Overview

Paper: 4_APA.pdf • Style: APAiDominant Pattern Analysis Citations: Only Indirect/Support citations are present. Dominant single-source format is narrative author–date: Author (Year). By author count: one author: 'Surname (Year)'; two authors: 'Surname & Surname (Year)'; three or more authors: 'Surname et al. (Year)'. For multiple sources in one citation, the dominant format is parenthetical with semicolons and author–year pairs: '(Surname, Year; Surname, Year; Surname, Year)'. No page numbers are included in-text. A minor variant appears once as 'Surname, Year' without parentheses. Sources: Dominant pattern approximates an author–date journal/reference style: 'Surname, Initials. (Year). Title in sentence case. Journal/Outlet, Volume(Issue), page range. DOI/URL.' Common elements observed: authors listed as 'Last, Initial(s)' separated by commas (final author with '&' or 'and'; long lists sometimes abbreviated with 'et al.'), year in parentheses immediately after authors, titles mostly unquoted and in sentence case (proceedings items often use 'In: Proceedings …' with 'pp. xx–xx'), journal entries provide volume(issue) and pages, and DOIs/URLs appended at the end (as 'https://doi.org/…' or 'doi: …'). Web/organizational sources use the organization as author with undated markers '(s.d.-x)', retrieval date, and URL. Overall, most entries include core elements (author, year, title, outlet, and either pages and/or DOI), with variations for conference proceedings (location/series and 'pp.') and books (publisher and edition).

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Citation Analysis

10
Total Citations
8
Correct Citations
3
Citations Not Found
2
Wrong Style Citations
0
Unlikely / False Plausibility

Source Analysis

21
Total Sources
21
Verified Sources
0
Non-Existent Sources
5
Non-Scientific Sources
15
Wrong Style Sources
12
Unused Sources
8
Incorrect Verification

Summary

Overall, the in-text citations are mostly sound (8 of 10 formatted correctly), but there are serious alignment and reference-list quality problems that must be fixed to protect academic integrity and enable verification. Three of the ten in-text citations (30%) do not have a corresponding, accurate entry in the reference list, and the reference list itself shows widespread APA issues (17 of 21 entries—81%—need correction). In addition, more than half of the sources in the bibliography (12 of 21, or 57%) are never cited in the text, suggesting padding or poor source management. The most urgent issues are: (1) missing or mismatched sources for in-text citations (e.g., “Barnett, 2023”; “Larsson, 2020”; “Chassagne, 2018”), (2) broken DOIs and incomplete reference details that prevent readers from locating sources (e.g., spaces in DOIs like “https://doi.org/10.1126/ science.adi6513”), and (3) inconsistent APA formatting both in-text and in the bibliography (e.g., using “&” in narrative citations, Portuguese retrieval conventions inside an English paper, and incorrect conference proceeding formats). Strengths include a good proportion of recent sources (only ~10% older than 10 years), a diverse mix of journals, conferences, and a major textbook, and several correctly formatted in-text citations that demonstrate familiarity with APA’s author–date system. Addressing the alignment and formatting issues will markedly improve reliability, readability, and professionalism. Elsevier n.d. entries are reversed; 'To Err...' should precede 'The use...' (APA: same author/year sorted by title, ignoring 'The').

Key Findings

  • ! Three missing or mismatched in-text citations compromise verifiability and raise integrity concerns (30% of all citations). Examples: “Barnett, 2023” appears in a compound citation but has no matching reference entry; “Larsson (2020)” is cited but no corresponding source exists in the list; “Chassagne, 2018” is not an APA-compliant format and does not match any listed author—this likely intended “Chassignol et al., 2018.” Such gaps hinder readers from checking claims and can be construed as inaccurate or careless scholarship.
  • ! Widespread APA problems in the reference list (81% of entries need fixes) impede source traceability. Specific errors include broken DOIs with internal spaces—e.g., “https://doi.org/10.1126/ science.adi6513” (Science), “https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim. 1260” (Journal of Product Innovation Management), “https://doi.org/10.1007/ s40593-021-00239-1” (International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education), and “https:// doi.org/10.1038/s42256-021-00298-y” (Nature Machine Intelligence). Several entries miss required elements: Cardona et al. (2023) lacks a publisher/URL; Dwivedi et al. (2023) lacks the outlet, volume/issue, pages, and DOI/URL; Antons et al. (2021) omits volume/issue and DOI. Conference proceedings are inconsistently formatted (e.g., “In:” with a colon; missing (pp. x–y); absent ampersands before the final author) across Hennes & Izzo (2015), Stracquadanio et al. (2011), and Alam (2021).
  • ! Over half of the bibliography is unused in the text (12 of 21, 57%), suggesting padding and weak source-to-argument alignment. Uncited items include, for example, Antons et al. (2021), Chassignol et al. (2018), Garbuio & Lin (2021), Hennes & Izzo (2015), Izzo et al. (2019), Kobayashi et al. (2017), Nakagawa et al. (2019), Pinzolits (2023), Russell & Norvig (2009), and both Elsevier web pages. Such inflation can mask the true evidentiary base and makes the paper look less rigorous.
  • ! In-text style inconsistencies and errors reduce professionalism and clarity. Two of ten citations (20%) have style errors—e.g., “Kim & Kim (2022)” uses an ampersand in a narrative citation (should be “Kim and Kim (2022)”), and “Chassagne, 2018” is not a valid APA in-text format. There is also inconsistency in two-author narrative connectors: “Chatterjee and Bhattacharjee (2020)” correctly uses “and,” whereas other places incorrectly use “&” in narrative. Consistency matters for readability and adherence to APA.
  • ! Alphabetical ordering and suffixing for same-author, same-year items is incorrect. The two Elsevier undated entries are labeled as variants (“s.d.-a” and “s.d.-b”) but appear in reverse order. For the same corporate author and undated year, items should be ordered alphabetically by title (ignoring an initial “The”), which would place “To err is not human…” before “The use of AI…”, and the a/b labels should match that order.
  • ! Mixed-language reference conventions within an English paper cause style inconsistency. The Elsevier web entries use Portuguese conventions (e.g., “s.d.” for no date; “Recuperado…”) while the rest of the paper is in English. APA allows localized formats, but within a single English-language paper, retrieval phrases and no-date markers should be standardized to English (e.g., “n.d.”; “Retrieved Month Day, Year, from…”).
  • Solid recency and reasonable source diversity are evident. Only about 2 of 21 sources (~9.5%) are more than 10 years old (e.g., Russell & Norvig, 2009; Stracquadanio et al., 2011), while many are from 2018–2023. The set spans journals (e.g., Nature Machine Intelligence; International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education; Frontiers in Education), conferences (e.g., ICAC3; IJCAI), a textbook, and reputable science-news pieces (Science; Nature). This breadth strengthens topical coverage when references are properly aligned and formatted.

