I’m compiling an annotated bibliography. I work in the Reference Section of the library, so this is extremely easy.
However, I’m finding that I don’t know how to do one thing: I want cite a research paper. It’s a paper that one of my friends wrote a couple years ago. I can’t figure out how you’re supposed to cite a non-published paper, but I know it’s possible because I’ve seen it done.
Can anybody here who has gooder English writing (Congratulations, perhaps?) erfresh my memory? 
It depends – mostly on the audience, to some extent on the source. Most scientific journals I keep up with will accept:
J. Smith, unpublished.
J. Smith, private communication.
The latter is probably appropriate if the person gave you a copy of the paper personally. If you cite it as unpublished, a year may also be appropriate.
If it was something formal like a thesis or a formal report to a company (I dunno about papers for classes; I rather doubt there needs to be anything more than an “unpublished” for them), a form something like:
J. Smith, “A history of toad sexing,” BS thesis, College of Holy Cross (Worcester, MA, 2002).
J. Smith, IBM Internal Report XX (Almaden, NY, 2002)
Unless it’s original research, you should probably cite the source(s) the person cites in the paper.
Let me reiterate this:
But that aside, as long as you include the author, title of the paper, institution it was written for and a year, you should be cool. Try something like this:
Doe, John. “Title of paper.” Unpublished paper. Institution: CITY, YEAR.
And I’d shove it in my teacher’s face some time before the paper’s due so they can say, “Yeah, it’s fine” and you’ll be able to defend yourself if they thrash you for it after you turn it in. 
Yes, it is always good to have a rock solid defense. 
Cran,
This little tool will help you out until you get the hang of MLA citation (or APA, as the case may be).
enjoy!