Exercises

1. In this chapter, you learned strategies for using APA and MLA style documentation and formatting in a research paper. Locate a source that uses APA or MLA style, such as an article in a professional journal in the sciences or social sciences. Identify these key components of an APA or MLA paper in your example: the abstract, section heads, in-text citations, and references list.

2. Check one of your assignments for correct APA or MLA formatting and citations. (You may wish to conduct this activity in two sessions—one to edit the body of the paper and one to edit the references section.) Check for the following:

• All components of an APA or MLA paper are included.
• The title page (or title block) and body of the paper are correctly formatted.
• In-text, or parenthetical, citations are complete and correctly formatted.
• Sources cited within the paper match the sources listed in the references or works cited section.
• The references or works cited section uses correct formatting and lists entries in alphabetical order.

3. As electronic media continually change, guidelines for citing electronic sources are continually updated. Identify three new or emerging forms of electronic media not listed in this text—for instance, virtual communities, such as Second Life, or social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace. Answer the following questions:

• Under what circumstances would this media be a useful source of information for a research paper? How might students use these sources to conduct research five or ten years from now?
• What information would a student need to provide if citing this source? Why?
• Develop brief guidelines for how to cite the emerging media source types you identified.