Many research assignments ask you to support a thesis with well-organized evidence. To do so, you need to conduct library research, being careful to evaluate sources and manage the information you gather. You also need to choose a documentation style.
Most writing assignments in the social sciences are either reports of original research or reviews of the literature written about a research topic. Often an original research report contains a review of the literature section that places the writer’s project in the context of previous research.
Most social science instructors will ask you to document your sources with the American Psychological Association (APA) system of citations.
You face several challenges when writing a social science paper that draws on written sources:
forming and supporting a thesis
avoiding plagiarism
integrating quotations and other source material
citing sources in your text
creating a list of references at the end of your text
When you do your library research, you want to be sure to capture all the information you need to document each source. With citation-at-a-glance, you can see exactly what information to gather and where to find it in your sources.
Directory to APA in-text citation models
Directory to APA reference list models
Directory to Citation at a glance: APA style
Directory to APA model papers