Resource Evaluation and Citation Skills
Evaluating Resources
In any research paper, it is important to use sources that are credible. After all, if you can't support your ideas with sound evidence, a savvy reviewer can easily poke holes in your argument. Generally speaking, sources should be peer-reviewed and based on original research. Popular media such as magazines and newspapers are not good sources for research papers because they merely report on the work of others and can sometimes be biased in their reporting.
The Effective Writing Center (EWC) and the UMUC library have information to help you determine the appropriateness of a source.
EWC links:
Information and library links:
Citing Sources
Social science often deals with issues that are controversial. Fortunately, many of these topics have been studied by researchers who adhere to the scientific method. When we speak about subject matter commonly thought to be "a matter of opinion," we can refer to research studies to support and strengthen our positions.
Students often confuse "original writing" with the need to present all ideas in a paper as their own. This can lead to inadvertent cases of plagiarism. While research papers should always be written in your own words (with the exception of carefully selected quotations), it is expected that you will provide a citation for every idea that comes from another source.
Scientific knowledge builds on previous work, and therefore it is expected that research papers will contain many citations. Your job is to effectively incorporate and integrate existing research to support your arguments. Keep in mind that citations should be used to strengthen your case, not to make it for you. Your own thoughts should be the primary voice in your writing, supplemented by evidence from other researchers.
Think about a time when you worked hard to produce or create something. How would you have felt if someone else took credit for your ideas or hard work? What if someone else wanted to "build on" your creation? How would that person do it if he or she were unable to locate the original source?
The purpose of citing sources is twofold. First, the use of citations gives proper attribution for an idea or a finding to the person or persons who are deserving of credit. When you copy or paraphrase an idea that originated with another author, you run the risk of plagiarism unless you provide a citation.
Second, citations allow your reader to locate the original source document. If your reader is interested in learning more about a given topic, your reference will serve as a guidepost for where to find a specific article, book, or web source.
Citation Styles
Professional associations and disciplines use specific citation styles to notate the details of a source. These details include things such as the name of the author(s), titles, journals, volume numbers, and page numbers.
In the social sciences, common citation styles include the American Psychological Association (APA) format, the American Sociological Association (ASA) format, and the American Anthropological Association (AAA) format. Because the UMUC library supports APA format and because APA format is widely accepted across many disciplines, most social science courses require or accept APA as the standard citation style.
Comparing APA, ASA, and AAA Citation Formats
|
APA | ASA | AAA |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Information Concerning Citation Format | APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. | ASA is the citation format of the American Sociological Association. The fourth edition of the ASA Style Guide has been updated to reflect more recent editions of the Chicago Manual of Style, on which it is based. | AAA is the citation format for the American Anthropological Association. AAA is based on The Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition, 2003) and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition, 2006). |
| Style Guides, Tutorials |
Reference Formatting of a Single-Author, Online Newsletter Article
| CITATION STYLE | REFERENCE FORMAT |
|---|---|
APA |
Miller, R. (2011). "I came, I saw, I researched: Students reflect on library life in six-word memoirs." College & Research Libraries News, 72 (6), 338-356. Retrieved from:http://crln.acrl.org/content/72/6/338.full |
ASA |
Miller, Robert. 2011. "I came, I saw, I researched: Students reflect on library life in six-word memoirs." College & Research Library News 72(6). Retrieved June 8, 2012 (http://crln.acrl.org/content/72/6/338.ful) |
AAA |
Miller, Robert. 2011. I Came, I Saw, I Researched: Students Reflect on Library Life in Six-Word Memoirs. College & Research Libraries News 72(6). Electronic document, http://crln.acrl.org/content/72/6/338.full, accessed June 8, 2012. |