Over the years, you've probably been taught to cite your sources since elementary school. It's a good habit to develop, since it protects you from being accused of plagiarism. How you present the citation in your paper differs depending on the academic discipline. For instance, APA (American Psychological Association), is used chiefly for the sciences; MLA (Modern Language Association), used chiefly for the humanities, and the Chicago Manual of Style, used widely in publishing.
Find out from your professor which style you should be employing for your research paper, and then organize your citations accordingly. With the advent of electronic sources, these different styles have been expanded to include formats for citing sources from Websites, electronic databases, even YouTube videos. The information on this page will help direct you to sources that will explain the different formatting requirements for citations.
"Attribution is power."
- Jeff Rich
"If we enter into the kind of world that Google likes, the world that Google wants, it's a world where information is copied so much on the Internet that nobody knows where it came from anymore, so there can't be any rights of authorship."
- Jaron Lanier
Research Skill #8:
How to Manage Citations Properly. Always make sure you know which citation style your professor requires. You'll find information here on three citation styles: APA, MLA and Chicago. Refer to the online guides, materials and tutorials for help. In addition, manuals for the different styles can be found in the Reference section of the library. The library also has handouts containing examples of different citation styles.