Recommendations

  • Reconcile every in-text citation with a complete, accurate reference entry. Create a crosswalk table listing each in-text citation and its matching reference. Then: (a) add the missing entry for “Barnett, 2023” or remove the in-text mention; (b) add the full reference for “Larsson (2020)” or remove/replace the citation; (c) fix the mis-cited “Chassagne, 2018” to “Chassignol et al. (2018)” if that is the intended source, or update the reference list to include the correct author. Re-run a document-wide search to ensure no orphaned citations remain.
  • Repair all broken DOIs and URLs and add missing bibliographic elements. Remove internal spaces in DOIs (e.g., change “https://doi.org/10.1126/ science.adi6513” to “https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi6513” and “https:// doi.org/10.1038/s42256-021-00298-y” to “https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-021-00298-y”). Use Crossref or publisher pages to retrieve missing details: add publisher/URL for Cardona et al. (2023); add journal/outlet, volume/issue, pages, and DOI/URL for Dwivedi et al. (2023); add volume/issue and DOI for Antons et al. (2021). Verify that each DOI resolves.
  • Standardize APA formatting across the reference list. Apply sentence case to article and book/report titles (e.g., “Artificial intelligence and the future of teaching and learning: Insights and recommendations”), title case for journal names, and use an ampersand before the final author in references (e.g., “Russell, S. J., & Norvig, P.”). For proceedings, use “In Proceedings of … (pp. x–y)” without a colon after “In,” and include page ranges in parentheses (e.g., Hennes, D., & Izzo, D. (2015). Title. In Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (pp. 769–775)).
  • Normalize in-text APA style and fix inconsistencies. Use “and” in narrative two-author citations (e.g., “Kim and Kim (2022)”) and reserve “&” for parenthetical citations (e.g., “(Kim & Kim, 2022)”). Replace the non-APA form “Surname, Year” (e.g., “Chassagne, 2018”) with either narrative “Surname (Year)” or parenthetical “(Surname, Year).” Scan the manuscript to ensure uniform application.
  • Clean and right-size the bibliography. Remove genuinely unused sources or integrate them meaningfully into the argument. With 12 of 21 entries uncited, aim to reduce the uncited ratio from 57% to below 10% by either citing relevant items or deleting nonessential references. This will improve coherence and avoid the appearance of padding.
  • Correct alphabetical ordering and same-author suffixing for undated items. Order the Elsevier entries by title (ignoring an initial “The”), then assign “(n.d.-a)” and “(n.d.-b)” to match that order. In an English manuscript, convert Portuguese conventions to English: “n.d.” instead of “s.d.” and “Retrieved Month Day, Year, from …” instead of “Recuperado…”.
  • Adopt a verification workflow to prevent recurrence. Before submission: (1) run an automated APA reference audit (e.g., using Zotero/EndNote + an APA 7 style template); (2) resolve every DOI via a batch checker (e.g., doi.org/RA); (3) perform a manual spot-check of 5–10 references for title case, sentence case, and page/issue formats; and (4) do a final in-text vs. reference-list reconciliation.
  • Prioritize peer-reviewed evidence for key claims and annotate unusual sources. Where news/editorial pieces (e.g., Science, Nature news) are used, ensure they supplement—not substitute for—peer-reviewed studies. Briefly indicate when a source is a policy report or news item and back key assertions with journal articles or conference papers.