KU: Unit 4 Assignment

Unit 4: research  This project will focus on the primary and secondary research that will help you to develop and support your big idea to an audience. The assignment has 3 parts: a pre-interview worksheet, a discussion of secondary sources, and an APA-formatted references page.

APA  Complete all three parts of the worksheet below. Be sure to cite all sources in APA format, including using in-text citations and reference page citations in the spaces provided. The writing should be in Standard English and complete sentences. The sources noted in this worksheet should be related to your "big idea," which is the basis of your final project in this course. Save this document to your computer, and submit it through the Unit 4 dropbox, per the instructions in the classroom under Unit 4's Project Description.

DIRECTIONS:  DIRECTIONS: Complete each section of the Pre- Interview Worksheet below. Although students are not required to conduct an interview as research for the final project, the process of thinking about potential questions and responses related to the final project topic will help stimulate further ideas and questions related to conducting relevant and reliable research. Of course, you may also decide to interview the person discussed here or another appropriate subject and use the material in your upcoming projects as a primary source.

Directions:  Now provide information about three secondary sources related to your final project topic. You are not necessarily required to use these sources in the final project, though the sources noted below should be reliable and relevant as potential sources to support your thesis statement's argument. Use complete sentences and paragraph format to summarize the information you intend to use from the source, assess the credibility and significance of the source, and reflect on how you will use the information to support or counter your argument.

PART II: THREE SECONDARY SOURCES  One of the sources should oppose your stance on the topic

Part III: References  DIRECTIONS: Use the next page to create a references page for the sources cited in Part II above. Create full citations for each source in APA format, order the citations alphabetically, and use a hanging indent.

APA  Part 1) Successful interviews are results of completing pre-interview tasks, such as identifying the interviewee, doing research on the topic and interviewee, choosing a location or method for the interview, and developing a list of questions. This information will help build your confidence in interviewing, along with helping negotiate a difficult interview. While you are not required to conduct the interview and/or include the information in your draft and final project, preparing for the interview will enhance your knowledge about your chosen topic.

APA: Use complete sentences  Use complete sentences and Standard American English as needed. The interviewee you have chosen should be someone who can effectively contribute information to your final project; this primary research will play a significant role in persuading your audience to accept the ideas of change that you are proposing in the final project.

APA: Part 2  Part 2) Writing at least one well- developed paragraph about each source, summarize, assess, and reflect upon 3 secondary sources related to your big idea. At least one of these needs to present challenges and/or disagreements that you will have to acknowledge and address as you develop your argument. Compare and contrast the approaches these authors take towards this issue, and determine which sources will be helpful and why.

APA: Part 3  Part 3) Create a references page that lists the sources discussed in part 2. The citations should be in APA format. Review the Writing Center resources on APA manuscript style and citations:

APA  The American Psychological Association (APA) established writing and reference guidelines in 1929 so readers could easily understand the major points and findings in social sciences research (APA, 2010). Today APA style is used by many disciplines, schools, and college-level writers as a standard for formatting and documenting sources in research projects. As of 2009, the most current Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the sixth edition, which is also the reference guide for all Kaplan University Writing Center APA resources. is the sixth edition, which is also the reference guide for all Kaplan University Writing Center APA resources.

What is Citation?  Citing sources or providing citation means to include select information about books or articles you read on a topic and that you use in your paper. There are two main terms associated with citation: In-text citation and reference or full citation, both of which are explained in this handout.

Why Do We Cite?  The reasons you provide citations are to give proper credit for words, ideas, graphics, or other information you borrow from others and to help readers find sources you used in case they want to read more from those pieces for themselves.

In-text and Reference Page Citations  APA documentation style includes an in-text and reference page system. In the text, the author’s name and date are included for any references from outside sources so readers can easily see when a source is being used. Additional rules for in-text citations apply for varying information provided in the sources you use.

APA: Research  The format for reference page citations depends on the source type, and it is important to refer to the official APA manual or Web site for proper formatting guidelines. Essentially, the reference citation includes enough information to allow readers to easily find the original source.

In-text Citations: Signal Phrases  In-text citations can be included either as a signal phrase before the cited material or a parenthetical citation at the end of the cited material.  A signal phrase introduces quoted, paraphrased, or summarized information using the author’s name and publication year. Signal phrases are especially important when paraphrases are more than one sentence long. They indicate to the reader where the paraphrase begins. Here is an example of a signal phrase citation for a paraphrase:

Citations  Smith (2010) recognized that more online learning opportunities are needed to reach marginalized high school students and decrease the dropout rate.  An example of a signal phrase that introduces a quote is shown below.  Smith (2010) stressed “the importance of dedicated study time for online courses is crucial for student success” (p. 3).

APA: Citations  Sometimes the author’s name is unknown or not included, so the next thing to look for is whether or not there is a company or organization that is identified on the document. A corporate author refers to a sponsoring organization or company like National Geographic, Xerox, or a government agency. If there is no author and no corporate author, then use a shortened version of the title for the in-text citation. Both examples are shown below.

Corporate Author  Corporate Author  For a paraphrase (National Geographic, 2011)  For a quotation (National Geographic, 2011, p. 78)

No author and no corporate author  For a paraphrase (“Whales of the Atlantic,” 2010)  For a quotation (“Whales of the Atlantic,” 2010, p. 9)

Note on electronic publications:  Electronic publications follow the same rules as print publications for in-text citations with the following exception. The page number is replaced by para. if you refer to an electronic publication that does not include pagination. In that case, count the paragraphs to get to the one you quoted from and include that number as in (“Working ants,” 2011, para. 6). Remember, if you paraphrase, then you do not need to include a page or paragraph number. Never use the url for an in-text citation for a Web page as in ( No, no, no!

Reference Page Citations  In this part of the handout, you will find the general rules for a reference page. A sample reference page is included at the end of this document.  Reference citations, also called full citations, are cited on a separate page at the end of an essay or other type of paper that uses outside sources. The following rules apply to the formatting for the reference page. For specifics on how to format different source types, refer to the next section Most Common Citations.

Reference page citations are  cited on a separate page at the end of your paper;  double-spaced (no additional space is needed between citations);  not numbered or bulleted;  alphabetized according to the author’s last name or if a title is used because no author’s name is given, use the first significant word in the title. In other words, if the title begins in The, A, or An, use the next word to place the source in the alphabetized list. (Example: The Whales of the Atlantic Ocean would fall under W in the list because it is the first significant word in the title.)

Rainbow’s end  Formatted using a hanging indent where the first line of the citation is against the left margin and subsequent lines of the citation are indented a half inch. See the sample reference page for an example of this.

Most Common Citations  This next section of the handout provides you with in-text and reference page formatting for the most common types of sources students use in their academic papers. We cannot possibly cover every source type, and for more obscure types of citations, you may have to refer to the official APA Web site ( and post a query on their blog. Please note, there are instances where the APA Manual is not specific or even include certain types of citations, and the best we can do is infer the information based on other citation information in the Manual.

Next Section  This next section of the handout provides you with in- text and reference page formatting for the most common types of sources students use in their academic papers. We cannot possibly cover every source type, and for more obscure types of citations, you may have to refer to the official APA Web site ( and post a query on their blog. Please note, there are instances where the APA Manual is not specific or even include certain types of citations, and the best we can do is infer the information based on other citation information in the Manual.

Questions:  Ask  away