How to Cite a Research Paper for Maximum Credibility

How do you cite a research paper and get the highest score imaginable? Let us preface our instruction manual for students by saying that citations are an imperative part of academic writing that determines how well you can credit other scholars and recognize their earlier contributions. They are also defined as a standard academic practice that prevents beginner researchers from committing the ultimate intellectual theft, including relevant data or theory without acknowledging the original authority. We can use an academic journal publication as a vivid example. Paraphrasing a few life-changing quotes from the article would be insufficient to trace the origin of the idea. All research papers must specifically mention the author’s name, title, and publication date to avoid severe academic consequences.

How to Cite a Research Paper in APA Style

APA style is commonly used in psychology, education, social sciences, and health-related fields. The APA style is meant to highlight the publication date and emphasize the author. 

APA Reference Format

Author. (Year). Title of the paper. Journal Name, volume (issue), page range. DOI or URL

Main APA Rules

• Use the author’s last name and first initial
• Publication date should be used in parentheses
• Titles use sentence case
• Journal titles are italicized
• DOI is preferred over URL

APA Example

Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modeling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009. doi.org

In-text Citation

• Paraphrase: (Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts, Wardle, 2010)
• Direct quote: (Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts, Wardle, 2010, p. 39)

APA is normal for citing research paper assignments that feature extensive statistical data, tables, diagrams, and charts, as well as social science studies and psychology publications.

How to Cite a Research Paper in MLA Format

MLA format is ideal for literature, language studies, and the humanities. It puts the main emphasis on the author of the publication and must emphasize the page number you are citing from, not the publication year/date, much like APA format does in formal documents.

MLA Reference Format

Author. “Title of the Article.” Name of Journal or Website, publication date, URL. Date of access.

Main MLA Rules

• Place the titles of articles in quotation marks to indicate a formal citation
• Italicize journal or website names as part of the MLA formatting structure 
• Access dates should be included if you are using online sources in your research 
• No parentheses should be included around the publication year in MLA format

MLA Example

Eve, Martin Paul, and Joe Street. "The Silicon Valley Novel." Literature and History, vol. 27, no. 1, May 2018, pp. 81–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306197318755680.

In-text Citation

• (Eve, Street 82)
• If no page number (Eve, Street)

Some students find themselves at a crossroads, where they still don’t know how to cite a research paper in MLA but would like to handle the challenge using their own academic knowledge. While relying on writing professionals who can write my paper and do the heavy lifting can be a life-saving move, you must still understand the foundation of paper citation guidelines for college. This also refers to anonymous sources in MLA, where the students are required to lead with the article title placed in the quotation marks.

How to Cite a Research Paper in Chicago Style

Chicago style citation is standard for history, business, and some social sciences. The citation style has two main systems: Notes and Bibliography and Author-Date. Researchers can apply one of the following approaches in writing to format correctly:

• Using footnotes and endnotes
• Full citation provided in a bibliography

Chicago Bibliography Example

Lepore, Jill. "The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity." The Journal of American History 84, no. 2 (1997): 489–519. doi.org.

Chicago Footnote Example

1. Jill Lepore, "The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity," The Journal of American History 84, no. 2 (1997): 492.

When to Use Chicago

• When doing historical or archival work and research
• When writing papers with source tracking required
• When performing complex academic writing

How to Cite a Research Paper in ASA Style

What is ASA, and how to cite a research paper in this style? ASA style is a standard style of the American Sociological Association. It is primarily used in sociology and related fields. ASA shares similarities with APA but differs from it in punctuation rules and structure requirements.

ASA Example

Vallas, Steven P. and Juliet B. Schor. 2020. "What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy." Annual Review of Sociology 46(1):273–94.

In-text Citation

(Vallas and Schor 2020).

When to use ASA

• Sociology papers of various academic levels
• Social behavior research for college
• Demographic and sociological studies

Common Citation Mistakes to Avoid

How to cite a research paper and still make sure your writing has a certain academic edge that will leave your professor wondering if they are dealing with someone extremely talented? Here are the most common mistakes that can quite literally destroy your grade if you are not paying attention:

• Using paraphrasing as a tool. Just because you have swapped the most intricate-sounding phrases with something less technical and more familiar does not mean that the plagiarism accusations are nonexistent. Changing the words does not turn you into the sole author of a specific idea or concept, and you still have to credit the original publication, even if your intellectual theft has been accidental. 
• Mixing the citation styles randomly. Mixing formatting styles in an academic paper is not the best way to gain academic credibility and secure the best grades. It is pointless, can disrupt your academic performance, and hints at poor research. Instructors do not usually appreciate grading papers with APA in-text citations and MLA Works Cited pages, as it creates unnecessary chaos and confusion.
• Neglecting the details. Even though missing a page number or confusing publication dates might seem like innocuous errors that do not affect the overall structure of your research, they can nevertheless be the main culprits that cause your professor to deduct points from you or send your paper for revision. This is why students must always treat their academic papers with precision and double-check their guidelines before submission.
• Using irrelevant sources. The modern academic world does not forgive ignorance and failing to meet its standards. Information truly evolves at the speed of light, so you should never include an outdated source in your reference list if you are not 100% sure that it is extracted from up-to-date databases and can be easily verified. You should only cite sources that are clickable, relevant, and legitimate.
• Listing ghost sources. Never use sources that have not been directly mentioned in the text. If you did not actually paraphrase a source within your main narrative, it would make no sense for you to suddenly include it in your reference list. Think of it like this: every entry must have its matching partner in the text. If this is not the case, it must be removed from the bibliography.