Advise on using 'Citations' in essays

Question

How advisable is the use of citations of studies in writing essays?

For example, If I am writing an essay on "the event that has influenced me most" and I decide to write about Sustainable Development, can I quote the studies on Global Warming with citation (Indicating the publication etc.)?


Regards.

dabots · Answer

sounds overly formal to me... this isnt a research paper. can you just write in general "studies have shown... ?"

R.E.D. · Answer

In general, it is better to avoid any citations. Try to use some other words that deliver the same idea.

riverripper · Answer

My advice is to work it in but dont go using boring stats or anything just to try to make it appear you are well informed on a subject. Anyone could do 5 minutes of research or watch an Inconvient Truth and get some stats to use. Having your passion come through will be much much more effective.

A word of caution though...remember that some topics are very "IN" and that poses a risk to an extent. Microfinance and Global Warming come to mind immediately as something all over the news and in the b-school world right now. A lot of people will use these just because they think it is what adcoms want to hear. So Global Warming better relate perfectly with your career goals beyond I want to work in investments for alternative energies to combat GW. Don't avoid using it but like I said it better be more than I want to do something to stop global warming. You need to have a very specific career path that fits with your position on Global Warming, not just saying you want to be in a management position so you can do something about it.

An interesting note, some schools interviews are not performed blind. MIT is a great example. Chances at MIT the person interviewing you has read your essays and cover letter. If you feed them some BS story because you think thats what they want to hear they will dig and dig until they figure out its all BS. An adcom told a story of a girl who wrote some of the best essays last year and was all set to get in until during her interview it was clear she had no idea about anything beyond what she wrote about. In the end the dinged her but said she would have probably gotten in had she just been herself and not a fabrication of what she thought they wanted.

ishcabibble · Answer

I think that you could definitely work in the publication name and date without sounding too formal. You could just say that the "August 6, 2003 issue of  Important Sounding Scientific Magazine  published the results of a study that totally back up what I'm trying to say..." 

I feel that in this day and age with everyone being very paranoid about plagarism (or just flat out making stuff up), it would be better to err on the side of caution. I mean, it's not like you have to do APA style parenthetical references with a bibliography at the end or anything, just give credit where credit is due.

Artemov · Answer

Thanks everyone for the valuable comments.

It wasn't exactly SD that I would be writing about in my essays. Incidentally, that example came to my mind at first thought.

I am in my field for about 10 years, the subject is rather very 'IN' and I happen to know quite a bit about the subject. I am weaving a convincing story and unlike the 'MIT girl' am well into the subject. What I mean is, without boasting here, however deep the adcom may dig, it's only what I am writing that will come out. So, there won't be fabrication there.

Thanks again for all the help.

Regards.

riverripper · Answer

Thats good, I used global warming in mine since I work in nuclear power and feel strongly that its going to be part of the solution. It obviously worked too since I already have one acceptance. Best of luck.

Advise on using 'Citations' in essays

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia