Write and Cite
Citations are an important part of the writing process. They are a way of acknowledging the ideas or words you are including in your paper or assignment were taken from 'someone' else. Giving credit to the original author is important. This ensures that writers avoid plagiarizing other people's work, and helps teachers find original sources.
Citations usually include the authors name, title of book or journal article (or website, etc.), the date, the publishing company and other information depending on the format of the original work.
Citation styles provide rules on what information to include, the format, and punctuation. These styles include:
- APA (American Psychological Association) Format - usually used with subjects in the Sciences, Education, Psychology, and Social Sciences such as Sociology.
- Chicago Style Format - used with subjects such as Business, History, and Fine Arts.
- MLA (Modern Languages Association) Format - used for subjects that fall under the Humanities.
Style Guides
Subscription databases, such as Gale and EBSCO, have citation tools included, but if you use a book or website or other reference format and require assistance creating your citation, check out the style guides below.
 |
 |
 |
As we use more and more information from online sources, it's easy to accidentally plagiarize. Without giving credit or asking for permission, cutting and pasting from the internet, borrowing from someone else, submitting an assignment you've already used in another course, using facts or statistics without saying where they're from, paraphrasing someone else, and 'padding' a resource list are all examples of plagiarism pitfalls.
How To Avoid Plagiarism: An Online Tutorial
Helpful Resources
Important Terminology
Bibliography -
"A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, Web sites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic." Purdue Online Writing Lab
Works Cited Page -
when using MLA format, a works cited page is included as the last page (separate) and lists all of the books, journals, websites, etc. that were quoted or referred to (ideas and paraphrased sections) in the main section of your paper/assignment.
Reference List -
used in APA format, similar to a works cited page and attached to the end of the paper/assignment.
In-text-citation -
when you use a quote or paraphrase someone else's ideas/words in your paper/assignment, an in-text-citation is used to show attribution and provide a short form way to find the reference work in either your works cited or reference list page.