research papers unpublished

Guide to Sources for Finding Unpublished Research

Unpublished research.

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• Clinical Research in Progress
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• Institutional Repositories
• Preprint Servers
• Finding Theses

This guide takes you through the tools and resources for finding research in progress and unpublished research in Paramedicine. 

What do we mean by unpublished?  

Typically we mean anything that is publicly available on the internet that isn't published formally in a journal article or conference proceedings.  By their nature these  unpublications  are varied but might include things like: 

• Preprints, work in progress or an early version of an article intended for publication that is made available for comment by interested researchers, 
• Presentations, posters, conference papers  published on personal websites or research networks like  ResearchGate  or  Mendeley ,
• Theses and dissertations  published on the web or through repositories.

Unpublished research can be harder to find a number of reasons.  There is no one place to look. You have to dig a little deeper.  The tools you can use o do this are covered in this  Guide . Also, there isn't that much of it.  There are a number of reasons for this. Paramedic researchers are relatively few and widely dispersed geographically and across different organizations (academic and EMS/Ambulance Services).  Compared to similar areas Paramedic research is in the early stages of development.  To use an analogy, Paramedic research is till taxing up the runway while other areas are already up and flying. It's not impossible; it's just harder than in more established research areas.

Why would you want to look?

If you are wondering why you would want to search for  unpublished  material, there could be a number of reasons: 

• Completeness,   if you need to cover a complete topic including work in progress and projects and ideas that haven't made it to formal publication,
• Real- world  examples and case studies , not every project or every implementation will make it to formal publication but may be reported informally as a presentation, theses or dissertation,
• Currency,   the lengthy publication process encourages researchers to find alternative routes to promote research in progress to share ideas and inform current practice. Typically this would be preprints but there are other informal methods such as copies of posters and presentations. 
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• Last Updated: Nov 9, 2023 10:51 PM
• URL: https://ambulance.libguides.com/unpublishedresearch

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How to Cite an Unpublished Paper or Manuscript in APA Referencing

• 3-minute read
• 23rd June 2020

Did you know that you can cite unpublished works, such as in-progress research papers or manuscripts, in an essay? Well, you can! The key is citing them correctly. And in this post, we will look at how to cite an unpublished paper or manuscript in APA referencing .

How to Cite an Unpublished Paper in APA referencing

In APA referencing, you can cite an unpublished work in the same way as you would a published one. This means giving an author’s name and a date in brackets . The only difference is that you give a year of production (i.e., when the paper was written) rather than a year of publication:

Few fully understand the publication process (Clarke, 2020).

Like other sources, if you name the author in the text, you do not need to repeat it in the brackets. And if you quote an unpublished paper, you should give page numbers. For example:

According to Clarke (2020), publication “is a complex process” (p. 20).

When a paper has been accepted for publication but not yet published, however, you should use the term “in press” in place of a year in citations:

Few fully understand the publication process (Clarke, in press).

How to Reference an Unpublished Work in APA Referencing

When adding an unpublished paper to an APA reference list , the correct format will depend on where it is in the publication process. But let’s start with works that will not be published at all (e.g., a paper that the author never submitted or that the publisher rejected).

In this case, the correct format is:

Author Surname, Initial(s). (Year of Production). Title of manuscript [Unpublished manuscript]. Department, University Name.

So, in practice, we could cite an unpublished paper like this:

Clarke, J. (2020). The publication process explained [Unpublished manuscript]. School of Journalism, Media and Performance, University of Central Lancashire.

Referencing a Work Submitted for Publication

If a paper has been submitted for publication but not yet accepted, the reference should state “manuscript submitted for publication.” However, you should not include any other information about the submission, such as where it was submitted, as this information could go out of date quickly.

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The correct format in this case is therefore:

Author Surname, Initial(s). (Year of Production). Title of manuscript [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Department, University Name.

For example, we would list the paper above as follows:

Clarke, J. (2020). The publication process explained [Manuscript submitted for publication]. School of Journalism, Media and Performance, University of Central Lancashire.

Referencing a Paper in Press

If a paper has been accepted for publication, use the following format:

Author Surname, Initial(s). (in press). Title. Periodical or Journal Title .

As you can see, we now include both:

• The phrase “in press” to show that the paper has been accepted by the journal and is now awaiting publication.
• The title of the journal that accepted it (note, too, that we only use italics for the journal title here, not the title of the paper itself).

In practice, then, we would reference a paper awaiting publication like this:

Clarke, J. (in press). The publication process explained, Publishing Research Quarterly .

It is always worth checking the status of submitted papers before finalizing your reference list, too, as they can go from “submitted for publication” to “in press” quite suddenly, leaving your reference out of date.

Hopefully, you will now be able to cite an unpublished paper or manuscript correctly. But if you would like any further help with your writing, why not submit a document for proofreading ?

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APA Referencing - Education & CCSC students: Unpublished or informally published work

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Unpublished or informally published work

How to reference an unpublished or informally published work.

As with all referencing in academic writing, referencing is a matter of establishing the authority of the source or information you are relying upon as evidence to support the claims you make in your writing. This is the reason for peer review as it is a process that establishes the authority of a work through expert checking. Peer-reviewed published works are accepted as having greater authority than works that are not peer reviewed. Sometimes, however, the most useful research article might not be available as a peer-reviewed published article but it is available to us in an unpublished form. Use other peer-reviewed articles if possible but if there is a lack of published research reports and, for example, a pre-press version is available directly from the author, you may use it. Check whether the article has been published before submitting your final assignment or thesis and, if it has, reference the final version, taking into account any changes that the editors may have required in the peer-review process.

Unpublished and informally published works include:

• work in progress
• work submitted for publication
• work prepared for publication but not submitted

a university website

An electronic archive such as academia.edu or researchgate.

• the author's personal website

In-text citation

Reference list

Author, A. A. (Year).  Title of manuscript.  Unpublished manuscript [or "manuscript submitted for publication," or "Manuscript in preparation"].

If the unpublished manuscript is from a university, give this information at the end.

If you locate the work on an electronic archive, give this information at the end.

If a URL is available, give it at the end. 

If you use a pre-print version of an article that is later published, reference the published version.

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APA 7th Edition Style Guide: Unpublished Manuscripts/Informal Publications (i.e. course packets and dissertations)

• About In-text Citations
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Formatting your References

Once you type your references on the reference page, you will need to put in a hanging indent and double-space the entire reference list. In Microsoft Word, highlight the references from A to Z, then find the paragraph function in the Word ribbon. Select Hanging under Indentation and Double under spacing. See the Formatting your References tab for instructions on doing this on a Mac or in Google Docs.

Abbas, D. D. F. (2020). Manipulating of audio-visual aids in the educational processes in Al-Hilla University College. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 24 (3), 1248-1263. https://doi.org.db12.linccweb.org/10.37200/ijpr/v24i3/pr200875

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Out of sight but not out of mind: how to search for unpublished clinical trial evidence

• Related content
• Peer review
• An-Wen Chan , assistant professor and Phelan scientist
• 1 Women’s College Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Corrrespondence to: A-W Chan anwen.chan{at}utoronto.ca

A key challenge in conducting systematic reviews is to identify the existence and results of unpublished trials, and unreported methods and outcomes within published trials. An-Wen Chan provides guidance for reviewers on adopting a comprehensive strategy to search beyond the published literature

Summary points

The validity of systematic reviews relies on the identification of all relevant evidence

Systematic reviewers should search for unpublished information on the methods and results of published and unpublished clinical trials

The potential sources of unpublished information on clinical trials have expanded over recent years

Recognition of the strengths and limitations of these key information sources can help to identify areas for further emphasis and improvement

Systematic reviews of randomised trials play a key role in guiding patient care and health policy. Their validity depends to a large extent on reviewers’ ability to retrieve relevant information from all existing trials. Unfortunately, about half of clinical trials remain unpublished after receiving ethics approval—particularly those with statistically non-significant findings. 1 Even when published, most journal articles do not report all of the outcome data or key methodological information. 2 3 The overall result is that the published literature tends to overestimate the efficacy and underestimate the harms of a given intervention, while providing insufficient information for readers to evaluate the risk of bias.

It is thus important that systematic reviewers adopt a comprehensive strategy to search beyond the published literature. The optimal systematic review would have complete information about every trial—the full protocol, final study report, raw dataset, and any journal publications and regulatory submissions. 4 The eligibility and risk of bias for each trial could then be evaluated, regardless of its publication status.

There are several potential sources of unpublished information on trial methods and results (table ⇓ ). These sources can help to identify the existence and results of unpublished trials, as well as unreported outcomes within published trials. They can also provide methodological information that facilitates assessment of risk of bias, including the detection of discrepancies between unpublished and published methods. 5 6 Systematic reviewers should consider using all potential information sources as part of their search strategy, while keeping in mind the strengths and limitations of each source (table ⇓ ).

Potential sources of unpublished information on trial methods and results

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Trial registries and results databases

Trial registries serve as a readily accessible online resource for identifying unpublished trials and unreported outcomes. Since 2005, prospective trial registration has gained broad acceptance as an important means of enhancing transparency and tracking the existence of clinical trials at inception. Key stakeholders—including medical journal editors, legislators, and funding agencies—provide enforcement mechanisms that have greatly improved adherence to registration practices.

Basic protocol information on ongoing and completed trials of any intervention type can be retrieved via the World Health Organization’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform Search Portal ( www.who.int/trialsearch/ ). This searches records from national and international trial registries that meet certain standards, including WHO Primary Registries and ClinicalTrials.gov. Users can search the main registry fields using key words related to the study topic, sponsor, recruitment status, and sites. When the same trial is registered in multiple registries, the WHO Search Portal displays similar records together to facilitate identification of duplicate records. Some registry websites also provide access to the history of changes to the registered information fields.

In addition to basic protocol information, certain registries house study results. Since 2008, ClinicalTrials.gov has had the legislative mandate to record summary results for trials (other than phase I) that involve a drug or device regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration. 7 Sponsors are required by law to provide summary baseline and outcome data, which are displayed in a standard format.

Some pharmaceutical companies also maintain their own voluntary trial registers and results databases for drugs that have received regulatory approval. Systematic reviews have previously incorporated unpublished data retrieved from industry registers. 8 These public registers provide a synopsis of trial methods and summary results as dictated by company policy. Information is presented in various formats with non-standardised content. For certain companies, there may be information posted for older trials of some marketed interventions. It should be noted that ClinicalStudyResults.org, the results database launched by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations in 2004, was to be discontinued by the end of 2011 because of overlap with other registries.

Beyond basic protocol information and results, trial registries have the potential to be the repository for full protocols. Legislation in the US allows for the possibility of requiring submission of full protocols to ClinicalTrials.gov for applicable trials. 7 Furthermore, certain pharmaceutical companies are recognising the importance of public access to full protocols and have committed to posting them on their register for all published trials. 9 These are promising first steps towards facilitating access to protocols for all trials, regardless of publication status.

Despite their importance, trial registries and results databases have several limitations. Firstly, there is no universal mechanism for ensuring adherence to standards for registration or results disclosure, meaning that not all trials will be captured. Journal policy will be ineffective for trials that are not intended for publication, while current legislation does not pertain to procedural, educational, and other unregulated interventions. Secondly, the quality of registered information is highly variable and often uninformative. 7 10 11 12 13 Changes to registered information are common, 12 meaning that systematic reviewers should review the history of amendments for each registry record. Thirdly, even when a trial is fully registered with complete summary results presented, there is a limited amount of methodological information available that is largely inadequate for assessing the risk of bias. 10 This concern would be addressed if full protocols were made available on the registries. 9 14 Finally, most trials will not have been registered prior to the introduction of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors policy and WHO standards in 2005.

Regulatory agencies

Regulatory agencies have access to substantially more clinical trial information than the healthcare providers, patients, and researchers who use and evaluate the interventions. Successful attempts to obtain access to regulatory data have previously necessitated litigation and incurred lengthy delays. 15 16 17 Over recent years, regulatory agencies have recognised the need to address this untenable situation by increasing public access to information from regulatory submissions. 18 19

There are currently two main routes for reviewers to obtain trial data from regulatory agencies—scientific reviews posted in online databases, 20 21 and written requests to regulatory agencies. 15 Scientific reviews of regulatory submissions contain a narrative summary of the clinical trials that form the basis for approval of regulated drugs. These documents are generally available on searchable internet databases provided by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency:

Drugs@FDA— www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/drugsatfda/index.cfm

European public assessment reports (EPAR)— www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index.jsp?curl=pages/medicines/landing/epar_search.jsp&murl=menus/medicines/medicines.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac058001d125&jsenabled=true

Relevant clinical trial summaries are generally labelled as “Statistical review” on Drugs@FDA, and “Scientific Discussion” in EPAR. The Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency in Japan ( http://www.pmda.go.jp/english/service/approved.html ) also posts a limited number of reviews with English translations for select drugs and devices.

Limitations of the scientific reviews obtained from regulatory agency websites include the variable presentation format and the lack of text search facility for some scanned documents. In addition, the content is not standardised, information deemed to be commercially sensitive is redacted, and insufficient methodological detail is provided to assess the risk of bias for a trial. Furthermore, many trials are not included in regulatory databases, such as trials of devices and non-regulated interventions. Most trials conducted after regulatory approval would not be captured. For the European Medicines Agency, drugs that are approved by regulators in individual countries but not the central agency will not have public assessment reports available. Drugs@FDA includes information on withdrawn drugs but does not provide scientific reviews for unapproved drugs or drugs approved before 1998.

A second approach has the potential to yield more detailed information from regulatory agencies. Reviewers can make written requests to access the trial protocols and detailed clinical study reports submitted by sponsors. As of December 2010, the European Medicines Agency has committed to accommodating such requests for documents contained in regulatory submissions for drugs, subject to redaction of commercially sensitive information. 19 This important advance will be expanded in the future to include proactive public disclosure of documents on the European Medicines Agency website as part of routine practice. The US Food and Drug Administration has previously granted access to clinical trial documents in response to litigation relating to freedom of information requests 16 17 and is also exploring ways to increase transparency. 18

Limitations of this second approach include potentially lengthy delays in receiving a final decision from regulators, resource-intensive appeals or litigation for denied requests, redaction of potentially important information from documents, and lack of information on interventions other than regulated drugs and devices.

Contacting trialists and sponsors

Systematic reviewers have had variable success in contacting trialists, clinicians, and sponsors for information about unpublished trials. 4 22 23 24 25 Efforts to obtain full trial protocols from trialists have been largely disappointing. 26 27 On the other hand, surveys soliciting information on the existence and statistical significance of unreported outcomes for published trials have had higher response rates from trialists. 28 29 These surveys have also yielded information about the reasons for changing or omitting trial outcomes.

Logistical obstacles include the burden of identifying up to date contact information and sending inquiries and reminders to a potentially large number of individuals who might have knowledge about existing trials. It is also likely that trials for which additional information is provided by investigators or sponsors will differ systematically from trials without such information provided.

Systematic reviewers will need to weigh up the potential yield and costs of contacting investigators and sponsors, which will vary depending on the topic and scope of the review. At a minimum, for each trial identified in the systematic review, it would be reasonable for reviewers to contact investigators to request full protocols as well as information on unreported outcomes, unpublished trials, and other areas of potential bias.

Other sources of information

In some cases trial protocols and results can be obtained from litigation documents. Examples include researchers who had access to internal company documents while serving as expert witnesses in litigation against pharmaceutical companies. 30 31 32 In many jurisdictions, these documents are deemed confidential and their use is restricted to the purposes of the particular litigation—unless unsealed through a court order or agreement by the company. Systematic reviewers who are external to the litigation could submit a request to have the documents unsealed by the court to serve the public interest, although this approach has not been widely tested for pharmaceutical data. More extensive experience with public availability and archiving of litigation documents exists for other industries. 33

Another potential source of information consists of conference abstracts. 34 The Cochrane handbook lists several databases of abstracts that can be useful to search. 35 Given the limited amount of information on trial methods and results contained in abstracts, their usefulness lies mainly with identifying the existence of a trial and the types of outcomes measured.

Finally, an internet search of key words can be done to locate full trial protocols in a relatively short amount of time. The median search time in one systematic review was 12 minutes per trial, with protocols being found for five of 42 trials. 36 The retrieved documents are often those posted on the websites of specific trials, trial groups, and funders.

Conclusions

Given the dangers of selective data suppression and biased study design or conduct, it is critical that systematic reviewers search beyond the literature for additional information on both published and unpublished trials. The potential sources of information on study methods and results have expanded over recent years, particularly for pharmaceutical trials. These sources can provide complementary trial information that can be collated and compared to identify discrepancies and evaluate the risk of bias.

It is important to recognise the limitations and variable yield of existing information sources. Much work remains to ensure that comprehensive, high quality information is publicly available for all trials, including full protocols, clinical study reports, and raw datasets. 4 14 37 There is also a need to develop rigorous methods for reviewing the large amount of unpublished trial information that can potentially be retrieved. 4 15 Only with continued advances in access to clinical trial information can the systematic evaluation of health interventions become more accurate, efficient, and reliable for patient care.

Cite this as: BMJ 2012;344:d8013

• Editorials doi:10.1136/bmj.d8158

Contributors: A-WC was responsible for interpretation of information, drafting the article, and final approval of the version to be published.

Competing interests: All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form at http://www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.”

Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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• ↵ Lurie P, Zieve A. Sometimes the silence can be like the thunder: Access to pharmaceutical data at the FDA. Law Contemporary Problems 2008 ; 69 : 85 -97. OpenUrl
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• ↵ Turner EH, Matthews AM, Linardatos E, Tell RA, Rosenthal R. Selective publication of antidepressant trials and its influence on apparent efficacy. N Engl J Med 2008 ; 358 : 252 -60. OpenUrl CrossRef PubMed Web of Science
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Answered By: Paul Lai Last Updated: Jul 17, 2023     Views: 131599

Unpublished research includes work in progress, work submitted for publication but not yet published, or work that has been completed but not submitted for publication.

You will cite unpublished work the same as you would published work, with the author’s last name and the year the work is in progress or was completed.

Keep in mind that authors are protected by copyright law against unauthorized use of their unpublished research. Until their work is published, authors own the copyright to their work, and you may not use it without their permission. See more details in APA 7, Section 1.24 and ProQuest’s manual on copyright law and graduate research, Part III . 

Additional Resources:

• See APA's blog post regarding how to cite dates of unpublished research.
• See How do I cite using APA? for general citation tips.

Further Questions?

Would you like a current or future assignment to be reviewed by the Writing Center? If so please visit the Writing Center's Paper Reviews webpage and make an appointment with us!

Do you have other general writing questions? Ask OASIS  ! 

Other questions about your doctoral capstone or the form and style review? Email the form and style editors at [email protected] .

Want to peruse other writing resources? Go to the Writing Center’s home page .

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ACAP LEARNING RESOURCES

Reference in APA 7

• Printable Guides & Sample Papers
• Headings & Page Order
• ACAP Presentation Requirements This link opens in a new window
• APA Style Guidelines, Blog & Socials
• Paraphrasing
• Time Stamps, Verbatim, Transcripts & Personal Comms
• Secondary Sources
• Tables & Figures
• Missing, Same, Repeated, Multiples, Parts & Abbreviations
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• DOIs, URLs & Hyperlinks
• Missing Information
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• Reference Works
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• Religious & Ancient Works
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• YouTube & Other Streaming
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Reference Elements: Unpublished & Informally Published Material

Author, a. a., & author, b. b. (year). title of work in italics [description of unpublished manuscript]. department name, university name. https://xxxxxx, author, a. a., & author, b. b. (year). title of work in italics  (publication no. ###). name of database or archive. https://doi.org/xxxxxx.

Use specific manuscript descriptions, e.g. [Unpublished manuscript]. [Manuscript in preparation]. [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Always use a DOI if the resource has one. Include a URL if there isn't a DOI available and if it resolves without authentication. 

• REFERENCE LIST EXAMPLES
• IN TEXT EXAMPLES

Leemans, S. J. J. & Artem, P. (2019). Proofs with stochastic-aware conformance checking: An entropy-based approach  [Unpublished manuscript]. Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology.  https://eprints.qut.edu.au/129860/

Winegard, B. M., Winegard, B. M., Geary, D. C., & Clark, C. J. (2018). The status competition model of cultural production . PsyArXiv.  https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/apw5e/

Parenthetical Style

See theorem one as follows "for any log L and model M (given as SDFAs), it holds that 0 ≤ recall(L, M) ≤ 1 and 0 ≤ precision(L, M) ≤ 1" (Leemans et al., 2019, p. 2).

In this example, the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is used for its functional and aesthetic qualities (Winegard et al., 2018).

Narrative Style

Leemans et al. (2019) proposes "for any log L and model M (given as SDFAs), it holds that 0 ≤ recall(L, M) ≤ 1 and 0 ≤ precision(L, M) ≤ 1" (p. 2).

Winegard et al. (2018) use the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright house as an example for its functional and aesthetic qualities.

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APA – Citing Sources

Unpublished material.

These types of publications are manuscripts that might be submitted for publication or works in progress. In this category, you might also find manuscripts that are not formally published but are retrievable online on personal or institutional websites. If no year can be identified, use "n.d." instead (= no date).

In-text citation:

• According to a study (Blackwell & Conrod, 2003) there are . . .
• Blackwell and Conrod (2003) argue that . . .

In the reference list:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Title of manuscript .  [Unpublished manuscript or Manuscript submitted for publication or Manuscript in preparation]. https://xxxx

If a university or other organization can be identified:

Author, A. A., & Author, B.B. (year). Title of manuscript . [Unpublished manuscript or Manuscript submitted for publication or Manuscript in preparation], Department, University. https://xxxx

Reference example:

Blackwell, E., & Conrod, P. J. (2003). A five-dimensional measure of drinking motives . [Unpublished manuscript], Department of Psychology, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada.

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Citation Guide: How to cite UNPUBLISHED SOURCES

• APA General Guidelines
• Citing Common Resources
• MLA General Guidelines
• Author/Editor ASA Format
• Basic ASA Rules
• How to cite AUDIO/VISUAL MATERIALS
• How to cite BOOKS, eBOOKS, and CHAPTERS
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• How to cite JOURNALS
• How to cite NEWSPAPERS
• How to cite PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS
• How to cite WEBSITES
• In-text Citations
• Citation Software - Zotero

Theses and Dissertations

Note :       Note number. Author First Last Name, “Title” (Type of dissertation, Location of Publisher, Year of Pub.), pages cited, URL or database (if online).

Sample Note :

      43. Afrah Daaimah Richmond, “Unmasking the Boston Brahmin: Race and Liberalism in the Long Struggle for Reform at Harvard and Radcliff, 1945-1990” (PhD diss., New York University, 2011), 211-12, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.

Bibliography :

Author Last, First Name. “Title.” Type of Dissertation, Location of Publisher, Year of Pub. URL or database (if online).

