Citation practice exercises
Two short rounds. First, tap the gap where each citation belongs. Second, decide which sentences need a citation at all. Every answer comes with the reason.
Round 1: place the citation
Where does (Owens, 2014) belong? (APA)
Teenagers who sleep less than seven hoursreport more difficulty concentrating in class.
Round 2: does it need a citation?
Common knowledge is the grey zone. A useful test from the Purdue OWL: if the fact appears undocumented in several general sources and your reader would already know it, it is probably common knowledge. When in doubt, cite.
Water boils at 100 °C at sea level.
About 8% of men of Northern European descent have red–green colour blindness.
World War II ended in 1945.
In this essay I argue that homework in primary school does more harm than good.
Growth mindset interventions produce only small effects on grades.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragedy.
One critic has called Hamlet “the Mona Lisa of literature.”
These results suggest that the policy helped wealthier districts most.
Why practising placement matters
Misplaced citations are one of the most common reasons honest students get flagged for plagiarism. A citation stuck at the end of a paragraph claims the whole paragraph for the source, or leaves the reader unsure which sentences are yours. Placing it right after the borrowed material draws a clear line between the source’s ideas and your analysis.
Want to check your own writing? Paste a paragraph into the citation placement checker, or walk a tricky sentence through the when-to-cite decision tree.