By: Alyson Rafferty
Suppose you are a high school student writing your first
research paper, or maybe you are a first generation college student who
wants to better understand the requirements of your final paper worth over
half your grade.
Here are some reasons as to why we
assign the research paper for ASLU courses and why citing is required for
your paper.
First, research papers consist of two type of citations.
Research
papers include a reference list at the end of your paper listing the
information about your sources and in-text citations for quotes that
are directly pulled from a source.
We, (here at ASLU), want to help develop the skill of being
able to cite sources in a research paper, specifically for college and
beyond. Typically, information we learn in the process of writing a research
paper is not always prior knowledge.
Therefore, in order to include the new information to
support our thesis and create a deeper discussion, we cite the sources of
new information. While also including our own thoughts, insights, and
conclusions on said information, if permissible.
Proper citations makes it clear which words are yours and
which words are from the sources you are using. Listing the (Last Name,
Year) at the end of a paragraph without quotations can lead to confusion
about if the entire paragraph is from the source.
Another reason to include the research paper as an assignment
is for the possibility of your research to be built upon and used in the
future. If there are proper
citations in your paper, people will be able to verify where your
information is from. With proper citations other people can use your work
and/or the work you included in another research paper or project.
One of the most
important reasons to learn and be able to use citations properly is to avoid
being accused of plagiarism. If the person reading your paper cannot
distinguish between which information was from your brain and which
information is from your sources, odds are you will be accused of
plagiarizing your paper.
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