Suggestions On Writing Style And Format When Submitting A Research Paper Write clearly and concisely. Use simple language; make your point in as few words as possible. Use the active voice, not the passive voice. "They decided" is better than "it was decided". Write in the third person. The White Papers, while fairly informal, are not generally addressed to "you". Instead of "You should", it is better to say, "the company should" or "the EI administrator should". Define terms that may not be well known. Avoid jargon and clich�s. On first mention, spell out abbreviations and acronyms. If in doubt, define. Do not over-use quotation marks, italics, underlining and bold print. Those reading the research papers are educated professionals who need very little guidance in deciding which words are important. Use subheads. Subheads can help you organize an article and can facilitate transitions from one idea to another. If you are not an experienced writer, consider working from an outline. Most White Papers have an Introduction, a Body with several subheads, and a Conclusion. We recommend this structure for clarity. Cite sources. If the paper says, "a recent study shows", then please cite the study in parentheses following that sentence. List the study in a bibliography or reference list at the end of the paper. General Formatting:  Please submit papers as email attachments in Word format if possible; Times New Roman 12 point font; single spaced; Title in bold all caps, followed by the author's name on the next line; subheads are upper and lower case bold. Charts and illustrations should be included at the end of the article or in a separate file.