Sample Citation :

Culcasi, Karen Leigh. “Cartographic Representations of Kurdistan in the Print Media.” Master’s Thesis, Syracuse University, 2003.

Lectures or Papers presented at a meeting

Note number. Author First Last Name, “Title” (Sponsor, Location, Year). URL or database (if online).

43. Irineu de Carvalho Filho and Renato P. Colistete, “Education Performance: Was it All Determined 100 Years Ago? Evidence from Sao Paulo, Brazil” (Paper presented at the 70th annual meeting of the Economic History Association, Evanston, IL, September 24-26, 2010). http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/24494/1/MPRA_paper_24494.pdf.

Bibliograpyy :

Author Last, First Name. “Title of Speech or lecture.” Sponsor, Location, Year. URL or database (if online).

Crane, Gregory R. “Contextualizing Early Modern Religion in a Digital World.” Lecture, Newberry Library, Chicago, September 16, 2011.

Carvalho Filho, Irineu de, and Renato P. Colistete. “Education Performance: Was it All Determined 100 Years Ago? Evidence from Sao Paulo, Brazil.” Paper presented at the 70 th annual meeting of the Economic History Association, Evanston, IL, September 24-26, 2010. http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/24494/1/MPRA_paper_24494.pdf.

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APA Style Examples

• Books/eBooks
• Gov't/legal

Unpublished examples

• Stats/Figures
• Ask a Librarian
• Class documents
• Interview/letter/email
• How to cite an online course or MOOC
• How to cite PowerPoint slides or lecture notes

PERSONAL COMMUNICATION

IN TEXT 

(Communicator, personal communication, Date of communication ) .

L. Mardis (personal communication, July 29, 2019) reported that the library's guides underwent usability testing.

(L. A. Mardis, personal communication, January 22, 2020 ) .

(L. A. Mardis, class handouts, January 21, 2020).

REFERENCE LIST

Mardis, L. A. (2018, October 19). Social media success in academic libraries [Interview]. Maryville, MO: Northwest

Missouri State University.

(For more examples, see p. 340 of the 7th edition)

Goldberg, I. K. (2003).    Screening for Bipolar Spectrum Disorders     [Measurement instrument]. http://psychiatryassociatespc.com/doc/Goldberg's_bipolar_screening_scale.pdf

     IN TEXT 

In this study, Goldberg's (2003) Screening for Bipolar Spectrum Disorders was used to identify whether individuals were most likely suffering from major (unipolar) depression.  

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APA Referencing: Unpublished Works

• Act of Parliament
• Apparatus or equipment
• Chapters of Edited Books
• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
• Code of ethics
• Computer software
• Conference presentations and posters
• Dictionary entry
• Dissertations
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• Pre-print or post-print
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Unpublished Works

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• How should I reference confidential material?

APA Referencing

Unpublished piece of writing (book, article, etc.)

If you download an article from a web repository, such as a preprint, postprint or e-print, you should reference as an eprint. See page on referencing preprints/eprints. An article on the internet is considered to be informally published. An example of unpublished work might be a an article that you have written or been sent by the author which has not been published, or has been submitted for publication but with no decision yet.

Author(s) (Year). Title of manuscript . [Unpublished manuscript] or [Manuscript in preparation] or [Manuscript submitted for publication].

Doe, J. (2018). How to Take Over the World . [Unpublished manuscript].

The citation in your text will be:

(Doe, 2018)

or, if you have quoted directly,

(Doe, 2018, p. 16).

If you have used the author's name in your sentence then only the year of publication, with a page reference if necessary, is placed after it in brackets, eg

Doe (2018) suggests that ...

Doe (2018, p. 16) states that ...

Other Examples

Unpublished manuscript associated with university (example from the APA Manual)

Blackwell, E. & Concord, P. J. (2003). A Five-Dimensional Measure of Drinking Motives [Unpublished manuscript]. Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia.

Manuscript submitted to a journal for publication (example from the APA Manual)

Ting, J. Y., Florsheim, P. & Huang, W. (2008). Mental health help-seeking in ethnic minority populations: A theoretical perspective [Manuscript submitted for publication].

(Ting, Florsheim & Huang, 2008)

Informally published or work published by self on website, not dated

Informally-published work (e.g. on author’s website) is not unpublished, so this is not indicated in square brackets. Such work is often cited like a webpage.

Ajzen, I. (n.d.). Designing a TPB Intervention . http://people.umass.edu/aizen/tpb.html

(Ajzen, n.d.)…

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How do I reference an unpublished document in APA style?

For an unpublished manuscript use the following format:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day).  Title of manuscript.  Unpublished manuscript, Information of electronic archive (if available).

Blackwell, E., & Conrod, P. J. (2003).  A five-dimensional measure of drinking motives.  Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

Some unpublished documents fall into the APA category of Archival Documents and Collections (Rule 7.10). Use the following format for these types of information:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day).  Title of material.  [Description of material]. Name of Collection (Call number, Box number, File name or number, etc.). Name of Repository, Location. 

This format can be modified as needed. Include as much information as you can that will direct the reader to the information source.

Frank, L.K. (1935, February 4). [Letter to Robert M Ogden]. Rockefeller Archive Center (GEB series 1.3, Box 371, Folder 3877), Tarrytown, NY.

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Answered By: Ellen Quilty Last Updated: Nov 17, 2020     Views: 6138

Links & files.

• APA Style & Grammar Guidelines : Archival Documents and Collections
• APA Style & Grammar Guidelines : Unpublished Dissertation or Thesis References
• APA 7th Referencing Guide : Other Sources - Grey Literature
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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Unpublished Manuscript or Paper

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• Permalinks, URLs, & DOIs!
• Quoting vs. Paraphrasing
• Works Cited & Paper Format
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Unpublished Manuscripts or Papers

• Student Paper (including your own!)

Unpublished Manuscript

Student Paper (including if you are citing your own previous work)

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Q&A for work

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How to cite my own submitted but not yet published work?

I plan to submit part of my current work to conference A. I then wish to submit my whole work to a more prestigious conference B. As for the part submitted to A, there is no point of repeating it again. So I will just cite my submission to A in my submission to B.

But the problem is that the submission deadlines for A and B are roughly the same. So actually the moment I submit the work to B, my partial work submitted to A has not been published yet. I have not even been notified of its acceptance.

Can I still cite it? My concern is that even if I can cite it, one will find nothing online.

• publications
• paper-submission

• 2 I definitely do not see the point of citing an unavailable paper. As you do not repeat the part of A that would also belong to B, the first thing you have to do is to make A available before submitting B. How would the referees do their work otherwise? After that, citing is an issue easily settled. –  Benoît Kloeckner Commented Aug 23, 2013 at 21:48
• @BenoîtKloeckner But as I said, their deadlines are roughly the same. By no point, you mean the reviewers will have difficulties finding the paper? If that is the case, will arXiv fix that? –  Sibbs Gambling Commented Aug 24, 2013 at 1:25
• 1 My point is indeed that the referee have to have access to the paper needed to read the paper under review. arXiv is a good solution, if it is ok with your conference, as suggested by some answers. –  Benoît Kloeckner Commented Aug 24, 2013 at 8:28

6 Answers 6

In principle you can cite other, submitted work in a research paper. Just give the authors, paper title, and either "Submitted." or "Submitted to [venue]." in the reference list.

However, both as a reviewer and reader, I usually find this disappointing. I already came across several cases where I wasn't able to find the cited paper even years after publication of the paper with the citation. It is well possible that the cited paper is rejected, and maybe someone just doesn't follow up to really get it published. As a better alternative, check whether you can put a preprint version of the paper you want to cite online (e.g. on arxiv), and just cite that.

• 3 But will putting it online say on arXiv affect the acceptance of the paper? I mean will the conference reject the paper since it is on arXiv. What's more, if the paper gets rejected, I may wish to refine it and re-submit to somewhere else. But if I put it onlione on arXiv, will anyone freely steal away my work? –  Sibbs Gambling Commented Aug 23, 2013 at 8:36
• 4 @perfectionm1ng 1) Check with the conference whether they do accept papers that have been published as preprints. 2) If someone steals from an arxiv paper, its clearly plagiarism, and you may even prevent that someone publishes the same idea before you. –  silvado Commented Aug 23, 2013 at 10:00
• 8 +1 for the suggestion to publish it on arxiv. Or just make it available on your website. In many parts of math, physics, and CS, most papers are published first this way. –  David Ketcheson Commented Aug 23, 2013 at 17:20
• 1 @DavidKetcheson May I ask most papers are published first this way for what reason? I don't understand in the cases except mine, why would they do it. –  Sibbs Gambling Commented Aug 24, 2013 at 1:27
• 6 Putting your work on the arXiv does not prevent other people to publish roughly the same thing, which sometimes happen on good faith, but it gives anteriority since the arXiv deposit is dated. –  Benoît Kloeckner Commented Aug 24, 2013 at 12:01

You are allowed to cite works in submission as part of your ongoing research; this is something I've had to do on a number of instances for publications I wrote both in graduate school and as a post-doc.

The key here is that you must cite the work only as "Submitted to Conference A" rather than a standard reference to a work published in the proceedings. You would then, if possible, provide the conference paper A as an appendix or supporting information for the referees.

Citing something that is not published will prevent reviewers from doing their job, so it's a big no-no if you want to improve your chances of being accepted. The best way to go is to be patient and submit to B next year, having had the chance to improve using the reviews from A.

If this is not at all possible, you may be able publish A right now as a technical report from your lab/department an cite it as such. You'll have to check the guidelines of both conferences, namely if A accepts material previously published as a TR (in CS at least this is very common) and if B accepts citing TRs (usually also true in CS as long as it is easily available online).

Most importantly, when citing from a non-refereed source like a TR, you have to be very prudent in the way you characterize the work. Remember that it was only accepted in your department as an interesting document, not properly validated using the scientific contribution standards of your community. If I read a claim that something was "proven", or "shown", or "demonstrated" by a tech report, I'll probably reject the paper.

In any case, do not just cite A unless it is tangential (and in that case, why cite it all?). If it's actually important, give it an overview in your B submission, sufficient for a reviewer to keep on reading.

• Just for clarification: you're saying that if I cite my older paper from my newer paper, then the reviewers of my newer paper will not be able to do their job of reviewing my newer paper by looking up references. Is that what you mean? –  jvriesem Commented Oct 5, 2019 at 16:40

I believe that there a few issues that need to be addressed in this situation:

• You believe that part A is based on fundamentally sound methodology and the findings will be accepted within the community of your discipline.
• Can you cite works in submission?
• Works in submission are not available to the public.

Whether of not Part A is widely accepted you can site it as a work in submission, the answer to the second concern is: you can also cite it as an unpublished work. For proper format check with the manual of style for your discipline.

An example of an unpublished work not submitted for publication using APA Manual of Style: Lincoln, A. (1863). The principles of human equality .. Unpublished manuscript.

An example of a work in progress or submitted but not yet accepted using APA Manual of Style: Lincoln, A. (1863). Gettysburg Address: The principles of human equality .. Manuscript submitted for publication (copy on file with author).

As far as the third concern goes, I have reviewed numerous submissions to everything from small local up to international conferences and the equivalent array of professional publications and journals, personally I prefer that a brief description of the "Part A" methods and finding be given in a manuscript. However, when it comes to an abstract and space limitations a simple "previously we (I) found...; therefore, we furthered the body of knowledge with..." was always sufficient for my standards.

