What Are The Main Research Paper Citation Rules: Expert Advice?

As you begin writing your research paper citation, go through your college or University’s guidelines. Do not steal other’s words and avoid plagiarism at all cost. Plagiarism is the serious breach of academic codes of conduct.

What is research paper citation?

Citation is the attached reference in the alphanumeric expression to any published or unpublished source.

Why research paper citation is mandatory?

Whenever we quote our ideas based on any individual’s work, citation of the research paper becomes necessary. Citation adds authenticity to the written material. It also proves that the writer has referred a variety of resources following the standard practice. This is the best way where writer stays safe following serious codes of conduct.

General rules to be followed while citing resources:

Text formatting basics of MLA (Modern Language Association):

This citation style is followed in liberal arts and humanities. This style includes standards of text formatting, reference citations and reference paper structures while writing the assignments. The fonts, margins, headings, line spacing’s etc can be easily applied. For example margins are uniformly 1 inch distributed from all the four corners. The text is written with 12 points font. One space is used after punctuations and the periods.

Reference Citation details: Most of the authors sometimes use more than 10 sources. Hence, these data should be cited appropriately to offer deserving credit to the authors. Citations are attached with the text. You do not require preparing footnotes, endnotes etc as the process is exceptionally easy. Simply cite in author and the page number and your job of research citation gets completed.

Reliability of the citation resources: While you write a paper, citation becomes important to make your position strong. When you are citing online resources, be careful regarding the sources as all of them are not valid. Support your paper with endnotes offering explanations and comments. This is necessary when you are including additional references. Follow MLA guidelines to validate your research paper resources.

Literary Piracy: There are colossal papers available online and hence most of the writers have a temptation for copy and paste technique while composing their ideas. MLA standards are formulated to prevent plagiarism while citing the resources properly. Never borrow the content from anywhere as your research papers can be checked in few seconds through plagiarism checker tools.

Apart from MLA citation styles, there are many other citation patterns you can follow. Simply ask PaperWritingPros and follow their formatting instructions.