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Citing Sources Guide

Iona University Libraries Research Guide on Citing Source

Research Paper

Goal

Summarize the scope of your research and demonstrate the importance of your study.

Title

Descriptive title
Sentence case:
- Capitalize the first word
- Capitalize the first word following a colon or em dash
- Capitalize proper nouns
- Capitalize nouns followed by a numeral or letter
- All other words in lower case
Do not end with a period - your title should not be a sentence
Do not start with an article
Use plain (no bold, italics, or special fonts)

Author(s) & Affiliations

List names of everyone who contributed - you need to include your research advisor - any lab partners, or other colleagues
The lead author (usually you) name goes first
Affiliation usually will be Iona University

Body

Written in third person
Written in passive voice
Be sure to include
- the importance of the research
- any problems you attempted to solve
- the approaches and methods you took
- an overview, not too much detail
- a conclusion but not specific results
200 - 500 words (follow instructions of your professor)

Title

Follow the rules under Abstract

Introduction

Importance
What is currently known/accepted
What are you trying to prove

Results

Explain results as they relate to what you are trying to prove
Use graphs to illustrate your findings

Conclusion

What were your results
What questions or methods should be explored further
What questions arise from the results which need to be studied

Acknowledgments

Anyone who helped or provided funding

References

Use ACS formatting