Agreed with @aeismail♦, I just find a solution that indicated in IEEE conference paper template as follows:

"Papers that have not been published, even if they have been submitted for publication, should be cited as “ unpublished ”.

e.g. K. Elissa, “Title of paper if known,” unpublished."

I usually don't like to have many public versions of the same paper. I prefer releasing papers on arXiv only after receiving reviews and addressing relevant comments.

To address this issue, a solution I have been thinking about is to share the preprint I want to cite privately, i.e. only accessible for people reviewing the submission. This could be done by protecting paper access with a password that is given in the citation: e.g., J. Guerin, “Title of the paper”, unpublished, available at "URL", password:XXX. The citation can then be fixed once the cited papers is actually released.

Anyone has some comments about why this might be a bad idea? I don't see any problem so far.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged publications citations conference paper-submission ..

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Preemption Check Checklist

• Step 5: Unpublished Materials
• Getting Started
• Step 1: Search Terms
• Step 2: Law Articles
• Step 3: Non-Law Articles
• Step 4: Books
• Step 6: Current Awareness Alerts
• Additional Resources: International Law Topics

Step 5: Searching for Unpublished Articles

The publication process takes a long time—sometimes a year or more—so it's important to search for articles on your topic that have already been written but not yet published. SSRN and bepress are the best sources for unpublished articles and working papers:

• Social Science Research Network (SSRN) This link opens in a new window Try starting with a broad keyword search, then use the "Search Within Results" search box to narrow your results. & more less... Disseminates abstracts and full text documents. For case studies, click on Search then select Title Only. Then follow the instructions above (the asterisk doesn't work in SSRN so you have to type "case study" or "case studies."
• bepress Legal Repository This link opens in a new window Try both a keyword search and browsing by "Subject Areas" to find articles on your topic. & more less... The Berkeley Electronic Press hosts working papers from many law schools, including Yale, Berkeley, Michigan, and Virginia, and is especially useful for law and economics research. The searching is unreliable, but you can browse papers by topic.
• Google Scholar Useful for finding conference papers and other grey literature that is not published in article databases.

Searching for Conferences & Workshops

Check the Legal Scholarship Blog for conferences, workshops, and calls for papers on your topic. You may find that a law journal is hosting an entire symposium on your topic, or a law professor is currently researching your topic. This will alert you to potential preemption issues that may crop up down the road.

• Legal Scholarship Blog This link opens in a new window Use the search box (top right corner) or browse the subjects listed under "Categories" to find conferences related to your topic. & more less... Carries news of upcoming legal academic conferences.

Searching for Blog Posts

Search for law blog posts on your topic. While a blog post cannot preempt a scholarly article or paper on the same topic, it can help you identify scholars who are interested in your topic. You can then review their published and unpublished works, and set alerts to receive notification of their future publications.

• Justia BlawgSearch Sort by date, instead of relevance, to see the most recent posts on your topic. If you get too many results with a keyword search, try browsing the subjects listed under "Categories."

Ask a Law Librarian

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Open sourcetools

Archival Documents and Collections

Archival sources include letters, unpublished manuscripts, limited-circulation brochures and pamphlets, in-house institutional and corporate documents, clippings, and other documents, as well as such nontextual materials as photographs and apparatus, that are in the personal possession of an author, form part of an institutional collection, or are stored in an archive such as the Archives of the History of American Psychology at the University of Akron or the APA Archives. For any documents like these that are available on the open web or via a database (subscription or nonsubscription), follow the reference templates shown in Chapter 10 of the Publication Manual .

The general format for the reference for an archival work includes the author, date, title, and source. The reference examples shown on this page may be modified for collections requiring more or less specific information to locate materials, for different types of collections, or for additional descriptive information (e.g., a translation of a letter). Authors may choose to list correspondence from their own personal collections, but correspondence from other private collections should be listed only with the permission of the collector.

Archival document and collections are not presented in the seventh edition in the Publication Manual and the Concise Guide . This content is available only on the APA Style website.

Keep in mind the following principles when creating references to archival documents and collections:

• As with any reference, the purpose is to direct readers to the source, despite the fact that only a single copy of the document may be available and readers may have some difficulty actually seeing a copy.
• Include as much information as is needed to help locate the item with reasonable ease within the repository. For items from collections with detailed finding aids, the name of the collection may be sufficient; for items from collections without finding aids, more information (e.g., call number, box number, file name or number) may be necessary to help locate the item.
• If several letters are cited from the same collection, list the collection as a reference and provide specific identifying information (author, recipient, and date) for each letter in the in-text citations (see Example 3).
• Use square brackets to indicate information that does not appear on the document.
• Use “ca.” (circa) to indicate an estimated date (see Example 5).
• Use italics for titles of archival documents and collections; if the work does not have a title, provide a description in square brackets without italics.
• Separate elements of the source (e.g., the name of a repository, library, university or archive, and the location of the university or archive) with commas. End the source with a period.
• If a publication of limited circulation is available in libraries, the reference may be formatted as usual for published material, without the archival source.
• Note that private letters (vs. those in an archive or repository) are considered personal communications and cited in the text only.

Letter from a repository

Frank, L. K. (1935, February 4). [Letter to Robert M. Ogden]. Rockefeller Archive Center (GEB Series 1.3, Box 371, Folder 3877), Tarrytown, NY, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: (Frank, 1935)
• Narrative citation: Frank (1935)

Because the letter does not have a title, provide a description in square brackets.

Letter from a private collection

Zacharius, G. P. (1953, August 15). [Letter to William Rickel (W. Rickel, Trans.)]. Copy in possession of Hendrika Vande Kemp.

• Parenthetical citation: (Zacharius, 1953)
• Narrative citation: Zacharius (1953)

In this example, Hendrika Vande Kemp is either the author of the paper or the author of the paper has received permission from Hendrika Vande Kemp to cite a letter in Vande Kemp’s private collection in this way. Otherwise, cite a private letter as a personal communication .

Collection of letters from an archive

Allport, G. W. (1930–1967). Correspondence . Gordon W. Allport Papers (HUG 4118.10), Harvard University Archives, Cambridge, MA, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: (Allport, 1930–1967)
• Narrative citation: Allport (1930–1967)

To cite specific letters in the text, provide the author and range of years as shown in the reference list entry, plus details about who wrote the specific letter to whom and when the specific letter was written.

• Parenthetical citation: (Allport, 1930–1967, G. Boring to Allport, December 26, 1937)
• Narrative citation: Allport (1930–1967, Allport to G. Boring, March 1, 1939)

Use the parenthetical citation format to cite a letter that E. G. Boring wrote to Allport because Allport is the author in the reference. Use either the parenthetical or narrative citation format to cite letters that Allport wrote.

Unpublished papers, lectures from an archive or personal collection

Berliner, A. (1959). Notes for a lecture on reminiscences of Wundt and Leipzig . Anna Berliner Memoirs (Box M50), Archives of the History of American Psychology, University of Akron, Akron, OH, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: (Berliner, 1959)
• Narrative citation: Berliner (1959)

Archival/historical source for which the author and/or date is known or is reasonably certain but not stated on the document

Allport, A. (presumed). (ca. 1937). Marion Taylor today—by the biographer [Unpublished manuscript]. Marion Taylor Papers, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: (Allport, ca. 1937)
• Narrative citation: Allport (ca. 1937)

Because the author is reasonably certain but not stated on the document, place the word “presumed” in parentheses after the name, followed by a period.

Because the date is reasonably certain but not stated on the document, the abbreviation “ca.” (which stands for “circa”) appears before the year in parentheses.

Archival source with group author

Subcommittee on Mental Hygiene Personnel in School Programs. (1949, November 5–6). Meeting of Subcommittee on Mental Hygiene Personnel in School Programs . David Shakow Papers (M1360), Archives of the History of American Psychology, University of Akron, Akron, OH, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: (Subcommittee on Mental Hygiene Personnel in School Programs, 1949)
• Narrative citation: Subcommittee on Mental Hygiene Personnel in School Programs (1949)

Interview recorded and available in an archive

Smith, M. B. (1989, August 12). Interview by C. A. Kiesler [Tape recording]. President’s Oral History Project, American Psychological Association, APA Archives, Washington, DC, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: (Smith, 1989)
• Narrative citation: Smith (1989)

For interviews and oral histories recorded in an archive, list the interviewee as the author. Include the interviewer’s name in the description.

Transcription of a recorded interview, no recording available

Sparkman, C. F. (1973). An oral history with Dr. Colley F. Sparkman/Interviewer: Orley B. Caudill . Mississippi Oral History Program (Vol. 289), University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: (Sparkman, 1973)
• Narrative citation: Sparkman (1973)

Newspaper article clipping, historical, in personal collection

Psychoanalysis institute to open. (1948, September 18). [Clipping from an unidentified Dayton, OH, United States, newspaper]. Copy in possession of author.

• Parenthetical citation: (“Psychoanalysis Institute to Open,” 1948)
• Narrative citation: “Psychoanalysis Institute to Open” (1948)

Use this format only if you are the person who is in possession of the newspaper clipping.

Historical publication of limited circulation

Sci-Art Publishers. (1935). Sci-Art publications [Brochure]. Roback Papers (HUGFP 104.50, Box 2, Folder “Miscellaneous Psychological Materials”), Harvard University Archives, Cambridge, MA, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: (Sci-Art Publishers, 1935)
• Narrative citation: Sci-Art Publishers (1935)

Archived photographs, no author and no title

[Photographs of Robert M. Yerkes]. (ca. 1917–1954). Robert Mearns Yerkes Papers (Box 137, Folder 2292), Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, New Haven, CT, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: ([Photographs of Robert M. Yerkes], ca. 1917–1954)
• Narrative citation: [Photographs of Robert M. Yerkes] (ca. 1917–1954)

Because the archived photographs do not have a title, provide a bracketed description instead.

Because the archived photographs do not have an author, move the bracketed description to the author position of the reference.

U.S. Census Bureau. (1880). 1880 U.S. census: Defective, dependent, and delinquent classes schedule: Virginia [Microfilm]. NARA Microfilm Publication T1132 (Rolls 33–34), National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC, United States.

• Parenthetical citation: (U.S. Census Bureau, 1880)
• Narrative citation: U.S. Census Bureau (1880)

• USC Libraries
• Research Guides

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• 11. Citing Sources
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
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• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
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• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
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• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
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• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
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• Common Grammar Mistakes
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A citation is a formal reference to a published or unpublished source that you consulted and obtained information from while writing your research paper. It refers to a source of information that supports a factual statement, proposition, argument, or assertion or any quoted text obtained from a book, article, web site, or any other type of material . In-text citations are embedded within the body of your paper and use a shorthand notation style that refers to a complete description of the item at the end of the paper. Materials cited at the end of a paper may be listed under the heading References, Sources, Works Cited, or Bibliography. Rules on how to properly cite a source depends on the writing style manual your professor wants you to use for the class [e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, etc.]. Note that some disciplines have their own citation rules [e.g., law; medicine].

Citations: Overview. OASIS Writing Center, Walden University; Research and Citation. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Citing Sources. University Writing Center, Texas A&M University.

Citing Your Sources

Reasons for Citing Sources in Your Research Paper

English scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, once wrote, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”* Citations support learning how to "see further" through processes of intellectual discovery, critical thinking, and applying a deliberate method of navigating through the scholarly landscape by tracking how cited works are propagated by scholars over time and the subsequent ways this leads to the devarication of new knowledge.

Listed below are specific reasons why citing sources is an important part of doing good research.

