Research Paper Checklist

Professor Repp/ENGL 102

In-Text Citations

1. Make sure all research is cited, and cited clearly, no matter if it’s summarized, paraphrased, or quoted.

a. ANY material taken word-for-word, punctuation-mark-for-punctuation-mark—NO MATTER HOW BRIEF OR LENGTHY—must be enclosed in quotation marks or rendered in a block quotation (if the passage is four lines of text or longer), and cited.

b. ANY material that you summarize must be accurate, significantly shorter in length than the original text, translated completely into the style you’re employing in this paper, and cited.

c. ANY material that you paraphrase must be accurate, the same length as the original text, translated completely into the style you’re employing in this paper, and cited.

2. Vary the means of in-text citation to maintain reader interest. See pp. 237-240 in Palmquist as well as examples in the chapter devoted to your assigned Style Sheet.

3. Here’s a “dummy” passage that illustrates in-text citation. I’ve copied it four times to illustrate the distinct citation requirements of the four Style Sheets:

MLA

This paragraph demonstrates some of the possibilities for in-text citation. The paragraph’s first two sentences aren’t cited because they consist of the writer’s announcement of what will follow. This sentence consists of a summary of information from a newspaper article that has no known author (“We Know” A1). This passage comprises a paraphrase of several lines from the same article. Because it’s from the same article as the first citation in the paragraph, only the page number is indicated in the citation. (A2). According to Jones,

this passage consists of a block quotation. Notice that the citation does not indicate Jones’ name because that’s already been mentioned. Because the passage overlaps two pages, both get cited in the in-text citation. No quotation marks enclose block quotations because setting the text in a block already indicates the material is quoted (12-13).

The paragraph will now close with a paraphrase from a third source. Paraphrases can be anywhere from a single line of text to several paragraphs, depending on the importance and size of the information (Smith 45).

The passage’s second paragraph opens with a transition sentence in which the writer connects information from the preceding paragraph to information that will appear in this paragraph. Now, the writer executes a paraphrase several lines long from a scholarly journal article written by three researchers. The style of the paragraph is the writer’s, not the sources’. The writer has absorbed the information to such an extent that he or she can render it entirely in the style adopted in the research paper (Chamberlain, Russell, and Bird 456). The paragraph continues with this transitional piece, followed by an unavoidably eloquent quotation “from the scholarly source previously paraphrased” (462). The paragraph concludes with a summary of information contained in three separated sources. Especially crucial information that benefits from firm confirmation in more than one source can enhance the authority of your work (Jordan 7; Robertson and Mikan 42-43; Greer 781).

APA

This paragraph demonstrates some of the possibilities for in-text citation. The paragraph’s first two sentences aren’t cited because they consist of the writer’s announcement of what will follow. This sentence consists of a summary of information from a newspaper article that has no known author (“We Know,” A1). This passage comprises a paraphrase of several lines from the same article. Because it’s from the same article as the first citation in the paragraph, only the page number is indicated in the citation. (A2). According to Jones (2005),

The passage’s second paragraph opens with a transition sentence in which the writer connects information from the preceding paragraph to information that will appear in this paragraph. Now, the writer executes a paraphrase several lines long from a scholarly journal article written by three researchers. The style of the paragraph is the writer’s, not the sources’. The writer has absorbed the information to such an extent that he or she can render it entirely in the style adopted in the research paper (Chamberlain, Russell & Bird, 1997, p. 456). The paragraph continues with this transitional piece, followed by an unavoidably eloquent quotation “from the scholarly source previously paraphrased” (Chamberlain et. al., 1997, p. 462). The paragraph concludes with a summary of information contained in three separated sources. Especially crucial information that benefits from firm confirmation in more than one source can enhance the authority of your work (Jordan, 2001, p. 7; Robertson Mikan, 1998, pp. 42-43; Greer, 1994, p. 781).

Chicago Author-Date

This paragraph demonstrates some of the possibilities for in-text citation. The paragraph’s first two sentences aren’t cited because they consist of the writer’s announcement of what will follow. This sentence consists of a summary of information from a newspaper article that has no known author (“We Know,” A1). This passage comprises a paraphrase of several lines from the same article. Because it’s from the same article as the first citation in the paragraph, only the page number is indicated in the citation. (A2). According to Jones (2005),

The passage’s second paragraph opens with a transition sentence in which the writer connects information from the preceding paragraph to information that will appear in this paragraph. Now, the writer executes a paraphrase several lines long from a scholarly journal article written by three researchers. The style of the paragraph is the writer’s, not the sources’. The writer has absorbed the information to such an extent that he or she can render it entirely in the style adopted in the research paper (Chamberlain, Russell & Bird, 1997, p. 456). The paragraph continues with this transitional piece, followed by an unavoidably eloquent quotation “from the scholarly source previously paraphrased” (Chamberlain et. al., 1997, p. 462). The paragraph concludes with a summary of information contained in three separated sources. Especially crucial information that benefits from firm confirmation in more than one source can enhance the authority of your work (Jordan, 2001, p. 7; Robertson & Mikan, 1998, pp. 42-43; Greer, 1994, p. 781).

CSE

This paragraph demonstrates some of the possibilities for in-text citation. The paragraph’s first two sentences aren’t cited because they consist of the writer’s announcement of what will follow. This sentence consists of a summary of information from a newspaper article that has no known author1. This passage comprises a paraphrase of several lines from the same article. Because it’s from the same article as the first citation in the paragraph, only the page number is indicated in the citation, except in CSE1. According to Jones,

The passage’s second paragraph opens with a transition sentence in which the writer connects information from the preceding paragraph to information that will appear in this paragraph. Now, the writer executes a paraphrase several lines long from a scholarly journal article written by three researchers. The style of the paragraph is the writer’s, not the sources’. The writer has absorbed the information to such an extent that he or she can render it entirely in the style adopted in the research paper4. The paragraph continues with this transitional piece, followed by an unavoidably eloquent quotation “from the scholarly source previously paraphrased”4. The paragraph concludes with a summary of information contained in three separated sources. Especially crucial information that benefits from firm confirmation in more than one source can enhance the authority of your work5,6,7.

Good luck!