First-year courses · Study skills

Academic writing and citation (APA 7, MLA 9)

Academic writing flashcards: thesis statements, paragraphs, argument, evidence, paraphrasing, integrity, APA 7 and MLA 9 basics and annotated bibliographies.

39 cards6 topicsAbout 15 minutes a roundTypical first-year academic writing or composition course

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About this deck

Almost every first-year program in Canada includes a writing-intensive course or expects you to write research essays across subjects. This deck covers the essentials: building a thesis, structuring paragraphs, making and supporting an argument, using sources honestly, the basics of APA 7th edition and MLA 9th edition citation, and related tasks such as annotated bibliographies, literature reviews and peer review.

You do not need to memorize every citation rule. Style guides and your library's guides exist to be consulted. What you do need is to understand why citation matters, recognize the parts of a citation, and know where the key differences between APA and MLA lie. APA puts the year up front because recency matters in the social sciences; MLA highlights authors and page numbers because close reading of texts matters in the humanities.

Study by doing. Take one paragraph from an article, paraphrase it, then compare your version with the original to check that you changed both the words and the sentence structure while keeping the meaning. Format one source in both APA and MLA side by side.

Common mistakes: writing a thesis that only announces a topic instead of making a claim; changing a few words of a source and calling it a paraphrase; and forgetting that ideas, not just exact words, need citations. Always check your instructor's policy on generative AI tools, since rules differ from course to course.

Before you start: None; Grade 12 English or equivalent.

All 39 cards

Cover the definitions with a sheet of paper and test yourself, or use the study modes above.

Thesis and structure

Thesis statement: A concise sentence or two stating the main, arguable claim that the whole essay will support.Example: Rural broadband subsidies in Canada should prioritize northern communities because the gap there is largest.
Working thesis: A provisional central claim used early in the writing process and refined as research develops.Example: Starting with 'Social media affects teen sleep' and sharpening it after reading studies.
Topic sentence: The sentence, usually first in a paragraph, that states that paragraph's main point and links it to the thesis.Example: One reason northern communities need priority is the higher cost of private internet.
PEEL paragraph: Paragraph pattern of Point, Evidence, Explanation and Link that keeps body paragraphs focused.Example: State a point, give a statistic, explain why it matters, connect back to the thesis.
Transition: A word or phrase that shows the logical relationship between ideas, sentences or paragraphs.Example: However, therefore, in contrast, as a result.
Introduction: Opening section that engages the reader, provides context and presents the essay's central claim.Example: Begin with a surprising fact, give background, end with the thesis.
Conclusion: Closing section that synthesizes the argument, explains its significance and avoids introducing new evidence.Example: Explaining what policymakers should consider next.
Reverse outline: Revision technique of listing the main point of each paragraph after drafting to check organization and gaps.Example: Spotting two paragraphs that make the same point.

Argument and evidence

Claim: A debatable statement that a writer supports with reasons and evidence.Example: Four-day work weeks improve productivity in office jobs.
Counterargument: A reasonable opposing view that a writer acknowledges in order to strengthen their own position.Example: Some argue a four-day week reduces customer service hours.
Rebuttal: A response that explains why an opposing view is weaker, limited or mistaken.Example: Staggered schedules can keep service hours unchanged.
Primary source: Original material created at the time of an event or by a direct participant, or original research data.Example: A 1914 newspaper, a diary, an interview transcript or a lab study reporting its own results.
Secondary source: Work that analyzes, interprets or summarizes original materials.Example: A historian's book about the First World War.
Scholarly source: Publication written by experts for an academic audience, usually reviewed by other experts and with full references.Example: An article in the Canadian Journal of Economics.
Signal phrase: Words that introduce a quotation or paraphrase and identify its source.Example: As Statistics Canada reports, ...

Sources and integrity

Paraphrase: Restating a source's specific idea in your own words and sentence structure, with a citation.Example: Turning a long sentence about housing costs into your own wording and citing the author.
Summary: A condensed version of a source's main points in your own words, much shorter than the original, with a citation.Example: Reducing a 20-page report to three sentences.
Direct quotation: Exact words from a source placed in quotation marks with a citation that includes a page or location where possible.Example: Use when the original wording is especially precise or memorable.
Plagiarism: Presenting someone else's words, ideas, data or work as your own without proper acknowledgement.Example: Copying a paragraph from a website without quotation marks or citation.
Patchwriting: Copying a source's sentences while only swapping some words or rearranging phrases, which is still a form of improper use.Example: Replacing 'significant' with 'important' but keeping the original structure.
Self-plagiarism: Reusing your own previously submitted work in a new assignment without permission from the instructor.Example: Handing in a high school essay again for a university course.
Common knowledge: Widely known facts that can be found in many general sources and usually need no citation.Example: Canada has ten provinces and three territories.
Academic integrity: Commitment to honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility in learning and research.Example: Following instructions on permitted collaboration and tools.
Contract cheating: Having another person or service complete academic work that you then submit as your own.Example: Paying a website to write an essay.

APA 7

APA in-text citation: Author-date format giving the author's surname and year of publication, plus a page number for direct quotations.Example: (Nguyen, 2022) or (Nguyen, 2022, p. 14).
APA reference list: Alphabetical list of sources at the end of an APA paper, each with author, date, title and source information, using a hanging indent.Example: Nguyen, T. (2022). Title in sentence case. Journal Name, 5(2), 10-20.
APA et al. rule: In APA 7, works with three or more authors are cited in text with only the first author's surname followed by et al. from the first citation.Example: (Singh et al., 2021).
DOI: Digital Object Identifier: a permanent code for an online document, given as a full https link in APA 7 references.Example: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
APA block quotation: In APA 7, quotations of 40 words or more are set as an indented block without quotation marks.Example: The citation follows the final punctuation of the block.

MLA 9

MLA in-text citation: Parenthetical reference with the author's surname and page number, with no comma between them.Example: (Atwood 45).
Works Cited: Alphabetical list of sources at the end of an MLA paper, built from core elements in a set order.Example: Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland and Stewart, 1985.
MLA core elements: The nine pieces used in an MLA entry: author, title of source, title of container, other contributors, version, number, publisher, publication date and location.Example: A journal is the container for an article; a database can be a second container.
MLA et al. rule: In MLA 9, a source with three or more authors lists only the first author followed by et al.Example: (Lee et al. 112).
Hanging indent: Formatting in which the first line of each entry starts at the margin and following lines are indented, used in both APA and MLA source lists.Example: Makes it easy to scan entries by author surname.

Research and review

Annotated bibliography: List of citations, each followed by a short paragraph that summarizes and often evaluates the source and its usefulness.Example: A 150-word note after each APA reference explaining relevance to your topic.
Literature review: A synthesis of existing research on a topic that identifies themes, debates and gaps rather than summarizing sources one by one.Example: Grouping studies on remote work by their findings on productivity.
Abstract: A brief summary at the start of a research article giving its purpose, methods, findings and conclusions.Example: Usually 150 to 250 words.
Peer review: Evaluation of work by others with relevant expertise before publication, or by classmates during drafting, to improve quality.Example: A journal sends a manuscript to two scholars for comments.
Revision versus proofreading: The first reworks content, argument and structure; the second corrects surface errors such as spelling and punctuation at the end.Example: Moving a paragraph is one; fixing a comma splice is the other.