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Naugatuck Valley HIST 1016 U.S. History From Reconstruction

U.S. History from Reconstruction

Citation Tools

What's the difference between APA and MLA?

Here are some key differences between APA and MLA:

APA MLA
 American Psychological Association  Modern Language Association
 used in science, psychology, sociology, human services  used in english, communications, philosophy, foreign language
 citation page is called "References"  citation page is called "Works Cited"
 focused on author and date of publication  focused on author and title

 

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Five Good Research Questions

When writing argumentative papers try to answer these five questions.  You cannot be sure your readers will accept your claim(s), but you make it more likely that they will take your claim and you more seriously.

  1. What is your claim?
  2. What reasons support it?
  3. What evidence supports those reasons?
  4. How do you respond to objections and alternative views?
  5. What principle makes your reasons relevant to your claim?

Turabian, Kate L, Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. A Manual for Writers
       of Research Papers, Theses and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers.                 2013. Print. page 51.

Some questions that can be asked to help determine if a research question is appropriate for academic research:

  1. Can the question be answered yes or no?
  2. Can the question be answered in a single paragraph?
  3. Have entire books been written to answer this question?
  4. Would this question be answered by compiling a set of facts or a list?
  5. Would answering this question help someone else who has an interest in this topic?

Dr. Smita Avasthi  Teaching Information Literacy Threshold Concepts  (pg 8 of 29).