References are one of the most important parts of a term paper. They lend to the paper legitimacy as to content. They provide research and a means to prove what has been stated. They are included in the last page of a paper and are usually associated with academic writings. When putting down an academic script, it is nearly impossible to derive all the thoughts and arguments from self and thus the need for research and outsourcing information from other authors that have better knowledge of the subject at hand than you. Since you will copy their ideas, you have to cite the quotations and these are all indicated in the reference page.

The usual case scenario is you are given an assignment and your instructor or professor indicates how many sources they need to have in the paper. Well the professor is not always precise to the point and in your research you may come across more information than you may have previously foreseen. In such a case, always be sure to get the green light from your professor if you should add more sources than they indicated. It?s only a show of good faith and is shows that you are a lot more dedicated to doing your assignment with more seriousness than others would tag to it.

When it comes to writing references, the key is in using many resources. Information can be got from websites, databases, print sources like books and newspapers, journals, and many others. When doing your research, don?t throw your whole weight on websites and ignore print sources. When you do an assortment of many sources, the impression derived is that you took the assignment seriously and took some good time to do your research thoroughly. But when you depend on one source like the internet, it gives the impression that you narrowed your research to finding and clicking only. The idea is to use as many sources as you can. You get more points that way.

Also when writing references, be sure that they are in accordance with the dates that the professor may have instructed. Not all things are constant and some are prone to change. That means that some findings that are a decade old may be disapproved ten years later owing to fresh findings. That is to say, keep in mind the date of the resources that you are using. Make sure they are all recent if that is the requirement and cite exactly when the works were published. If they don?t meet the date requirements they simply don?t qualify.

References are usually formatted differently depending on the style of writing that you are using. The most common are MLA, APA, Harvard and Chicago. Each of these styles demands a certain format when it comes to putting down the references. Make sure you honor these formats if you want to score the points. If you are unsure about a certain style, it never hurts to confirm with your professor about it. All references are written in the last pages of compilations. This applies to all the citation styles.

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Article Submitted By: Kenneth Elliott
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