{"id":625,"date":"2021-12-04T19:44:13","date_gmt":"2021-12-04T15:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gradmode.com\/?p=625"},"modified":"2023-02-06T22:23:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T18:23:19","slug":"how-many-references-should-i-have-in-an-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gradmode.com\/how-many-references-should-i-have-in-an-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many References Should I have in an Essay?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some teachers provide suggested guidelines for how many sources they want to see cited needed in an essay. If this is the case, students should follow this strictly. If teachers haven\u2019t mentioned anything specifically, students should aim to hit around 6-8 references for every 1,000 words of content. This works to about 1 reference for every 200 words or roughly about 1 reference in each paragraph.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this is a general rule and should be considered the bare minimum. We\u2019re not saying that every single paragraph of your assignment should have at least 1 reference. Instead, you need to consider the focus of references based on the subsection of the paper. It is important that you do not stuff in your references all in one place. You shouldn\u2019t also make a conscious effort spread them throughout every section of your paper either<\/strong>. You should add in references organically where it would be needed by putting yourself in the shoes of the reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, the literature review section is almost always going to need a higher focus on references<\/strong>. This is because the aim of this section is to establish existing ideas within your chosen topic. This in turn requires citations to the existing sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the findings, discussions, and conclusion sections are only going to need a moderate focus on references<\/strong>. These sections require you to make your own inferences based on the material you have researched. You should have partially covered the theoretical background for these in the previous sections. Hence there is a relatively lower need to cite sources here unless you are trying to further support your own findings and conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we have mentioned in our guide on how to make introduction and conclusions<\/a> for assignments, the conclusion section must not have new information that you haven\u2019t covered (even if just partially) in the other sections. Instead, you should use this section to go over the key points to emphasize their implications further. In other words, you should not have any external references in the conclusions section<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Table of Contents<\/p>\n