Research & Citing Sources — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. A student reads three sources about honeybees. Source A says bees pollinate 80% of flowering plants. Source B says bees pollinate 75% of crop plants. Source C says bees are not important for farming. What should the student do?
A) Use only Source C because it is different from the others
B) Average the numbers and make up a new statistic
C) Note that Sources A and B mostly agree, and investigate why Source C disagrees
D) Ignore all three sources because the numbers do not match exactly
Sources A and B give similar statistics supporting bees' importance, while Source C contradicts them both. Investigating why Source C disagrees helps you decide if it is outdated, biased, or looking at different data.
2. Which bibliography entry is formatted correctly?
A) Parker, James. The Ocean Floor. Boston: Seaside Books, 2022.
B) The Ocean Floor, James Parker, 2022, Boston.
C) James Parker wrote The Ocean Floor in Boston in 2022.
D) www.seasidebooks.com/ocean-floor
A correctly formatted bibliography entry lists the author's last name first, followed by the book title in italics, the city of publication, the publisher, and the year. This order follows standard citation rules.
3. A student wants to combine information from a book and a website into one paragraph. What is this skill called?
A) Copying because information from two sources is mixed together
B) Synthesizing because the student blends ideas from multiple sources
C) Plagiarizing because the ideas originally belonged to other authors
D) Summarizing because the paragraph is shorter than the original sources
Synthesizing means blending ideas from multiple sources into one unified explanation. It goes beyond summarizing a single source by connecting information from different places to build a stronger argument.
4. When citing a website, which piece of information is needed but is NOT usually required for a book citation?
A) The author's name
B) The title of the article
C) The URL and the date the page was accessed
D) The year it was published
Websites can change or disappear, so you must include the URL and the date you accessed the page. Books are permanent printed works, so they do not need a URL or access date.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. Synthesizing means combining ideas from several sources into one clear explanation.
Synthesizing pulls together facts and ideas from different sources to create one clear, unified explanation. It shows deeper understanding than simply listing what each source says separately.
2. In a bibliography, the title of a book is written in italics to set it apart from other information.
Italics visually separate the book title from the rest of the citation details like the author, publisher, and date, making it easier for readers to identify the work.
3. When two sources agree on a fact, the information is more likely to be accurate.
When multiple independent sources report the same fact, it is more likely to be accurate because it has been verified by different authors or organizations.
4. The publisher is the company that printed and distributed a book.
The publisher is the company responsible for printing and distributing the book. Including the publisher in a citation helps readers locate the exact edition you used.
5. A works-cited page and a bibliography both appear at the end of a research report.
Placing the full list of sources at the end of a report keeps the body focused on your writing while still giving readers a complete reference to check every source you used.