Style Rules for Scholarly Citations
The American Psychological Association (APA) has developed comprehensive protocols for their inclusion in the text of your writing and in the References List. The complete citation system is given in the APA Manual, below. The APA maintains a website on its citation & writing style preferences, as well a the APA StyleBlog. Remember, the instructor, department, or publisher for whom you are writing has the final say in style rules and citations for that project.
A brief summary of APA format for Reference Lists (bibliography at end of a paper) and parentheticals (citations of sources for specific content) is available in our library's "Research Help / Style Guides" links
Citation Management Systems
In recent years, a number of online tools (many free) have been developed to help academic writers manage the large number of citations that are often needed in research papers. Most commercial databases offer citation-generating and exporting options for major citation systems.
Zotero (see Zotero LibGuide) is a free open-source program
Stylish Academic Writing by 
The Psychologist's Companion by 
Professional Academic Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences by
In "Professional Academic Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences," Susan Peck MacDonald tackles important and often controversial contemporary questions regarding the rhetoric of inquiry, the social construction of knowledge, and the professionalization of the academy. MacDonald argues that the academy has devoted more effort to analyzing theory and method than to analyzing its own texts. Professional texts need further attention because they not only create but are also shaped by the knowledge that is special to each discipline. Her assumption is that knowledge-making is the distinctive activity of the academy at the professional level; for that reason, it is important to examine differences in the ways the professional texts of subdisciplinary communities focus on and consolidate knowledge within their fields. Throughout the book, MacDonald stresses her conviction that academics need to do a better job of explaining their text-making axioms, clarifying their expectations of students at all levels, and monitoring their own professional practices. MacDonaldOCOs proposals for both textual and sentence-level analysis will help academic professionals better understand how they might improve communication within their professional communities and with their students."
An abstract is printed at beginning of a research paper, but it is actually the last thing you write. It is a brief summary (abstracts) of your research and its significance in the context of the profession. Here are some guidelines:
Abstracts (Center for Communications Practices at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute);
How to Write a Scientific Abstract (Steve Easterbrook)
Writing Report Abtracts (Purdue OWL)
How to Write an Abstract in APA (About.com) - brief YouTube video illustrating technical requirements for APA abstract
Ethical and legal requirements for research projects involving human subjects (including interviews and surveys) must meet the standards established by the Institutional Review Board. Before designing a project, review , the standards of the American Psychological Association as published in its Publication Manual (6th ed.) 1.11 - 1.12. Be familiar with the standards and procedures set forth in Sacred Heart University's Institutional Review Board Guide. Discuss your plans with your professor.
Protecting Participants and Facilitating Social and Behavioral Sciences Research by 
Proposed Revisions to the Common Rule for the Protection of Human Subjects in the Behavioral and Social Sciences by Scholarly and professional standards require that your research and reporting be accurate, complete, and fair. Sacred Heart University has incorporated these standards in its Academic Integrity Policy. Technically correct citations for direct quotations are an important part of this (see left column of this page). However, you must also give credit to others whose ideas you use, even if you have summarized, paraphrased, or rearranged the words originally used to describe the idea. And, "[j]ust as researchers do not present the work of others as their own (plagiarism), they do not present their own previously published work as new scholarship (self-plagiarism)." (Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) 1.10).
In the case of coursework, the SHU Academic Integrity Policy also bans:
"Submitting an assignment that one wrote during a previous semester or submitting the same assignment for more than one class simultaneously. This action includes reusing substantial portions of previously written work for a current assignment. (Students who are unsure of what work of their own they may use in preparing an assignment should consult their professors.) Assignments must be written the semester in which they assigned unless a professor approves of the use of previously written material with specific guidelines. Assignments may be submitted for credit in a single course only unless professors in multiple courses are informed of and approve of the multiple submissions. "
The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism by 
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