• Shows the reader where to find more information . Citations help readers expand their understanding and knowledge about the issues being investigated. One of the most effective strategies for locating authoritative, relevant sources about a research problem is to review materials cited in studies published by other authors. In this way, the sources you cite help the reader identify where to go to examine the topic in more depth and detail.
• Increases your credibility as an author . Citations to the words, ideas, and arguments of scholars demonstrates that you have conducted a thorough review of the literature and, therefore, you are reporting your research results or proposing recommended courses of action from an informed and critically engaged perspective. Your citations offer evidence that you effectively contemplated, evaluated, and synthesized sources of information in relation to your conceptualization of the research problem.
• Illustrates the non-linear and contested nature of knowledge creation . The sources you cite show the reader how you characterized the dynamics of prior knowledge creation relevant to the research problem and how you managed to identify the contested relationships between problems and solutions proposed among scholars. Citations don't just list materials used in your study, they tell a story about how prior knowledge-making emerged from a constant state of creation, renewal, and transformation.
• Reinforces your arguments . Sources cited in your paper provide the evidence that readers need to determine that you properly addressed the “So What?” question. This refers to whether you considered the relevance and significance of the research problem, its implications applied to creating new knowledge, and its importance for improving practice. In this way, citations draw attention to and support the legitimacy and originality of your own ideas and assertions.
• Demonstrates that you "listened" to relevant conversations among scholars before joining in . Your citations tell the reader where you developed an understanding of the debates among scholars. They show how you educated yourself about ongoing conversations taking place within relevant communities of researchers before inserting your own ideas and arguments. In peer-reviewed scholarship, most of these conversations emerge within books, research reports, journal articles, and other cited works.
• Delineates alternative approaches to explaining the research problem . If you disagree with prior research assumptions or you believe that a topic has been understudied or you find that there is a gap in how scholars have understood a problem, your citations serve as the source materials from which to analyze and present an alternative viewpoint or to assert that a different course of action should be pursued. In short, the materials you cite serve as the means by which to argue persuasively against long-standing assumptions promulgated in prior studies.
• Helps the reader understand contextual aspects of your research . Cited sources help readers understand the specific circumstances, conditions, and settings of the problem being investigated and, by extension, how your arguments can be fully understood and assessed. Citations place your line of reasoning within a specific contextualized framework based on how others have studied the problem and how you interpreted their findings in support of your overall research objectives.
• Frames the development of concepts and ideas within the literature . No topic in the social and behavioral sciences rests in isolation from research that has taken place in the past. Your citations help the reader understand the growth and transformation of the theoretical assumptions, key concepts, and systematic inquiries that emerged prior to your engagement with the research problem.
• Underscores sources that were most important to you . Your citations represent a set of choices made about what you determined to be the most important sources for understanding the topic. They not only list what you discovered, but why it matters and how the materials you chose to cite fit within the broader context of your research design and arguments. As part of an overall assessment of the study’s validity and reliability , the choices you make also helps the reader determine what sources of research may have been excluded.
• Provides evidence of interdisciplinary thinking . An important principle of good research is to extend your review of the literature beyond the predominant disciplinary space where scholars have previously examined a topic. Citations provide evidence that you have integrated epistemological arguments, observations, and/or methodological strategies of other disciplines into your paper, thereby demonstrating that you understand the complex, interconnected nature of contemporary research topics.
• Forms the basis for bibliometric analysis of research . Bibliometric analysis is a quantitative method used, for example, to identify and predict emerging trends in research, document patterns of collaboration among scholars, explore the intellectual structure of a specific domain of research, map the development of research within and across disciplines, or identify gaps in knowledge within the literature. Bibliometric data can also be used to visually map relationships among published studies. Citations to books, journal articles, research reports, and other publications represent the raw data used in bibliometric research.
• Reveals possible adherence to the principles of citational justice. Citational justice refers to equity in the inclusion of sources published by authors who are members of marginalized or underrepresented groups that are often under-cited because of their background, community of origin, identity, or location. In so doing, this movement “challenges entrenched hierarchies and biases in knowledge production.” ** Within this context, the sources cited in your paper can help the reader obtain a more inclusive divergency of voices and perspectives about how a research problem can be understood, contextualized, and investigated.
• Supports critical thinking and independent learning . Evaluating the authenticity, reliability, validity, and originality of prior research is an act of interpretation and introspective reasoning applied to assessing whether a source of information will contribute to understanding the problem in ways that are persuasive and align with your overall research objectives. Reviewing and citing prior studies represents a deliberate act of critically scrutinizing each source as part of your overall assessment of how scholars have confronted the research problem.
• Honors the achievements of others . As Susan Blum recently noted, *** citations not only identify sources used, they acknowledge the achievements of scholars within the larger network of research about the topic. Citing sources is a normative act of professionalism within academe and a way to highlight and recognize the work of scholars who likely do not obtain any tangible benefits or monetary value from their research endeavors. Your citations help to validate the work of others.

*Vernon. Jamie L. "On the Shoulder of Giants." American Scientist 105 (July-August 2017): 194.

**Dadze Arthur, Abena and Mary S. Mangai. "The Journal and the Quest for Epistemic Justice." Public Administration and Development 44 (2024): 11.

***Blum, Susan D. "In Defense of the Morality of Citation.” Inside Higher Ed , January 29, 2024.

Aksnes, Dag W., Liv Langfeldt, and Paul Wouters. "Citations, Citation Indicators, and Research Quality: An Overview of Basic Concepts and Theories." Sage Open 9 (January-March 2019): https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019829575; Blum, Susan Debra. My Word!: Plagiarism and College Culture . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009; Bretag, Tracey., editor. Handbook of Academic Integrity . Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2020; Ballenger, Bruce P. The Curious Researcher: A Guide to Writing Research Papers . 7th edition. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2012; D'Angelo, Barbara J. "Using Source Analysis to Promote Critical Thinking." Research Strategies 18 (Winter 2001): 303-309; Kwon, Diana. “The Rise of Citational Justice.” Nature 603 (March 24, 2022): 568-572; Donthu, Naveen et al. “How to Conduct a Bibliometric Analysis: An Overview and Guidelines.” Journal of Business Research 133 (2021): 285-296; Mauer, Barry and John Venecek. “Scholarship as Conversation.” Strategies for Conducting Literary Research, University of Central Florida, 2021; Öztürk, Oguzhan, Ridvan Kocaman, and Dominik K. Kanbach. "How to Design Bibliometric Research: An Overview and a Framework Proposal." Review of Managerial Science (2024): 1-29; Why Cite? Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, Yale University; Citing Information. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Harvard Guide to Using Sources. Harvard College Writing Program. Harvard University; Newton, Philip. "Academic Integrity: A Quantitative Study of Confidence and Understanding in Students at the Start of Their Higher Education."  Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 41 (2016): 482-497; Referencing More Effectively. Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra; Using Sources. Yale College Writing Center. Yale University; Vosburgh, Richard M. "Closing the Academic-practitioner Gap: Research Must Answer the “SO WHAT” Question." H uman Resource Management Review 32 (March 2022): 100633; When and Why to Cite Sources. Information Literacy Playlists, SUNY, Albany Libraries.

Structure and Writing Style

Referencing your sources means systematically showing what information or ideas you acquired from another author’s work, and identifying where that information come from . You must cite research in order to do research, but at the same time, you need to delineate what are your original thoughts and ideas and what are the thoughts and ideas of others. Citations establish the demarcation between each set of statements. Procedures used to cite sources vary among different fields of study. If not outlined in your course syllabus or writing assignment, always speak with your professor about what writing style for citing sources should be used for the class because it is important to fully understand the citation rules that should be used in your paper and to apply them consistently. If your professor defers and tells you to "choose whatever you want, just be consistent," then choose the citation style you are most familiar with or that is appropriate to your major [e.g., use Chicago style if you are majoring in history; use APA if its an education course; use MLA if it is a general writing course].

For examples of common citation styles, GO HERE .

GENERAL GUIDELINES

1. Are there any reasons I should avoid referencing other people's work? No. If placed in the proper context, r eferencing other people's research is never an indication that your work is substandard or lacks originality. In fact, the opposite is true. If you write your paper without adequate references to previous studies, you are signaling to the reader that you are not familiar with the literature on the topic, thereby, undermining the validity of your study and your credibility as a researcher. Including references in academic writing is one of the most important ways to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of how the research problem has been addressed. It is the intellectual packaging around which you present your thoughts, ideas, and arguments to the reader.

2. What should I do if I find out that my great idea has already been studied by another researcher? It can be frustrating to come up with what you believe is a great topic for your paper only to discover that it's already been thoroughly studied. However, do not become frustrated by this. You can acknowledge the prior research by writing in the text of your paper [see also Smith, 2002], then citing the complete source in your list of references. Use the discovery of prior studies as an opportunity to demonstrate the significance of the problem being investigated and, if applicable, as a means of delineating your analysis from those of others [e.g., the prior study is ten years old and doesn't take into account new variables]. Strategies for responding to prior research can include: stating how your study updates previous understandings about the topic, offering a new or different perspective, applying a different or innovative method of gathering and interpreting data, and/or describing a new set of insights, guidelines, recommendations, best practices, or working solutions.

3. What should I do if I want to use an adapted version of someone else's work? You still must cite the original work. For example, you use a table of statistics from a journal article published in 1996 by author Smith, but you have altered or added new data to it. Reference the revised chart, such as, [adapted from Smith, 1996], then cite the original source in your list of references. You can also use other terms in order to specify the exact relationship between the original source and the version you have presented, such as, "based on data from Smith [1996]...," or "summarized from Smith [1996]...." Citing the original source helps the reader locate where the information was first presented and under what context it was used as well as to evaluate how effectively you adapted it to your own research.

4. What should I do if several authors have published very similar information or ideas? You can indicate that the topic, idea, concept, or information can be found in the works of others by stating something similar to the following example: "Though many scholars have applied rational choice theory to understanding economic relations among nations [Smith, 1989; Jones, 1991; Johnson, 1994; Anderson, 2003; Smith, 2014], little attention has been given to applying the theory to examining the influence of non-governmental organizations in a globalized economy." If you only reference one author or only the most recent study, then your readers may assume that only one author has published on this topic, or more likely, they will conclude that you have not conducted a thorough review of the literature. Referencing all relevant authors of prior studies gives your readers a clear idea of the breadth of analysis you conducted in preparing to study the research problem. If there has been a significant number of prior studies on the topic [i.e., ten or more], describe the most comprehensive and recent works because they will presumably discuss and reference the older studies. However, note in your review of the literature that there has been significant scholarship devoted to the topic so the reader knows that you are aware of the numerous prior studies.

5. What if I find exactly what I want to say in the writing of another researcher? In the social sciences, the rationale in duplicating prior research is generally governed by the passage of time, changing circumstances or conditions, or the emergence of variables that necessitate new investigations . If someone else has recently conducted a thorough investigation of precisely the same research problem that you intend to study, then you likely will have to revise your topic, or at the very least, review this literature to identify something new to say about the problem. However, if it is someone else's particularly succinct expression, but it fits perfectly with what you are trying to say, then you can quote from the author directly, referencing the source. Identifying an author who has made the exact same point that you want to make can be an opportunity to validate, as well as reinforce the significance of, the research problem you are investigating. The key is to build on that idea in new and innovative ways. If you are not sure how to do this, consult with a librarian .

