Understanding Research Skills & Citations
Research skills and citations involve techniques for finding credible sources, gathering information, and properly citing those sources to avoid plagiarism, ensuring your writing is ethical and well-supported. This includes evaluating a website’s reliability, taking organized notes, and using formats like MLA or APA to give credit, such as citing a book as “Smith, John. History Today. 2020.” Mastering these skills helps you produce trustworthy, evidence-based writing for essays, reports, or projects.
How to Research & Cite
Effective research and citation practices rely on specific steps and methods. Here’s the breakdown:
- Finding Credible Sources: Identifying reliable materials like books, journals, or websites.
- Gathering Information: Collecting and organizing relevant data or quotes for your topic.
- Evaluating Sources: Assessing the authority, accuracy, and relevance of sources.
- Citing Sources: Using proper formats to credit authors and avoid plagiarism.
Examples of Research Skills & Citations
Finding Credible Sources Examples
- Using a library database to find peer-reviewed articles.
- Selecting a government website for statistics on climate.
- Choosing a book by a historian for a history project.
- Accessing a university journal for scientific research.
Gathering Information Examples
- Taking notes on renewable energy from a journal article.
- Highlighting quotes about space exploration in a book.
- Summarizing data on pollution from a credible website.
- Organizing facts about ancient Rome in a research chart.
Evaluating Sources Examples
- Checking if an author is an expert in their field.
- Verifying a website’s publication date for currency.
- Assessing if a study’s sample size is reliable.
- Ensuring a source isn’t biased or opinion-based.
Citing Sources Examples
- MLA: Smith, John. History Today. Publisher, 2020.
- APA: Smith, J. (2020). History today. Publisher.
- In-text: (Smith, 2020, p. 15) for a direct quote.
- Bibliography: Listing all sources at the end of an essay.
Improving Your Research
These moments show research skills and citations in everyday writing:
- Source Selection: Choosing a university study for a science essay.
- Data Collection: Noting statistics on deforestation from a report.
- Source Check: Confirming a website’s credibility by its author’s credentials.
- Proper Credit: Citing a book in MLA format at the end of a paper.
- In-Text Reference: Adding (Jones, 2019) after a quoted fact.