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Citing Sources: Citing Help

A guide to using the four most popular citation styles to format your paper.

Why Do We Cite Sources?

Why do we cite sources?

When you write a paper on a particular topic, you are joining an ongoing conversation about that topic. As scholars, researchers, and other writers publish, they consider and acknowledge what has already been written on their subject. In the same way, you should be aware of what has already been said about the topic of your paper. You are not writing in a vacuum––you are interacting with and adding to other writers’ ideas, much as you would in a conversation. To do this, you must cite sources.

As you are reading a text that you plan to use as a source, think about the claims the author is making and whether you agree with those claims. Think about how you might debate the author’s ideas, explore a question asked, or use the author’s ideas to support your own claims. Also, notice how this author is using and citing his own sources.

Using a source is much more than simply pulling out a phrase or passage to quote in support of your ideas. To use a source with integrity, you must first read the entire document and fully understand what the author is saying. When you use the author’s ideas in your paper, you must represent them accurately and in context.

When Do We Cite Sources

When do we cite sources?

Any time you quote, paraphrase, or summarize ideas that are not your own, you must cite. Undisputed facts (e.g., “The earth revolves around the sun” or “The population of the U.S. is 335 million”) do not need to be cited. However, all original ideas and opinions must be cited. Even if you agree with the author of a source, you must give her credit for the idea. If you don’t cite, you give the impression that the author’s idea is your own, original idea; this is plagiarism.


When you research a topic you may use information from articles, books, or the Web to support your ideas. However, you must credit the original authors of these sources by citing them. To cite means that you state where you found the information so that others can find the exact item again. In this way we build upon the ideas and knowledge of other people.
Loyola Marymount University's William H. Hannon Library's Writing Libguide, Why Cite Sources. Web. Accessed 4 August, 2017.

Tips for Researching and Citing:

Tips for researching and citing:

  • Take clear, accurate notes about where you found specific ideas.
  • Write down the complete citation information for each item you use.
  • Use quotation marks when directly stating another person's words.
  • Always credit original authors for their information and ideas

Citation Styles

There are a number of different styles or formats for citations. Which style you use depends upon the subject discipline you are working in. If you are uncertain about which style to use, ask your professor. 

Each style includes the same basic parts of a citation, but may organize them slightly differently. 
Below are some commonly used writing style guides:  
Style guides are available in Merrill Library. To use RefWorks, a citation management tool, start here, or view this video to lean how to use, RefWorks Basic Functionality.

Citation Style Guides Online

 This site, OWL at Purdue, offers a helpful overview of MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE citation styles with examples.Watch these videos created by the staff at the Online Writing Lab at Purdue -  OWL at Purdue.

Parts of a Citation

Parts of a Citation

As you do your research, keep a list of your sources--books, periodicals, and the Web. Below is the type of information you need to write down from a citation with each of its important parts labeled:
 

For Books:    When you are gathering book sources, be sure to make note of the following bibliographic items: the author name(s), other contributors such as translators or editors, the book’s title, editions of the book, the publication date, the publisher, and the pagination.  See Purdue Online Writing Lab for more information

  

For Periodical Articles: Periodicals include magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals. Works cited entries for periodical sources include three main elements—the author of the article, the title of the article, and information about the magazine, newspaper, or journal. MLA uses the generic term “container” to refer to any print or digital venue (a website or print journal, for example) in which an essay or article may be included. See Purdue Online Writing Lab for more information. 
 

  
For Electronic Sources - Web Publications: 

Here are some common features you should try to find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every Web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the following information as possible both for your citations and for your research notes:

  • Author and/or editor names (if available)
  • Article name in quotation marks.
  • Title of the website, project, or book in italics.
  • Any version numbers available, including editions (ed.), revisions, posting dates, volumes (vol.), or issue numbers (no.).
  • Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
  • Take note of any page numbers (p. or pp.) or paragraph numbers (par. or pars.).
  • URL (without the https://)  DOI or permalink.
  • Date you accessed the material (Date Accessed)—While not required, it is highly recommended, especially when dealing with pages that change frequently or do not have a visible copyright date.
  • Remember to cite containers after your regular citation. Examples of containers are collections of short stories or poems, a television series, or even a website. A container is anything that is a part of a larger body of works.  See Purdue Online Writing Lab for more information
  

Plagiarism

Plagiarism
Image result for plagiarism images
Image Credit:  Hedgepeth, Oliver. Teaching About Plagiarism in the Online Classroom. Retrieved August 4, 2017. https://elearningindustry.com/teaching-plagiarism-in-the-online-classroom                 
When you work on a research paper you will probably find supporting material for your paper from works by others. It's okay to use the ideas of other people, but you do need to correctly credit them.

Plagiarius is the Latin word for kidnapper
 
 
 
If you don't credit the author, you are committing a type of theft called plagiarism.

When you quote people -- or even when you summarize or paraphrase information found in books, articles, or Web pages -- you must acknowledge the original author. It is plagiarism when you:
  • Buy or use a term paper written by someone else.
  • Cut and paste passages from the Web, a book, or an article and insert them into your paper without citing them. (Warning! It is now easy to search and find passages that have been copied from the Web).
  • Use the words or ideas of another person without citing them.
  • Paraphrase that person's words without citing them.

Plagiarism? It's Your Call

Plagiarism ranges from copying word-for-word to paraphrasing a passage without credit and changing only a few words. Below is a sentence from a book, followed by its use in three student papers. For each student's version check the pull-down box to see if the passage would be considered plagiarism.

Original Passage
Still, the telephone was only a convenience, permitting Americans to do more casually and with less effort what they had already been doing before.¹

¹ Daniel J. Boorstin, The Americans: The Democratic Experience (New York: Random House, 1973), 390.
 
  Abbie
The telephone was a convenience, enabling Americans to do more casually and with less effort what they had already been doing before.
 
 
Brian
Daniel J. Boorstin argues that the telephone was only a convenience, permitting Americans to do more casually and with less effort what they had already been doing before.		  
 
 
  Chad
Daniel J. Boorstin has noted that most Americans considered the telephone as simply "a convenience," an instrument that allowed them "to do more casually and with less effort what they had already been doing before."¹
 
 
The excerpt, examples, and commentary on this page are from James M. McCrimmon and Webb Salmon, Writing with a Purpose (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976) 499.

 

Five Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism

  First, use your own ideas. This is your paper and your ideas should be the focus.
 
  Use the ideas of others sparingly--only to support or reinforce your own argument.
 
  When taking notes, include complete citation information for each item you use.
 
  Use quotation marks when directly stating another person's words.
 
  Take 30 minutes and write a short draft of your paper without using any notes. This will help you think through what you want to say and prevent you from being too dependent on your sources.

University of Maine System Academic Integrity Policy

Plagiarism - passing off others' ideas as your own - is a serious offense at UMM. Don't do it! For more information, see the UMS Student Academic Integrity Policy.

Excerpted from the University of Maine at Machias Student Academic Integrity Policy:

Plagiarism
"The UMS Conduct Code, adopted June 2003, defines plagiarism as “the submission of
another's work as one's own, without adequate attribution.” When a student submits work
for credit that includes the words, ideas or data of others, the source of the information
must be acknowledged through complete, accurate, and specific references, and, if
verbatim statements are included, through quotation marks or indentation as appropriate" (Academic Integrity Policy, 2003).

 

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