photo source: safehorizon.org
One thing which has impacted me in the way of writing papers since I am studying in US is using citations. I remember we did this too in Romania, but there was only a general rule at the level of the university. I had no knowledge of these different citations systems and the variety of rules that exist. I personally use APA style and I consider that the Online Writing Lab is a very useful tool in understanding how to cite sources and what the APA guidelines are. Also the exercise suggested in the module on scholar is a helpful source in learning to write citations.
Sometimes, I wonder why there isn’t just a citation style generally used. For instance, often if you have a paper written in a certain format you need to change it in a different format (in case it will get published in a certain journal or if it will become a book chapter). Moreover, often it takes at least months until the paper is published (even in an online journal). The pitfall here is that the paper can soon become outdated considering the research data. Overall, I consider it is relevant that the citations systems continue to change and adapt for citing a variety of sources such as songs, for instance.
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In the citation software, I guess you can input any style from web. It is still convenient to change the formate, isn’t it?
I also have to mention that Google scholar has now the “cite” option every time when you search for an article.