[Your Name]

[Course Number and Name]

Research Paper: Topic Statement & Sources

[Submission Date]

[Your Working Title]

[Type your topic statement here. A topic statement should include the elements required in the assignment—typically the biblical passage on which you’ll focus, the method of interpretation you’ll use, and the contemporary issues you’ll focus on; but see your assignment directions for specifics. There shouldn’t be any footnotes in this paragraph.]

[Cite each of your professional sources in a separate paragraph here. Arrange them alphabetically by authors’ last names. Follow the format for your type of source (book, article, essay in book) on the course style sheet. Make sure there’s a hard return at the end of each record, so that each record is its own paragraph. That will guarantee that the first line of each entry will be flush left margin, as this entry is, and each subsequent line of each entry will be indented half an inch, as this one is.]