Research Paper – Citation Log Submission – NTR110 W3 Paper Citation Log Sub.
Begin your works cited page by submitting at least five (5) credible resources for your research paper topic in APA format, expanding upon the resources mentioned in your paper topic proposal submission. Use the Purdue Online Writing Lab (owl.purdue.edu) for guidelines on specific APA formatting instructions.
Format for each citation listed in research paper log:
-Your Source Cited at the Top in APA Manual of Style-
AND THEN A PARAGRAPH DISCUSSING THE SOURCE COMPOSED OF THREE (3) PARTS
I. A summary of the source and its overall argument:
- What is the author’s thesis in the piece? (Make sure you give the source’s actual argument, not just its topic.) How does the author go about supporting this message or main point? Can you identify the critical approach the writer takes? (meaning, is he/she relying on scientific information, a political argument, personal anecdote, etc). If the source does not contain an argument, make sure you identify and convey the source’s key points and main ideas in your annotation.
II. Some description of the critical source’s credibility–this section should not be as lengthy as the other two sections)
- It is a reputable source or site and how can you tell? What is the publisher or organization behind it and may they have any kind of bias or angle? Who is the intended audience? Is the article published in a journal or newspaper (if you used Google News, Scholar) or an academic book? (such as through Google Books)
- What do you know about the work’s author? Is there a brief bio near the article or can you do a search on the author’s name to see his/her background? What is his/her credentials (expert how? degrees, experience?). No need to lengthily elaborate upon this in your annotations but addressing the scholars background is helpful.
- Does anything about the source seem less credible or reputable? (is it on a site that is not academic, is it surrounded by ads or unsavory photos? Is it written in a style that is more casual or with errors, or does it merely rely on opinion?)
III. An evaluation and critique of the source: What do you think of this piece of research? What are its strengths and weaknesses? How does it add to your understanding of your topic? How useful is this source overall? Be specific. Remember that “it is interesting” or “this gives me good information” without elaboration is not specific enough. You want to be clear how this particular source connects to your work and would be essential to your paper and provides something that other sources do not.
An example paragraph to illustrate proper form:
[APA citation goes here]
In her sprawling work, historian Joanne Rappaport further complicates the already complex nature of socioracial classifications in Latin America. In opting to foreground mestizaje—as opposed to other studies which foreground the nature of Africanness or indigenity in their examinations—Joanne Rappaport highlights how understandings of “the Mestizo” are problematic, as they focus on “who was a mestizo” and “what was a mestizo” instead of the process in which mestizos were identified and named. By challenging current historical understandings regarding racial classification in Latin America, Rappaport is able to further establish the colonial markers used to classify diversity and race in Latin America, and in doing so, challenges historians to ask new questions about race, parentage, classification, caste, and exclusion in Latin America. As a result, this work could be of vitally significant use to any scholar, writer, or student seeking to further complicate the socioracial classifications in Latin America and could be of special use for anyone who wishes to use Rappaport’s insights as a lens to shed new light on existing primary sources or secondary materials.
The Research Paper – Citation Log guidelines/grading criteria can be found in the Grading Rubrics booklet.
