Early Problems
Most of the problems associated with research papers occur during the initial steps and in the following areas:
- Lack of purpose or inadequate purpose--a paper that just repeats information from sources
- Plagiarism (improper or inappropriate use of source material or the use of source material without adequate attribution):
- Materials copied rather than summarized or paraphrased
- Overdependence on quotations (a "cut and paste" paper)
- Faulty or missing attribution:
It is essential to keep track of
- what resources are being used,
- what information or ideas have been used from those sources,
- what words or phrases have been "lifted" (quoted) from a source,
- and where, specifically, information, ideas, or quotations can be found in each source.
- Use of overly general, inadequate, or insufficient sources:
- General encyclopedias like Britannica or Encarta (generally not accepted for college level research)
- Websites with questionable reliability (student projects, hobbyist sites, biased writing, essay papermills)
- Websites with user contributed material like Wikipedia (contributors may not be authorities on the subject of study)
