Research Paper Writing What you should know

Quotations 101 a phrase or passage from a book, poem, or online journal that is used to support a point or argument. Quotations must be followed by in-text citations. It is important to use citations to give credit to the hard- working author and avoid plagiarism.

How to list titles in your writing Italicize or underline the titles of longer works such as books. Put “quotation marks” around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles.

Short Quotations If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (followed by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses. According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199). 



Short quotations continued… Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers? If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation. She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.

Signal Phrases Signal phrases are an important part of research writing. APA style requires authors to use the past tense or past perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found Jones (1998) has found THEY… introduce source material indicate where source material comes from shape your reader’s response to a source through appropriate word choice Signal Phrases can be a single word, phrase, or sentence. They can appear before or after a quote, paraphrase, or summary. They often include verbs; be sure your word choice fits the context of the source.

Citations 101 A citation is a short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage. You will create citations using Citation Machine. The citations that you create will be used in your paper (in-text citation format) and to make your bibliography. A bibliography is a list of the sources that you used to write your paper.

Signal Word Verbs Verbs Verbs Acknowledges Confirms Describes Explains Informs Points out Reflects Signals Adds Connects Develops Expresses Insists Prepares Maintains Specifies Admits Considers Discusses Extrapolates Introduces Presents Reiterates Speculates Advances Contends Discloses Finds Promises States Affirms Contradicts Discounts Focuses on Means Proposes Relates Submits

Signal Word Verbs More verbs Even more verbs Agrees Contrasts Discovers Grants Narrates Proves Remarks Suggests Creates Disputes Highlights Negates Supports Analyzes Declares Reports Documents Hypothesizes Notes Questions Argues Defines Emphasizes Illuminates Notices Recognizes Observes Recommends Reveals Thinks Demonstrates Establishes Implies Offers Recounts Says Theorizes Denies Estimates Indicates Organizes Refers Sees Writes Shows Verifies