Peer Review

Research and Citation Resources (Purdue Online Writing Lab)

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Sep 28, 2021 by Library and Information Services

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This is a set of guides for performing tasks related to the academic research and writing process, with a focus on writing citations and formatting papers in several major styles, including ASA, APA, MLA, and Chicago. The text-based format and easy navigation make it a good reference tool and a potential source of handouts for students from the high school through the graduate level.

Type of Material:

Reference Material

Recommended Uses:

• In class, to provide examples when teaching citation

• With assignments, to provide reference material about formatting papers and citing sources

• As handouts to remind students of concepts already covered

Technical Requirements:

Viewed using Chrome version 51.0.2704.106 m, Firefox version 47.0, and Chrome on Android. Mobile version is readable but menu items are too small for easy navigation.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The purpose of the site is to help users use various formats such as APA, MLA, and Chicago format styles.

Target Student Population:

Appropriate for high school to graduate level. Faculty will probably want to use original style guides instead of this summary, which only covers the basics.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

No prerequisite knowlede is needed to use this site.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The contenct included in each format is clear and concise. It is easy to follow and provides many examples. The further examples on how the citing is to be displayed within a paper is an added bonus. The use of colors is helpful with the explanations on the side.
Concerns:: Students will need to know something about citations to use this site since there is not much additional context.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: There are many ways to use this site. It can be used to teach citations, bibliographies, and how to write a paper in a specific format. The learning goals are easy to follow and as the user progresses there are examples on how it can adapt to poster sessions, tables and figures.
Concerns:: Website does not provide support for assessment of student learning outcomes.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The site is clear and easy to use. Each format layout is the same so if a user uses APA and then needs MLA they will know in advance what they will learn and how to locate informaiton. It is easy to navigate and the pages are of reasonable length. It does not have a never ending page for the user to navigate. All the links are in working order and take you directly to that page.
Concerns:: If you are using multiple sections on the site, sometimes the lack of parallel format is confusing—for instance, instructions for citing the same types of items are in a different order in the MLA section than in the APA section.

Other Issues and Comments:: This is an incredibly robust and quite large site. Users can find many ways to cite items that are very rare and difficult to cite. It is especially good that it includes information on charts, graphs, tables and how the paper will look when finished.
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