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Nancy Vyhmeister (EdD, Andrews University) has forty-five years of experience in teaching future pastors and professors not only in the United States but throughout the world. She continues to have a global ministry in her retirement years, mostly teaching research and writing. She has authored several books, both in Spanish and English, including a Greek grammar for Spanish-speaking students. She was editor of Women in Ministry: Biblical and Historical Perspectives. Nancy Weber de Vyhmeister es doctora en educacion de la Universidad Andrews. Cuenta con cuarenta y cinco anos de experiencia ensenando a futuros pastores y profesores, no solo en los Estados Unidos, sino en diferentes lugares del mundo. Ahora que esta jubilada continua con su ministerio global de ensenanza e investigacion. Es autora de varios libros en castellano y en ingles, como por ejemplo: Gramatica del griego para estudiantes de habla hispana.

Nancy Vyhmeister's Quality Research Papers is fast becoming a standard reference textbook for writing research papers in the field of religion and theology. It takes the student from the beginning assignment of a paper through the research phase to the finished paper. This second edition gives improvements and added material for such things as the expanding field of online research and doing church-related research in a professional manner. Resources for doing research are updated throughout the book.

Contents List of Illustrations....................ix
Introduction....................xi
1. What Is Research?....................1
Definition of Research....................1
The Research Process....................3
Kinds of Research....................4
What Research Is Not....................5
The Value of Research....................6
2. Using the Library....................9
The Library Catalog....................10
Other Library Resources....................14
3. Taming the Internet....................21
Online Resources....................21
Searching the Internet....................23
Evaluating Internet Resources....................25
Footnotes and Bibliographies for Internet Materials....................26
4. Choosing a Topic....................29
Reading....................30
Asking Questions....................31
Narrowing the Topic....................33
Selecting a Thesis or Dissertation Topic....................34
5. Planning Research....................35
Basic Steps....................36
The Proposal....................39
Tentative Outline....................41
6. Preparing Bibliographies....................45
Bibliographic Records....................45
Format of Bibliographic Entries....................49
Final Bibliography....................53
7. Research Thinking....................57
Research Mindset....................57
Thinking Processes....................62
Asking Questions....................64
8. Research Reading....................67
Reading....................67
Evaluating Sources....................69
Taking GoodNotes....................72
Sample Note Cards....................77
9. Footnotes: Why, When, and How....................79
Why Footnotes?....................79
When to Footnote....................80
How to Footnote....................81
Bible References....................85
10. Reference Notes and Bibliographical Entries Compared....................89
Published Materials....................90
Unpublished Materials....................98
Electronic Media....................101
11. Organizing the Paper....................103
Parts of the Paper....................103
Organizing the Body of the Paper....................107
Practical Helps for Organizing the Paper....................108
12. Writing the Paper....................113
Research English....................113
The Paragraph: Smallest Unit of the Paper....................115
Transitions and Introductions....................118
The Writing Process....................120
Help for the Novice Writer....................123
13. Formatting the Paper....................125
Page Format....................126
Footnotes and Quotations....................128
Tables, Figures, and Illustrations....................129
Spelling, Punctuation, and Other Details....................130
Sample Pages....................132
14. Biblical Exegesis as Research....................141
Steps in the Exegetical Process....................141
Presentation of Exegesis....................148
15. Descriptive Research....................151
Steps in Descriptive Research....................153
Sampling....................156
Surveys....................157
Interviews....................161
16. Program Development as Research....................163
Steps in Program Development....................164
Organizing and Writing the Report....................168
17. The Case Study as Research....................171
The Case Study in the Social Sciences....................171
The Case Study in Pastoral Research....................172
Writing the Case Study....................178
18. Miscellaneous Theological Writing....................181
Papers on Theological Issues in Ministry....................181
The Book Review....................183
19. Statistics, Tables, and Graphs....................189
Some Basics of Statistics....................190
Statistical Tables and Graphs....................199
Statistics and Honesty....................206
20. Theses and Dissertations....................209
Review of Literature....................209
Theses....................212
Dissertations....................217
Model Approval Page....................220
21. Doctor of Ministry Projects....................221
Proposal....................223
The Written Paper....................223
Procedure....................224
Specific Kinds of D.Min. Papers....................225
Conclusion....................231
Appendixes A: APA Citation Style....................233
B: Transliteration of Biblical Languages....................245
C: List of Common Abbreviations....................247
D: Tips for the Typist....................251
Selected Bibliography....................255
Index....................257