6. Should I cite a source even if it was published long ago? Any source used in writing your paper should be cited, regardless of when it was written. However, in building a case for understanding prior research about your topic, it is generally true that you should focus on citing more recently published studies because they presumably have built upon the research of older studies. When referencing prior studies, use the research problem as your guide when considering what to cite. If a study from forty years ago investigated the same topic, it probably should be examined and considered in your list of references because the research may have been foundational or groundbreaking at the time, even if its findings are no longer relevant to current conditions or reflect current thinking [one way to determine if a study is foundational or groundbreaking is to examine how often it has been cited in recent studies using the "Cited by" feature of Google Scholar ]. However, if an older study only relates to the research problem tangentially or it has not been cited in recent studies, then it may be more appropriate to list it under further readings .

7. Can I cite unusual and non-scholarly sources in my research paper? The majority of the citations in a research paper should be to scholarly [a.k.a., academic; peer-reviewed] studies that rely on an objective and logical analysis of the research problem based on empirical evidence that reliably supports your arguments. However, any type of source can be considered valid if it brings relevant understanding and clarity to the topic. This can include, for example, non-textual elements such as photographs, maps, or illustrations. A source can include materials from special or archival collections, such as, personal papers, manuscripts, business memorandums, the official records of an organization, or digitized collections. Citations can also be to unusual items, such as, an audio recording, a transcript from a television news program, a unique set of data, or a social media post. The challenge is knowing how to cite unusual and non-scholarly sources because they often do not fit within consistent citation rules of books or journal articles. Given this, consult with a librarian if you are unsure how to cite a source.

NOTE:   In any academic writing, you are required to identify which ideas, facts, thoughts, concepts, or declarative statements are yours and which are derived from the research of others. The only exception to this rule is information that is considered to be a commonly known fact [e.g., "George Washington was the first president of the United States"] or a statement that is self-evident [e.g., "Australia is a country in the Global South"]. Appreciate, however, that any "commonly known fact" or self-evidencing statement is culturally constructed and shaped by specific social and aesthetical biases . If you have any doubt about whether or not a fact is considered to be widely understood knowledge, provide a supporting citation, or, ask your professor for clarification about whether the statement should be cited.

ANOTHER NOTE:   What is a foundational or groundbreaking study? In general, this refers to a study that investigated a research problem which , up to that point, had never been clearly defined or explained. If you trace a research topic back in time using citations as your guide, you will often discover an original study or set of studies that was the first to identify, explain the significance, and thoroughly investigate a problem. It is considered f oundational or groundbreaking because it pushed the boundaries of existing knowledge and influenced how researchers thought about the problem in new or innovative ways. Evidence of  foundational or groundbreaking research is the number of times a study has been subsequently cited, and continues to be cited, since it was first published.

Ballenger, Bruce P. The Curious Researcher: A Guide to Writing Research Papers . 7th edition. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2012; Blum, Susan Debra. My Word!: Plagiarism and College Culture . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009; Bretag, Tracey., editor. Handbook of Academic Integrity . Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2020; Carlock, Janine. Developing Information Literacy Skills: A Guide to Finding, Evaluating, and Citing Sources . Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2020; Harvard Guide to Using Sources. Harvard College Writing Program. Harvard University; How to Cite Other Sources in Your Paper. The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper. Department of Biology. Bates College; Lunsford, Andrea A. and Robert Connors; The St. Martin's Handbook . New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989; Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace . 3rd edition. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2015; Research and Citation Resources. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Why Cite? Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, Yale Univeraity.

Other Citation Research Guides

The following USC Libraries research guide can help you properly cite sources in your research paper:

• Citation Guide

The following USC Libraries research guide offers basic information on using images and media in research:

Listed below are particularly well-done and comprehensive websites that provide specific examples of how to cite sources under different style guidelines.

• Purdue University Online Writing Lab
• Southern Cross University Harvard Referencing Style
• University of Wisconsin Writing Center

This is a useful guide concerning how to properly cite images in your research paper.

• Colgate Visual Resources Library, Citing Images

This guide provides good information on the act of citation analysis, whereby you count the number of times a published work is cited by other works in order to measure the impact of a publication or author.

Measuring Your Impact: Impact Factor, Citation Analysis, and other Metrics: Citation Analysis [Sandy De Groote, University of Illinois, Chicago]

Automatic Citation Generators

The links below lead to systems where you can type in your information and have a citation compiled for you. Note that these systems are not foolproof so it is important that you verify that the citation is correct and check your spelling, capitalization, etc. However, they can be useful in creating basic types of citations, particularly for online sources.

• BibMe -- APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles
• DocsCite -- for citing government publications in APA or MLA formats
• EasyBib -- APA, MLA, and Chicago styles
• Son of Citation Machine -- APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles

NOTE:   Many companies that create the research databases the USC Libraries subscribe to, such as ProQuest , include built-in citation generators that help take the guesswork out of how to properly cite a work. When available, you should always utilize these features because they not only generate a citation to the source [e.g., a journal article], but include information about where you accessed the source [e.g., the database].

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Harvard University Theses, Dissertations, and Prize Papers

The Harvard University Archives ’ collection of theses, dissertations, and prize papers document the wide range of academic research undertaken by Harvard students over the course of the University’s history.

Beyond their value as pieces of original research, these collections document the history of American higher education, chronicling both the growth of Harvard as a major research institution as well as the development of numerous academic fields. They are also an important source of biographical information, offering insight into the academic careers of the authors.

Spanning from the ‘theses and quaestiones’ of the 17th and 18th centuries to the current yearly output of student research, they include both the first Harvard Ph.D. dissertation (by William Byerly, Ph.D . 1873) and the dissertation of the first woman to earn a doctorate from Harvard ( Lorna Myrtle Hodgkinson , Ed.D. 1922).

Other highlights include:

• The collection of Mathematical theses, 1782-1839
• The 1895 Ph.D. dissertation of W.E.B. Du Bois, The suppression of the African slave trade in the United States, 1638-1871
• Ph.D. dissertations of astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (Ph.D. 1925) and physicist John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (Ph.D. 1922)
• Undergraduate honors theses of novelist John Updike (A.B. 1954), filmmaker Terrence Malick (A.B. 1966),  and U.S. poet laureate Tracy Smith (A.B. 1994)
• Undergraduate prize papers and dissertations of philosophers Ralph Waldo Emerson (A.B. 1821), George Santayana (Ph.D. 1889), and W.V. Quine (Ph.D. 1932)
• Undergraduate honors theses of U.S. President John F. Kennedy (A.B. 1940) and Chief Justice John Roberts (A.B. 1976)

What does a prize-winning thesis look like?

If you're a Harvard undergraduate writing your own thesis, it can be helpful to review recent prize-winning theses. The Harvard University Archives has made available for digital lending all of the Thomas Hoopes Prize winners from the 2019-2021 academic years.

Accessing These Materials

How to access materials at the Harvard University Archives

How to find and request dissertations, in person or virtually

How to find and request undergraduate honors theses

How to find and request Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize papers

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A consortium consisting of York Health Economics Consortium and the Cochrane Information Retrieval Methods Group has looked into the issue of searching for unpublished studies and obtaining access to unpublished data and has produced the following report and bibliography:

Arber M, Cikalo M, Glanville J, Lefebvre C, Varley D, Wood H. Annotated bibliography of published studies addressing searching for unpublished studies and obtaining access to unpublished data. York: York Health Economics Consortium; 2013.

This work was a sub-project of a larger project entitled “Searching for unpublished trials using trials registers and trials web sites and obtaining unpublished trial data and corresponding trial protocols from regulatory agencies”.

Other outputs of this project include:

Schroll, JB, Bero, L, Gotzsche, P. Searching for unpublished data for Cochrane reviews: Cross sectional study.  BMJ 2013;346:f2231

Wolfe, N, Gotzsche, PC and Bero, L.  Strategies for obtaining unpublished drug trial data:  A qualitative interview study.  Systematic Reviews. 2013; 2:31. http://www.systematicreviewsjournal.com/content/2/1/31

The project was a collaboration between the San Francisco Branch of the United States Cochrane Center, Nordic Cochrane Centre, Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group, York Health Economics Consortium and the Cochrane Information Retrieval Methods Group. This sub-project was undertaken by staff of York Health Economics Consortium and Carol Lefebvre of Lefebvre Associates Ltd, for which some funding was provided by the Cochrane Collaboration under the Methods Innovation Funding initiative.

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What a Thesis Paper is and How to Write One

From choosing a topic and conducting research to crafting a strong argument, writing a thesis paper can be a rewarding experience.

It can also be a challenging experience. If you've never written a thesis paper before, you may not know where to start. You may not even be sure exactly what a thesis paper is. But don't worry; the right support and resources can help you navigate this writing process.

What is a Thesis Paper?

A thesis paper is a type of academic essay that you might write as a graduation requirement for certain bachelor's, master's or honors programs. Thesis papers present your own original research or analysis on a specific topic related to your field.

“In some ways, a thesis paper can look a lot like a novella,” said Shana Chartier , director of information literacy at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). “It’s too short to be a full-length novel, but with the standard size of 40-60 pages (for a bachelor’s) and 60-100 pages (for a master’s), it is a robust exploration of a topic, explaining one’s understanding of a topic based on personal research.”

Chartier has worked in academia for over 13 years and at SNHU for nearly eight. In her role as an instructor and director, Chartier has helped to guide students through the writing process, like editing and providing resources.

Chartier has written and published academic papers such as "Augmented Reality Gamifies the Library: A Ride Through the Technological Frontier" and "Going Beyond the One-Shot: Spiraling Information Literacy Across Four Years." Both of these academic papers required Chartier to have hands-on experience with the subject matter. Like a thesis paper, they also involved hypothesizing and doing original research to come to a conclusion.

“When writing a thesis paper, the importance of staying organized cannot be overstated,” said Chartier. “Mapping out each step of the way, making firm and soft deadlines... and having other pairs of eyes on your work to ensure academic accuracy and clean editing are crucial to writing a successful paper.”

How Do I Choose a Topic For My Thesis Paper?

What your thesis paper is for will determine some of the specific requirements and steps you might take, but the first step is usually the same: Choosing a topic.

“Choosing a topic can be daunting," said Rochelle Attari , a peer tutor at SNHU. "But if (you) stick with a subject (you're) interested in... choosing a topic is much more manageable.”

Similar to a thesis, Attari recently finished the capstone  for her bachelor’s in psychology . Her bachelor’s concentration is in forensics, and her capstone focused on the topic of using a combined therapy model for inmates who experience substance abuse issues to reduce recidivism.

“The hardest part was deciding what I wanted to focus on,” Attari said. “But once I nailed down my topic, each milestone was more straightforward.”

In her own writing experience, Attari said brainstorming was an important step when choosing her topic. She recommends writing down different ideas on a piece of paper and doing some preliminary research on what’s already been written on your topic.

By doing this exercise, you can narrow or broaden your ideas until you’ve found a topic you’re excited about. " Brainstorming is essential when writing a paper and is not a last-minute activity,” Attari said.

How Do I Structure My Thesis Paper?

Thesis papers tend to have a standard format with common sections as the building blocks.

While the structure Attari describes below will work for many theses, it’s important to double-check with your program to see if there are any specific requirements. Writing a thesis for a Master of Fine Arts, for example, might actually look more like a fiction novel.

According to Attari, a thesis paper is often structured with the following major sections:

Introduction

• Literature review
• Methods, results

Now, let’s take a closer look at what each different section should include.

Your introduction is your opportunity to present the topic of your thesis paper. In this section, you can explain why that topic is important. The introduction is also the place to include your thesis statement, which shows your stance in the paper.

Attari said that writing an introduction can be tricky, especially when you're trying to capture your reader’s attention and state your argument.

