When you write a research paper, you use information and facts from a variety of resources to support your own ideas to develop new ones. You cite these sources for the following reasons:
To Give Credit
Giving credit to the original source acknowledges experts and scholars for their contribution. In some fields, citations can lead to career advancement.
To Establish Credibility
Citations build credibility because they demonstrate how much you have read and learned, including sometimes from competing and multiple viewpoints. It will be clear to your reader that your ideas are well supported.
To Help the Reader
Citations can guide your readers to more information about your topic. They can also offer in that they suggest clues to the larger conversation in which your work is positioned.
To Participate in the Conversation
Your work contributes to ongoing intellectual conversations.
This is a sample of an MLA 8th edition paper – it covers several components including like the heading, title, page number, thesis statement, paragraph structure etc.
Instructional steps on how to effectively write a paper: https://owl.excelsior.edu
Citation guide for a Works cited page: https://www.sunywcc.edu/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/MLA8WCCGUIDE_2.17.pdf
Citation guide for In-Text Citation: https://www.sunywcc.edu/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Parenthetical-Notes_WT_LIB.pdf
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