop it further by:

offering examples from your primary sources
citing or discussing authorities to bolster your argument
contrasting your thesis with other treatments, either historical or contemporary
confirming it by showing how it makes good sense of the data or answers related questions or solves previous puzzles.

Conclusion. Restate the thesis in a way that recapitulates your argument and its consequences for the field or the contemporary religious horizon.

The more detailed your outline, the easier will be your writing. Go through your cards, reorganizing them according to your outline. Fill in the outline with the specifics from your research, right down to the topic sentences of your paragraphs. Don't be shy about setting aside any materials that now seem off-point, extraneous, or superfluous to the development of your argument.

4. Writing Your Paper

You are now ready to draft your paper, essentially by putting your outline into sentence form while incorporating specifics from your research notes.

Your main task, initially, is just to get it down on paper in as straightforward a way as possible. Assume your reader is intelligent but knows little or nothing about your particular topic. You can follow your outline closely, but you may find that logical presentation of your argument requires adjusting the outline somewhat. As you write, weave in quotes judiciously from primary or secondary literature to clarify or punch your points. Add brief, strong headings at major junctures. Add footnotes to acknowledge ideas, attribute quotations, reinforce your key points through authorities, or refer the reader to further discussion or resources. Your draft footnotes might refer to your sources as abbreviated in source cards, with page numbers; you can add full publishing data once your text is firm.

5. Reworking Your Draft

Your rough draft puts you within sight of your goal, but your project's real strength emerges from reworking your initial text in a series of revisions and refinements. In this final phase, make frequent use of one of the many excellent style manuals available for help with grammar, punctuation, footnote form and abbreviations.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 4th ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 1995.
The Chicago Manual of Style. 14th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th ed. Rev. by John Grossman and Alice Bennett. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Williams, Joseph M. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Alexander, Patrick H. ed., et al. The SBL Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999.
Online, see "General Problems Encountered in Undergraduate Papers": www.plu.edu/~oakmande

Closely examine your work several times, paying attention to:

Structure and Argument. Do I state my question and thesis accurately? Does my paper do what my Introduction promised? (If not, adjust one or the other.) Do I argue my thesis well? Do the headings clearly guide the reader through my outline and argument? Does this sequence of topics orchestrate the insights my reader needs to understand my thesis?
Style. Style here refers to writing patterns that enliven prose and engage the reader. Three simple ways to strengthen your academic prose are:

Topic sentences. Be sure each paragraph clearly states its main assertion.
Active verbs. As much as possible, avoid using the linking verb, to be. Rephrase using active verbs.
Sentence flow. Above all, look for awkward sentences in your draft. Disentangle and rework them into smooth, clear sequences. To avoid boring the reader, vary the length and form of your sentences. Check to see if your paragraphs unfold with some short sentences, questions, and simple declarative ones.

Likewise, tackle some barbarisms that frequently invade academic prose:

Repetition. Unless you need the word count, this can go.
Unnecessary words. Need we say more? Such filler as The fact that and in order to and There is/are numb your reader. Similarly, such qualifiers as somewhat, fairly, rather, very take the wind from the adjective that follows.
Jargon. Avoid technical terms when possible. Explain all technical terms that you do use. Avoid or translate foreign-language terms.
Overly complex sentences. Short sentences are best. Avoid compound-complex sentences and run-on sentences. Avoid etc.

Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation. Along with typographical errors, look for stealth errors, the common but overlooked grammatical gaffes: subject-verb disagreement, dangling participles, mixed verb tenses, over- and under-use of commas, semicolon use, and inconsistency in capitalization, hyphenation, italicization, or treatment of numbers.
Miriam-Webster Online contains both the Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus: www.m-w.com/
Footnotes. Your footnotes will give credit to your sources for every quote and for other people's ideas you have used. Here are samples of typical citation formats in Modern Language Association style:

Basic order:

Author's full name, Book Title, ed., trans., series, edition, vol. number (Place: Publisher, year), pages.

Book:

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad, 1984), 29.

Book in a series:

Clarissa Atkinson, ed., et al., Immaculate and Powerful: The Female in Sacred Image and Social Reality, the Harvard Women's Studies in Religion Series (Boston: Beacon Press, 1985), 18-19.