“I have found that starting with a statement of truth about a topic that pertains to an issue I am writing about typically does the trick,” Attari said. She demonstrated this advice in an example introduction she wrote for a paper on the effects of daylight in Alaska:

In the continental United States, we can always count on the sun rising and setting around the same time each day, but in Alaska, during certain times of the year, the sun rises and does not set for weeks. Research has shown that the sun provides vitamin D and is an essential part of our health, but little is known about how daylight twenty-four hours a day affects the circadian rhythm and sleep.

In the example Attari wrote, she introduces the topic and informs the reader what the paper will cover. Somewhere in her intro, she said she would also include her thesis statement, which might be:

Twenty-four hours of daylight over an extended period does not affect sleep patterns in humans and is not the cause of daytime fatigue in northern Alaska .

Literature Review

In the literature review, you'll look at what information is already out there about your topic. “This is where scholarly articles  about your topic are essential,” said Attari. “These articles will help you find the gap in research that you have identified and will also support your thesis statement."

Telling your reader what research has already been done will help them see how your research fits into the larger conversation. Most university libraries offer databases of scholarly/peer-reviewed articles that can be helpful in your search.

In the methods section of your thesis paper, you get to explain how you learned what you learned. This might include what experiment you conducted as a part of your independent research.

“For instance,” Attari said, “if you are a psychology major and have identified a gap in research on which therapies are effective for anxiety, your methods section would consist of the number of participants, the type of experiment and any other particulars you would use for that experiment.”

In this section, you'll explain the results of your study. For example, building on the psychology example Attari outlined, you might share self-reported anxiety levels for participants trying different kinds of therapies. To help you communicate your results clearly, you might include data, charts, tables or other visualizations.

The discussion section of your thesis paper is where you will analyze and interpret the results you presented in the previous section. This is where you can discuss what your findings really mean or compare them to the research you found in your literature review.

The discussion section is your chance to show why the data you collected matters and how it fits into bigger conversations in your field.

The conclusion of your thesis paper is your opportunity to sum up your argument and leave your reader thinking about why your research matters.

Attari breaks the conclusion down into simple parts. “You restate the original issue and thesis statement, explain the experiment's results and discuss possible next steps for further research,” she said.

Find Your Program

Resources to help write your thesis paper.

While your thesis paper may be based on your independent research, writing it doesn’t have to be a solitary process. Asking for help and using the resources that are available to you can make the process easier.

If you're writing a thesis paper, some resources Chartier encourages you to use are:

• Citation Handbooks: An online citation guide or handbook can help you ensure your citations are correct. APA , MLA and Chicago styles have all published their own guides.
• Citation Generators: There are many citation generator tools that help you to create citations. Some — like RefWorks — even let you directly import citations from library databases as you research.
• Your Library's Website: Many academic and public libraries allow patrons to access resources like databases or FAQs. Some FAQs at the SNHU library that might be helpful in your thesis writing process include “ How do I read a scholarly article? ” or “ What is a research question and how do I develop one? ”

It can also be helpful to check out what coaching or tutoring options are available through your school. At SNHU, for example, the Academic Support Center offers writing and grammar workshops , and students can access 24/7 tutoring and 1:1 sessions with peer tutors, like Attari.

"Students can even submit their papers and receive written feedback... like revisions and editing suggestions," she said.

If you are writing a thesis paper, there are many resources available to you. It's a long paper, but with the right mindset and support, you can successfully navigate the process.

“Pace yourself,” said Chartier. “This is a marathon, not a sprint. Setting smaller goals to get to the big finish line can make the process seem less daunting, and remember to be proud of yourself and celebrate your accomplishment once you’re done. Writing a thesis is no small task, and it’s important work for the scholarly community.”

A degree can change your life. Choose your program  from 200+ SNHU degrees that can take you where you want to go.

Meg Palmer ’18 is a writer and scholar by trade who loves reading, riding her bike and singing in a barbershop quartet. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English, language and literature at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) and her master’s degree in writing, rhetoric and discourse at DePaul University (’20). While attending SNHU, she served as the editor-in-chief of the campus student newspaper, The Penmen Press, where she deepened her passion for writing. Meg is an adjunct professor at Johnson and Wales University, where she teaches first year writing, honors composition, and public speaking. Connect with her on LinkedIn .

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Writing Seminar in Global English: Global Health (Fall 2024 ): Researching the White Paper

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Research the White Paper

Researching the white paper:.

The process of researching and composing a white paper shares some similarities with the kind of research and writing one does for a high school or college research paper. What’s important for writers of white papers to grasp, however, is how much this genre differs from a research paper.  First, the author of a white paper already recognizes that there is a problem to be solved, a decision to be made, and the job of the author is to provide readers with substantive information to help them make some kind of decision--which may include a decision to do more research because major gaps remain. 

Thus, a white paper author would not “brainstorm” a topic. Instead, the white paper author would get busy figuring out how the problem is defined by those who are experiencing it as a problem. Typically that research begins in popular culture--social media, surveys, interviews, newspapers. Once the author has a handle on how the problem is being defined and experienced, its history and its impact, what people in the trenches believe might be the best or worst ways of addressing it, the author then will turn to academic scholarship as well as “grey” literature (more about that later).  Unlike a school research paper, the author does not set out to argue for or against a particular position, and then devote the majority of effort to finding sources to support the selected position.  Instead, the author sets out in good faith to do as much fact-finding as possible, and thus research is likely to present multiple, conflicting, and overlapping perspectives. When people research out of a genuine desire to understand and solve a problem, they listen to every source that may offer helpful information. They will thus have to do much more analysis, synthesis, and sorting of that information, which will often not fall neatly into a “pro” or “con” camp:  Solution A may, for example, solve one part of the problem but exacerbate another part of the problem. Solution C may sound like what everyone wants, but what if it’s built on a set of data that have been criticized by another reliable source?  And so it goes. 

For example, if you are trying to write a white paper on the opioid crisis, you may focus on the value of  providing free, sterilized needles--which do indeed reduce disease, and also provide an opportunity for the health care provider distributing them to offer addiction treatment to the user. However, the free needles are sometimes discarded on the ground, posing a danger to others; or they may be shared; or they may encourage more drug usage. All of those things can be true at once; a reader will want to know about all of these considerations in order to make an informed decision. That is the challenging job of the white paper author.     
 The research you do for your white paper will require that you identify a specific problem, seek popular culture sources to help define the problem, its history, its significance and impact for people affected by it.  You will then delve into academic and grey literature to learn about the way scholars and others with professional expertise answer these same questions. In this way, you will create creating a layered, complex portrait that provides readers with a substantive exploration useful for deliberating and decision-making. You will also likely need to find or create images, including tables, figures, illustrations or photographs, and you will document all of your sources. 

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Biology researcher contributes to decade-long research project

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• 28 August 2024
• Update 02 September 2024

Exclusive: the papers that most heavily cite retracted studies

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In January, a review paper 1 about ways to detect human illnesses by examining the eye appeared in a conference proceedings published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in New York City. But neither its authors nor its editors noticed that 60% of the papers it cited had already been retracted.

The case is one of the most extreme spotted by a giant project to find papers whose results might be in question because they cite retracted or problematic research. The project’s creator, computer scientist Guillaume Cabanac at the University of Toulouse in France, shared his data with Nature ’s news team, which analysed them to find the papers that most heavily cite retracted work yet haven’t themselves been withdrawn (see ‘Retracted references’).

Chain retraction: how to stop bad science propagating through the literature

“We are not accusing anybody of doing something wrong. We are just observing that in some bibliographies, the references have been retracted or withdrawn, meaning that the paper may be unreliable,” Cabanac says. He calls his tool a Feet of Clay Detector, referring to an analogy, originally from the Bible, about statues or edifices that collapse because of their weak clay foundations.

The IEEE paper is the second-highest on the list assembled by Nature , with 18 of the 30 studies it cites withdrawn. Its authors didn’t respond to requests for comment, but IEEE integrity director Luigi Longobardi says that the publisher didn’t know about the issue until Nature asked, and that it is investigating.

Cabanac, a research-integrity sleuth, has already created software to flag thousands of problematic papers in the literature for issues such as computer-written text or disguised plagiarism . He hopes that his latest detector, which he has been developing over the past two years and describes this week in a Comment article in Nature , will provide another way to stop bad research propagating through the scientific literature — some of it fake work created by ‘papermill’ firms .

Further scrutiny

Cabanac lists the detector’s findings on his website , but elsewhere online — on the paper-review site PubPeer and on social media — he has explicitly flagged more than 1,700 papers that caught his eye because of their reliance on retracted work. Some authors have thanked Cabanac for alerting them to problems in their references. Others argue that it’s unfair to effectively cast aspersions on their work because of retractions made after publication that, they say, don’t affect their paper.

Scientific sleuths spot dishonest ChatGPT use in papers

Retracted references don’t definitively show that a paper is problematic, notes Tamara Welschot, part of the research-integrity team at Springer Nature in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, but they are a useful sign that a paper might benefit from further scrutiny. ( Nature ’s news team is independent of its publisher, Springer Nature.)

Some researchers argue that retraction of references in a narrative review — which describes the state of research in a field — doesn’t necessarily invalidate the original paper. But when studies assessed by a systematic review or meta-analysis are withdrawn, the results of that review should always be recalculated to keep the literature up to date, says epidemiologist Isabelle Boutron at Paris City University.

Retracted references

These studies have the highest proportion of retracted papers in their reference lists, according to Nature ’s analysis of articles flagged by the Feet of Clay Detector.

Source: Nature analysis of data from the Feet of Clay Detector . Figures for references and retractions were hand-checked and altered where necessary; detector data sources do not always give accurate counts.

Picking up fraudsters

Some of the papers that cite high proportions of retracted work are authored by known academic fraudsters who have had many of their own papers retracted.

These include engineering researcher Ali Nazari, who was dismissed from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, in 2019, after a university misconduct investigation into his activities. He previously worked at Islamic Azad University in Saveh, Iran, and his current whereabouts are unclear. After Nature told publishers about his extant papers 2 , 3 topping Cabanac’s lists — including Elsevier and Fap-Unifesp, a non-profit foundation that supports the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil — they said that they would look into the articles. One of the relevant journals was discontinued in 2013, Elsevier noted.

Cabanac’s detector also flags papers 4 by Chen-Yuan Chen, a computer scientist who worked at the National Pingtung University of Education in Taiwan until 2014. He was behind a syndicate that faked peer review and boosted citations, which came to light in 2014 after an investigation by the publisher SAGE. Some of Chen’s papers that are still in the literature were published by Springer Nature, which says it hadn’t been aware of the issue but is now investigating. Neither Chen nor Nazari responded to Nature ’s requests for comment.

Another flagged study 5 is by Ahmad Salar Elahi, a physicist affiliated with the Islamic Azad University in Tehran who has already had dozens of his papers retracted, in many cases because of excessive self-citation and instances of faked peer review. In 2018, the website Retraction Watch (which also wrote about the Nazari and Chen cases) reported that according to Mahmoud Ghoranneviss, then-director of the Plasma Physics Research Centre where Elahi worked, Elahi was likely to be dismissed from the university. Now, Ghoranneviss — who has retired — says that Elahi was barred only from that centre and not the rest of the university. Elahi continues to publish papers, sometimes listing co-authors including Ghoranneviss, who says he wasn’t aware of this. Neither Elahi nor the university responded to Nature ’s queries. The IEEE and Springer Nature, publishers of the journals that ran the Elahi papers, say they’re investigating.

Unhappy authors

Some authors are unhappy about Cabanac’s work. In May 2024, editors of the journal Clinical and Translational Oncology placed an expression of concern on a 2019 review paper 6 about RNA and childhood cancers, warning that it might not be reliable because it cited “a number of articles that have been retracted”. The journal’s publishing editor, Ying Jia at Springer Nature in Washington DC, says the team was alerted by one of Cabanac’s posts on social media last year.

