SOC 125 (Nealon) FA25

Break your research topic into keywords and using related terms.

Example Topic: Income inequality across demographic groups

1. Identify Key Concepts
   • Social Issue: "income inequality", "wage gap", socioeconomic, demographics
   • Statistical Method: ANOVA, "analysis of variance", "F distribution", "hypothesis testing"
2. Mix and match these terms when searching in a database

• Author Names: Last Name, First Initial. (e.g., Smith, J.).
• Title Formatting: Use Sentence Case (Capitalize First Word & Proper Nouns).
• Italics: Italicize book and journal titles
• DOIs & URLs: Always include them. No "Retrieved from" needed. Check out the APA Style Blog website
• In-Text Citations: (Author, Year) → (Smith, 2023). For quotes: (Smith, 2023, p. 45).
• Reference Page: Double-space, indent second line of each entry.

More details: APA Style Guide & Citing AI in APA

• Don't blindly trust auto-generated database citations as they often have errors in formatting, punctuation, and capitalization.
• Verify page numbers, as database citations often do not include accurate page numbers. Double-check the page numbers in the article.
• Fix title capitalization as databases often show titles in ALL CAPS. Convert to sentence case (capitalize only first word and proper nouns).
• Remove database names, such as "Academic Search Ultimate," from your citation.

Quick Citation Checklist

• ✓ Author names in correct format (Last, F. M.)
• ✓ Article title in sentence case
• ✓ Journal title italicized and in title case
• ✓ Double-check page numbers, volume, and issue
• ✓ DOI included (not database URL)