Edited book:

Sandra McEntire, ed., Margery Kempe: A Book of Essays (New York: Garland, 1992), 10-15.

Essay or chapter in an edited book:

Antoinette Iadarola, "The American Catholic Bishops and Woman," Women, Religion and Social Change, Yvonne Haddad and Ellison Findly, eds. (Albany: State University of New York, 1985), 457-476.

Multi-volume work:

Steven Ozment and Frank M. Turner, The Many Sides of History: Readings in the Western Heritage, vol. 1 (New York: Macmillan, 1987), 10.

Journal article:

James F. Cooper, "Anne Hutchinson and the 'Lay Rebellion' against the Clergy," New England Quarterly 61 (September 1988), 381-397.

Encyclopedia article:

C.E. White, "Phoebe Palmer," Dictionary of Christianity in America, ed. Daniel Reid et al. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 860-861.

Unsigned encyclopedia article:

"Tyre," Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, CD ROM (Microsoft Systems, 1998).

Website source:

Religion-Online. "Women Clergy: How Their Presence Is Changing the Church," Christian Century (February 7-14, 1979): 122. (www.religion-online.org/)

For a full listing of citation styles for internet sources, see "Citation Style": www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html

CD ROM source:

Helmar Junghans, Martin Luther: Exploring His Life and Times — 1483—1546, CD ROM (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998).

Bible:

Cite in your text (not in your footnotes) by book, chapter, and verse: Gen 1: 1-2; Exod 7: 13; Rom 5:1-8. In your Bibliography list the version of Bible you have used.

Repeated citations:

If a footnote cites the immediately preceding source, use ibidem, meaning "there," abbreviated:

61. Ibid., 39.

Sources cited earlier can be referred to by author or editor's names, a shorter title, and page number:

62. McEntire, Margery Kempe, 42.

Bibliography. Your Bibliography can be any of several types:

Works Cited: just the works—books, articles, etc.—that appear in your footnotes
Works Consulted: all the works you checked in your research, whether they were cited or not in the final draft
Select Bibliography: primary and secondary works that, in your judgment, are the most important source materials on this topic, whether cited or not in your footnotes.

Some teachers might ask for your bibliographic entries to be annotated, i.e., to include a comment from you on the content, import, approach, and helpfulness of each work.

Bibliographic style differs somewhat from footnote style. Here are samples of typical bibliographic formats in MLA style:

Basic order:: Author's last name, first name and initial. Book Title. Ed. Trans. Series. Edition. Vol. Place: Publisher, Year.
Book:: Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: Crossroad, 1984.
Book in a series:: Atkinson, Clarissa, ed., et al. Immaculate and Powerful: The Female in Sacred Image and Social Reality. The Harvard Women's Studies in Religion Series. Boston: Beacon Press, 1985.
Edited book:: McEntire, Sandra, ed. Margery Kempe: A Book of Essays. New York: Garland, 1992.
Essay or chapter in an edited book:: Iadarola, Antoinette. "The American Catholic Bishops and Woman." In Women, Religion and Social Change. Ed. Yvonne Haddad and Ellison Findly. Albany: State University of New York, 1985.
Multi-volume work:: Ozment, Steven and Turner, Frank M. The Many Sides of History: Readings in the Western Heritage. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Journal article:: Cooper, James F. "Anne Hutchinson and the 'Lay Rebellion' against the Clergy." New England Quarterly 61 (September 1988), 381-397.
Encyclopedia article:: White, C.E. "Phoebe Palmer." Dictionary of Christianity in America. Ed. Daniel Reid et al. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1990.
Unsigned encyclopedia article:: "Tyre." Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. CD ROM. Microsoft Systems, 1998.
Website source:: Religion-Online. "Women Clergy: How Their Presence Is Changing the Church." Christian Century (February 7-14): 122. (www.religion-online.org/)
For a full listing of citation styles for internet sources, see "Citation Style': www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html
CD ROM source:: Helmar Junghans. Martin Luther: Exploring His Life and Times — 1483&3151;1546. CD-ROM. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998.
Bible:: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.

After incorporating the revisions and refinements into your paper, print out a fresh copy, proofread it carefully, make final corrections, format it to your teacher's or institution's specifications, and print your final paper.

A short guide to writing research papers in the history of women in the Christian tradition.
2002. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.