UMass Amherst

How-to Guide Index

Abstracts for Papers and Presentations

An abstract is a short statement about your paper or presentation designed to give the reader a complete, yet concise, understanding of your research and findings.

Literature Reviews

Written in essay style, a literature review describes, classifies, and evaluates the sources of information published on a given topic.

Plagiarism & How to Avoid It

Avoiding plagiarism and copyright infringement is the responsibility of every student. Failure to comply carries grave consequences.

Poster Design

A poster-board display containing words and images, tables, graphs, maps, etc. can effectively support an oral presentation if done right.

Presentations for 191, 291, & 391 (videos)

Oral presentation is emphasized at every level of the Dean's Book Course, and at each of the three levels students practice a different presentation style.

Research Questions

Real research starts with a question. A good research question will focus your research and writing.

Research Logs

Research logs prove invaluable at every stage of the research process from locating and evaluating sources, to composing your paper or literature review, to documenting sources and compiling a works cited list or bibliography.

Source Citation & Documentation

Various disciplines rely on various styles of documentation when citing sources. We ask all members of the Dean’s Book Course community to accept the conventions of the Modern Language Association (MLA).

Source Evaluation

Careful source evaluation is absolutely crucial to research, especially with the explosion of material on the web. Know where to find reliable sources and how to recognize them when you do.

 Terror in the Name of God jacket

The Fall 2007 Selection
Terror in the Name of God
by Jessica Stern
(click book jacket for more)

A Primate's Memoir jacket
The Spring 2008 Selection
A Primate's Memoir
by Robert Sapolsky
(click book jacket for more)