Guidelines for Academic Papers

1. Overall Layout
The paper should include these elements in the following order:
Title page
Table of contents
Text with footnotes
Bibliography (Works cited list)
Appendix (if necessary)
You are required to attach a statutory declaration of original authorship at the end of the
paper. The declaration is not part of the paper itself and therefore does not appear in the table
of contents and is not numbered as a page. A sample of the statutory declaration is included
on page 3 of this document. It must be signed in the original.
2. General Format
Students in the Masters Degree Program are required to compile a Hauptseminar-Arbeit of
about 40,000 characters or roughly 20 pages.
The paper has to be written in accordance with guidelines of the MLA Handbook for Writers
of Research Papers. Individual instructors may have their own preferences in terms of
margins, line-spacing, etc., but formatting should be consistent throughout the paper.
Type and print your paper in a clear, legible type such as Times New Roman/12pt or
Arial/11pt with 1 -line spacing. Use right and left justified margins that leave room for
comments: 2cm on top and bottom margin, 2.5cm on the left and 3.5cm on the right. Indent
the first line of paragraphs about 3.5 cm from the left margin. (MLA recommends that you
use the Tab key as opposed to a repeated use of the Space Bar).
The text should be divided into an introduction (thesis, methodology), a main body
(argumentation, examples), and a conclusion. Use numbered section headings and be
consistent in layout, especially if you work with multiple level headings (1., 1.1, 1.2, 2.
etc.).Also mark your pages consecutively with Arabic numerals. Correct page numbers should
be included in the table of contents.

3. Citing works
Please consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers for all standard citation
formats:
Full title: Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th edition. New
York: Modern Language Association, 2009. Print.
You will find copies in the department library under 07AM10/040/48
Other helpful resources:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
https://www.library.cornell.edu/research/citation/mla

2.3. Title page

Single-spaced, flush left:
Friedrich-Alexander-Universitt Erlangen-Nrnberg
Institute for English and American Studies
[Semester]
[Instructor]
[Seminar with title]

14pt, 1-spaced, bold, centered

The title should be informative but not too long

12 pt, single spaced, flush right:

[First and last name]
[Street and street number]
[Zip code and city]
[Email address]
[Matriculation number]
[Course of studies, semester of study]
[Deadline]

2.4. Statutory declaration

Attach a signed copy of the following statutory declaration at the end of the paper.
Wahrheitsgeme Erklrung
Ich erklre hiermit wahrheitsgem, dass ich
1) die eingereichte Arbeit selbstndig und ohne unerlaubte Hilfe angefertigt habe,
2) auer den im Schrifttumsverzeichnis angegebenen Hilfsmitteln keine weiteren benutzt und alle
Stellen, die aus dem Schrifttum ganz oder annhernd entnommen sind, als solche kenntlich gemacht
und einzeln nach ihrer Herkunft unter Bezeichnung der Ausgabe (Auflage und Jahr des
Erscheinens), des Bandes und der Seite des benutzten Werkes, bei Internet-Quellen unter Angabe
der vollstndigen Adresse und des Sichtungsdatums, in der Abhandlung nachgewiesen habe,
3) alle Stellen und Personen, welche mich bei der Vorbereitung und Anfertigung der Abhandlung
untersttzten, genannt habe,
4) die Abhandlung noch keiner anderen Stelle zur Prfung vorgelegt habe und dieselbe noch nicht
anderen Zwecken auch nicht teilweise gedient hat.
Mir ist bewusst, dass jeder Versto gegen diese Erklrung eine Bewertung der eingereichten Arbeit
mit Note nicht bestanden zur Folge hat.

Erlangen, den ..........................................

[The translation below has been closely translated to facilitate a better understanding of the document;
nevertheless only the original German document is legally binding.]
Statutory Declaration
I hereby declare truthfully that I have
1) composed the submitted paper on my own and without undue assistance,
2) not used other sources beyond those listed in the bibliography and that I have indicated all passages taken
literally or in paraphrase from secondary sources. Documentation of each passage by source includes naming
the edition (number of edition and publication year), volume and page of the work used or listing the
complete URL and date last visited for internet sources.
3) indicated all institutions and persons that have supported me in preparing and writing the paper.
4) not previously submitted the paper for grading elsewhere, nor has the paper, or parts of it, served any other
purposes.
I am aware of the fact that every violation of this declaration results in a grading of the paper as failed.