Asked by: Morgan Johnson

How many sources is too many for a research paper?

Usually 3-4 reliable sources should be sufficient. This should be enough external information to complement your original thoughts/ideas. With too many sources, the essay becomes a compilation of opinions from other writers instead of your own.

How much of your research paper should be on your own ideas and words?

In a research paper, you include information from sources such as books, articles, interviews, and Internet sites. You also use your own ideas, knowledge, and opinions. Most of your paper (as a rule of thumb, at least 80%) must be in your own words.

How much should a research paper be originally?

For an original article, the literature review should roughly be around 15-20 percent of the length of the article.

What can happen to your research paper when you include too many quotes from outside sources?

What is a danger of including too many direct quotations from outside sources in your research paper? Your paper can jump from topic to topic instead of staying clearly focused on your main idea.

How many sources should I have for a 10 page research paper?

A 10-page paper will have a minimum of 10 sources if the topic of the paper is not very complex or the paper does not employ data and statistics. 10 sources for a college-level 10-page paper would be sufficient enough to provide credible information to support the arguments presented in the paper.

How much citation is too much?

Be careful about citing old references. The rule of thumb is to go back at most five to six years. Exceptions to this rule should be reserved for “seminal” works relevant to explaining what prompted your research. Roughly 85% of all cited works should be less than five years old.

Why is it important to avoid stringing quote after quote without connecting them together in your research paper?

Why is it important to avoid stringing quote after quote without connecting them together in your research paper? How can you plagiarize without meaning to do so? If you forget to include citations or quotation marks when using someone else’s words or ideas and don’t realize it, it’s still plagiarism.