Computer scientist Guillaume Cabanac has flagged more than 1,700 papers that caught his eye because of their reliance on retracted work. Credit: Fred Scheiber/SIPA/Shutterstock

Cabanac’s analysis finds that just under 10% of the article’s 637 references have been retracted — almost all after the review was published. However, the paper’s corresponding author, María Sol Brassesco, a biologist at the University of São Paulo, says that removing these references doesn’t change the conclusions of the review, and that she has sent the journal an updated version, which it hasn’t published. Because the cited works were retracted after publication, the expression of concern “felt like we were being punished for something that we could not see ahead”, she says. Jia says that editors felt that adding the notice was the most appropriate action.

In other cases, authors disagree about what to do. Nature examined three papers 7 , 8 , 9 in which between 5 and 16% of the references have now been retracted, all co-authored by Mohammad Taheri, a genetics PhD student at Friedrich Schiller University of Jena in Germany. He says that criticisms of his work on PubPeer “lack solid scientific basis”. Yet, in May, a co-author of two of those works, Marcel Dinger, dean of science at the University of Sydney in Australia, told the website For Better Science and Retraction Watch that he was reassessing review papers that cited retracted articles. He now says that his team has submitted corrections for the works, but Frontiers, which published one paper, says it hasn’t received the correspondence and will investigate. Elsevier — which published the other two papers — also says that it is examining the issue.

Catching problems early

Examples in which papers cite already-retracted work suggest that publishers could do a better job of screening manuscripts. For instance, 20 studies cited by a 2023 review paper 10 about RNA and gynaecological cancers in Frontiers in Oncology had been retracted before the article was submitted. Review co-author Maryam Mahjoubin-Tehran, a pharmacist at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in Iran, told Nature that her team didn’t know about the retractions, and does not plan to update or withdraw the paper. The publisher, Frontiers, says it is investigating.

Until recently, publishers have not flagged citations to retracted papers in submitted manuscripts. However, many publishers say they are aware of Cabanac’s tool and monitor issues he raises, and some are bringing in similar screening tools.

Last year, Wiley announced it was checking Retraction Watch’s database of retracted articles to flag issues in reference lists, and Elsevier says it is also rolling out a tool that assesses manuscripts for red flags such as self-citations and references to retracted work. Springer Nature is piloting an in-house tool to look for retracted papers in manuscript citations and Longobardi says the IEEE is considering including Feet of Clay or similar solutions in its workflow. A working group for the STM Integrity Hub — a collaboration between publishers — has also tested the Feet of Clay Detector and “found it useful”, says Welschot.

Medical trend

Medical reviews that cite studies in areas later shown to be affected by fraud are a recurring theme in Cabanac’s findings.

In theory, meta-analyses or systematic reviews should be withdrawn or corrected if work they have cited goes on to be retracted, according to a policy issued in 2021 by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international group known for its gold-standard reviews of medical treatments .

Boutron, who directs Cochrane France in Paris, is using Cabanac’s tool to identify systematic reviews that cite retracted work, and to assess the impact the retracted studies had on the overall results.

However, a 2022 study 11 suggests that authors are often reluctant to update reviews, even when they are told the papers cite retracted work. Researchers e-mailed the authors of 88 systematic reviews that cited now-retracted studies in bone health by a Japanese fraudster, Yoshihiro Sato . Only 11 of the reviews were updated, the authors told Nature last year.

Retraction alerts

Authors aren’t routinely alerted if work cited in their past papers is withdrawn — although in recent years, paper-management tools for researchers such as Zotero and EndNote have incorporated Retraction Watch’s open database of retracted papers and have begun to flag papers that have been taken down. Cabanac thinks publishers might use tools like his to create similar alerts.

In 2016, researchers at the University of Oxford, UK, began developing a tool called RetractoBot , which automatically notifies authors by e-mail when a study that they have previously cited has been retracted. The software currently monitors 20,000 retracted papers and about 400,000 papers, published after 2000, that cite them. The team behind it is running a randomized trial to see whether papers flagged by RetractoBot are subsequently cited less than those not flagged by the tool, and will publish its results next year, says project lead Nicholas DeVito, a integrity researcher at Oxford.

The team has alerted more than 100,000 researchers so far. DeVito says that a minority of authors are annoyed about being contacted, but that others are grateful. “We are merely trying to provide a service to the community to reduce this practice from happening,” he says.

Nature 633 , 13-15 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02719-5

Updates & Corrections

Update 02 September 2024 : This story has been updated to include mention of a website that reported Marcel Dinger’s comments relating to the citation of retracted papers.

Sandhiya, M. & Aneetha, A. S. 9th Intl Conf. Smart Struct. Syst . 1–4 (2023).

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Study combines data, molecular simulations to accelerate drug discovery

New research involving the uc college of medicine may lead to finding effective therapies faster.

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital have found a new method to increase both speed and success rates in drug discovery.

The study, published Aug. 30 in the journal Science Advances, offers renewed promise when it comes to discovering new drugs.

“The hope is we can speed up the timeline of drug discovery from years to months,” said Alex Thorman, PhD, co-first author and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences in the College of Medicine. 

Researchers combined two approaches for screening potential new drugs. First, they used a database from the Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS) to screen tens of thousands of small molecules with potential therapeutic effects simultaneously. Then they combined the search with targeted docking simulations used to model the interaction between small molecules and their protein targets to find compounds of interest. That sped up the timing of the work from months to minutes — taking weeks of work required for initial screening down to an afternoon.

“Accuracy will only improve, hopefully offering new hope to many people who have diseases with no known cure, including those with cancer."

Alex Thorman, PhD Co-first author and postdoctoral fellow

Thorman said this faster screening method for compounds that could become drugs accelerates the drug research process. But it’s not only speed that is crucial. 

He added that this newer approach is more efficient at identifying potentially effective compounds.

“And the accuracy will only improve, hopefully offering new hope to many people who have diseases with no known cure, including those with cancer,” Thorman said.

It can also create more targeted treatment options in precision medicine, an innovative approach to tailoring disease prevention and treatment that takes into account differences in people's genes, environments and lifestyles. 

“An accelerated drug discovery process also could be a game changer in the ability to respond to public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Thorman. “The timeline for developing effective drugs could be expedited.” 

Feature image at top: Collection of prescription drug bottles and pills. Photo/Provided.

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Other co-first authors included Jim Reigle, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and Somchai Chutipongtanate, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences in the College of Medicine.

The corresponding authors of the study were Jarek Meller, PhD, a professor of biostatistics, health informatics and data sciences in the College of Medicine, and Andrew Herr, PhD, a professor of immunobiology in the Department of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine. 

Other co-investigators included Mario Medvedovic, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Services in the College of Medicine, and David Hildeman, PhD, professor of immunobiology in the College of Medicine. Both Herr and Hildeman have faculty research labs at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. 

This research was funded in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health, a Department of Veterans Affairs merit award, a UC Cancer Center Pilot Project Award and a Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Innovation Fund award.

Those involved in the research are also co-inventors on three U.S. patents that are related to their work and have been filed by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. 

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Researchers from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital have found a new method to increase both speed and success rates in drug discovery. The study, published Aug. 30 in the journal Science Advances, offers renewed promise when it comes to discovering new drugs.

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Emerging Methods and Applications in Bio-Data Science Research - December 31, 2024

1.  emerging methods and applications in bio-data science research - december 31, 2024.

Emerging Methods and Applications in Bio-Data Science Research

The editors are inviting you to submit papers for the special issue - "Emerging Methods and Applications in Bio-data Science Research." The submission deadline is December 31, 2024 . Springer will publish the volume. Please see the areas that will be covered in the volume in the description below -

The biomedical field stands on the precipice of an unprecedented data revolution. Vast and diverse bio-data sets – registry platforms, large-scale surveys, electronic medical records, and multi-omics analyses – paint a vibrant picture of human health and disease. Yet, unlocking the

 potential of this information deluge requires sophisticated tools and innovative approaches. This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data mining techniques take center stage, offering a powerful symphony of analytical tools to extract valuable insights, predict health outcomes, and personalize healthcare. This special issue delves into the cutting-edge landscape of AI and data mining applications within bio-data science research. We aim to: • Showcase the potential of these techniques in harnessing the diverse wealth of bio-data – registry trends, survey insights, EMR narratives, and multiomics symphonies. • Highlight the specific AI and data mining algorithms and models driving breakthroughs in disease prediction, personalized medicine, and public health interventions. We invite scholars and researchers across the spectrum of bio-data science to contribute their expertise. We welcome original research articles, review papers, and critical perspectives on: • AI-powered analysis of registry data: Unveiling disease patterns, predicting risk, and personalizing prevention strategies. • Mining insights from large surveys: Utilizing natural language processing, sentiment analysis, and network approaches to understand public health concerns and inform targeted interventions. • Extracting knowledge from EMRs: Predicting disease complications, personalized treatment plans, and leveraging deep learning for accurate medical image diagnosis. • Harnessing multiomics data: Unraveling high throughput genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics data for identifying disease subtypes, and driving personalized medicine advancements. This special issue aspires to: • Spark a vibrant dialogue on the transformative potential of AI and data mining in bio-data science research. • Offer a comprehensive resource for researchers and clinicians to leverage these cutting-edge tools in their studies and practice. • Pave the way for a future where data-driven insights empower personalized healthcare, shape effective public health strategies, and fuel groundbreaking discoveries in disease mechanisms and prevention. Beyond the technicalities of AI and data mining, we encourage submissions that address the broader implications of this field: • The economic and social impact of AI-driven healthcare transformations. • The workforce challenges and educational needs for a data-driven bio-science landscape. • The importance of global collaboration and open data initiatives in maximizing the benefits of bio-data research. By embracing the opportunities and challenges presented by AI and data mining, this special issue aims to orchestrate a symphony of scientific progress, illuminating the path towards a healthier future for all.

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Editors: Shesh N Rai, Dwijesh Chandra Mishra, Sudhir Srivastava, and Anand Seth

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Banks seem to be falling totally flat on climate commitments

A recent paper struggles to find evidence that climate commitments make a difference.

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As the world desperately seeks to avoid irreversible climate catastrophe , many have looked to the financial sector to help guide capital towards solutions and away from heavily carbon-emitting industries. But recent research suggests that visible bank efforts to curb air pollution are less strenuous than they might appear.

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“We find that all banks have reduced their loan-emission exposures over the last 8 years,” write three economists in an August working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research. “However, we do not find differences between banks that did and those that did not signal their sustainability goals.”

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The economists Galina Hale of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Fernanda Nechio of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and Brigid Meisenbacher of Columbia University, looked at data from the global syndicated loan market. They discovered that even signatories of the 2006 environmental, social, and corporate governance-boosting United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) pact were slacking in the commitments to the climate change fight.

“We find limited evidence that banks that sign PRI attempt to address their exposure to transition risk by shortening maturities of loans to highly emitting sectors,” they wrote. “However, this effect is relatively small in magnitude and is only temporary.”

The findings line up with a report from the Rainforest Action Network’s most recent Banking on Climate Chaos report that suggests half of the $7 trillion invested in fossil-fuel companies by giant global banks like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase — all of whose wealth management arms are PRI signatories — has gone towards expanding the sector .

“Banks that promise to green their portfolios do not seem to significantly reduce the share of loan to highly emitting sectors any more than banks that did not sign such commitments,” the economists wrote.

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