Citing Sources of Information

• Why Do You Need to Cite Sources of Information?
• What is Plagiarism?
• How Can You Avoid Plagiarism?
• How Do You Cite or Document Sources Properly?
• Parts of a Citation
• Which Citation Style Should You Use?
• Guides to Citation Styles
  • APA Style
  • CSE Style
  • Chicago Style
  • MLA Style

Why Do You Need to Cite Sources of Information?

When you find some useful ideas in your research and want to use them in your paper, whether they are from books, government documents, magazine or journal articles, non-print materials, Internet sources, TV interviews, or other forms of materials, you need to let your readers know the sources of these ideas, i.e., provide proper reference to each source that you have used, because:

• it is an ethical practice
• the credit belongs to the author or creator of the sources
• this will enable readers to locate the original sources and learn more about the subject
• it shows your effort in locating and exploring the sources and, in turn, provides credibility to your own writing
• using the ideas of others without acknowledging the authors is plagiarism
  

What is Plagiarism?

According to the Cambridge Dictionaries Online, to plagiarize is "to use another person's idea or a part of their work and pretend that it is your own". [Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Retrieved on 2 August 2005, from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=60393&dict=CALD]

Here are the most common forms of plagiarism:

• Paraphrase (i.e., put other people's ideas into your own words) without acknowledging the source
• Copy sentences or passages from the Web, or copy sentences or paragraphs from a book or an article, without citing the source
• Copy part of, or the entire, term paper written by someone else
• Buy a term paper written by someone else and submit it as your own

How Can You Avoid Plagiarism?

To avoid plagiarism, one should always provide information of the sources used, i.e., you must document or cite the sources of information which you have consulted or used in writing your paper. Therefore, it is important that you keep records of all sources that you have consulted so that you will be able to provide proper citations later. A citation refers to the basic information about an information source (e.g., a book, an article, a media resource) sufficient for identifying the source. For example, a citation for a book usually includes the author, title, publisher, and date of publication.

How Do You Cite or Document Sources Properly?

Documenting or citing sources of information involves 2 parts:

1. In-text citations - brief references within the text of the paper
2. A complete list of references at the end of the paper

You should also note that there are different citation styles but you should consistently use only one particular style throughout your paper.

Examples of in-text citations:

• When quoting sentences or passages from a source document (i.e., copying document text word by word), the original text must be enclosed in quotation marks, e.g.:

  

• When paraphrasing other people's ideas (i.e., putting the ideas of other people in your own words), you also need to acknowledge the original source, e.g.:

  

  

Parts of a Citation

The previous section tells you that apart from providing in-text citations, you also need to include a complete list of references at the end of your paper that gives proper citation of each source used. Here are some examples of citations for different types of sources in such reference lists. Note that for the same source, the citation would be formatted differently using different citation styles.

PLEASE NOTE that both the APA Style of citing sources and the MLA Style have recently been updated. The following examples reflect the latest updates. Please see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition and the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition for more comprehensive information.

For a book:

[APA Style]

[MLA Style]

For an article in print format:

[APA Style]

[APA Style] (If DOI is available)

[APA Style] (If DOI is not available)

[MLA Style]

For an article published in a periodical, retrieved through a database:

[APA Style] (If DOI is available)

[APA Style] (If DOI is not available)

[MLA Style]

For an article from an Internet news service:

[APA Style]

[MLA Style]

Which Citation Style Should You Use?

As preferences for citation style vary from one discipline to another, and different colleges and departments (and even courses) have their own preferences, you should ask your professor or instructor which style you should use in the work that you are going to submit.

The following are some commonly used citation styles:

Guides to Citation Styles

The following are useful resources available in the Library as well as on the WWW that guide you on the use of the above citation styles:

APA Style

Library resources:

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (BF76.7 .P83)
  (Please NOTE that there are important corrections to the First Printing of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition (July 2009))
• Concise Rules of APA Style (BF76.7 .C66 2005)
• APA style guide to electronic references (PN171.F56 A63 2007)
• APA-Style Helper: Software for New Writers in the Behavioral Sciences : A Companion to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association [CD-ROM] (BF76.7 .A73 2001)
• How to Prepare a Research Article in APA Style (BF76.7 .A54 2002)
• Writing with Style : APA Style for Counseling (BF76.8 .S94 2002)
• Writing with Style : APA Style for Social Work (HM586 .S98)
• Writing with Style: APA Style Made Easy (BF76.8 .S93)

Internet resources:

• APA Formatting and Style Guide by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab
• APA Frequently Asked Questions About APA Style from the APA website

CSE Style

Library resources:

• Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (T11 .S386)
• Citation Style Guide on the CBE Style based on the 6th ed. of the Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (obtainable from the Reference Desk of the Library)

Internet resources:

• Documenting Sources - CSE Style from Research and Documentation Online
• Cite Resources: Council of Science Editors Style from The Ohio State University Libraries

Chicago Style

Library resources:

• The Chicago Manual of Style (Z253 .U69)
• The Chicago Manual of Style [electronic resource] (Z253 .C57)
• Citation Style Guide on the Chicago Style based on the 14th ed. of the Chicago Style of Manual (obtainable from the Reference Desk of the Library)

Internet resources:

• Documenting Sources - Chicago Style from Research and Documentation Online

MLA Style

Library resources:

• Guide to MLA Documentation (PN147 .T75)
• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (LB2369 .G53)
• MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (PN147 .G444)

Internet resources:

• MLA Formatting and Style Guide by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab
• MLA Citation Style by Cornell University Library