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Research Paper Citation: In-Text Citations and References

What is research paper citation?

The broad definition of research paper citation is the set of rules and requirements that a student has to fulfill while acknowledging the sources of information he/she quoted or paraphrased in his/her research work.

Accordingly, research paper citation combines formatting the in-text citations and developing the proper reference pages for academic writing pieces.

In-text research paper citation

The first essential point about research paper citation is the practice of formatting in-text citations. Obviously, it is essential to properly acknowledge the sources from which the data used in a paper were taken. There are various research paper citation styles that allow students avoid plagiarism in writing:

• MLA;
• APA;
• Chicago;
• Turabian;
• AMA.

Generally speaking, the most important requirement for in-text research paper citation is to provide not only the author’s name but also the publishing date and the specific page from which the data have been taken. However, in some sources you can find the requirements for MLA and APA research paper citation styles that demand page numbers only after direct quotes, while for paraphrased entries it is enough to use the author-date research paper citation system.

Formatting the reference page

The same research paper citation styles are applicable to the practice of formatting the reference pages in academic works. Basic requirements applicable to all styles include:

• All works cited in the paper should be presented on the reference page;
• All the works included in the reference page should be used in in-text citations;
• Every reference page entry should contain all the information about the source, including author’s name, work’s title, publishing date, publisher’s name, edition number, page count, and the Internet address (for online sources only).

Following the above requirements you can be sure about the use of proper research paper citation style in your every work.