Citing Sources: Summary
Citing your sources acknowledges that you have borrowed the information from other authors and therefore protects you from committing plagiarism. Go through the module by clicking on the tabs below.
Introduction
Citing (also known as referencing) is the practice of acknowledging in your paper the sources from which you obtained information. You cite your sources by providing information about the author’s name, publication date, and so on. Citations may take the form of parenthetical notes like this (Smith, 2002, p. 67), or footnotes, or endnotes.
The citations tell your reader where you found the information you are using. Citing your sources properly is one of the BEST defenses against plagiarism. By citing your sources you are acknowledging that the words or ideas are borrowed, not your own.
The section which follows will give you a basic introduction on what to cite and how to cite. The key point to keep in mind is the why of citation: you are citing to ensure that you have not committed plagiarism.
Does everything have to be cited?
You must provide a citation for any facts, ideas, or data which you took from another source. The only time you do not need to cite is when the fact or idea is "common knowledge" (see below). You also have to provide a citation for any images, graphs, maps, sound files, etc.
unless you created them yourself.
Common Knowledge
The term "common knowledge" refers to facts or ideas which are widely known or widely agreed upon. For example:
Because the above facts are widely known, you do not have to cite the source where you found them. On the other hand, the following statement about Pierre Elliott Trudeau is not a widely known fact. It is an author’s opinion, and a citation is required:
“In his sixteen years of office, Pierre Elliott Trudeau made himself a nuisance by inserting the tentacles of government where they had no place to be: in the private lives of the citizens” (McDonald, 1995, p.13).
Common knowledge can be tricky. Students quite reasonably say, “I don't know if this is widely known or agreed upon.”
If you are unsure whether a fact or idea is common knowledge, cite your source! Generally, most of the information in your
paper will not fall into the common knowledge category.
Image credit: The Library UC San Diego under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (BY-NC)
There are many different citation styles. The best known are APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian. Each academic discipline generally requires a particular citation style. Some instructors provide style guides with examples of how to format citations. If a citation style is not indicated in a syllabus or the assignment instructions, ask your professor which style you should use. The library and writing tutors refer to the current version of a style when answering questions. If your instructor is using an older style you will need to consult with them regarding citation questions specific to their requirements.
Walsh University librarians have created online guides that cover commonly used citation styles such as APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian.
The Walsh University Library website also contains subject guides for various topics. These guides include additional information about citation styles appropriate for that subject or discipline. Just choose a subject area and then click on the Writing and Citing tab.
Creating accurate citations starts at the note-taking stage. Identify which citation style guide you must follow because it will indicate the information you will need to record to create proper citations. Although every citation style is different, there are some standard elements to record:
For electronic sources such as web pages, you should record this additional information:
Your information sources must be cited in two places:
Parenthetical References
A parenthetical reference is a citation placed in parentheses in the text of your paper. In APA style, a parenthetical reference includes the following information: author, year of publication, and page number(s).
Here is an example of a parenthetical reference formatted in APA style:
Remember to consult your required style guide since each guide may present the parenthetical information in a slightly different format.
Endnotes are citations listed at the end of your paper. They are listed separately from a reference list, bibliography, or works cited. In essence, an endnote functions in the same manner as a parenthetical reference even though it is formatted differently. Both indicate to the reader where the information was taken from.
Since APA does not use endnotes, here is an example of the same source as above cited using an endnote in Chicago Style.
A footnote is almost the same as an endnote. Both serve the same function and may have the same format. The primary difference between the two is their location. While endnotes are compiled and displayed near the end of a paper, footnotes appear at the bottom of the same page of text as the quote, paraphrase, or summary to which they refer. Currently, footnotes are used less frequently than parenthetical references and endnotes.
Whether you are using parenthetical references, endnotes, or footnotes, each must refer to a source listed at the end of your paper. This compilation of sources (sometimes called a bibliography, works cited, or reference list) will be formatted differently depending on the style guide you are using.
Below is a sample of a reference list with two sources in APA style:
* Consult the library’s guides for more examples in APA, MLA and Chicago/Turabian styles.
Some students write their bibliographies on the day that the paper is due. Trying to create a proper bibliography at the last minute can be a stressful experience. You should remember that a bibliography is a required element in a research paper, and you should budget enough time to format it correctly. Otherwise you may commit plagiarism through providing incorrect information about your sources.
Adapted from the Information Literacy Tutorial by the University of Wisconsin System. Information Literacy Tutorial by Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at guides.library.uwm.edu
EndNote is reference management software. It is used to manage personal reference data and create bibliographies for writing.
EndNote allows you to create and organize your personal library of searchable references to books, journal articles, conference papers and other publications. You can download references from library catalogs and databases and store the full texts of the references in your Endnote library.
EndNote also enables you to create your bibliographies automatically by inserting references from your EndNote library into a Word document. EndNote formats the bibliography for your paper in the reference style that you choose.
How to register: Must be on-campus to create an account. Click here to start. Note: You will be able to access your EndNote library off-campus, but must first create account on-campus.
APA Style: Guidelines published by the American Psychological Association and used predominantly in psychology and other social science fields. Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
Chicago Style: Guidelines published by the Chicago University Press and used across a number of subject areas. The Chicago manual of style
MLA Style: Guidelines published by the Modern Language Association and used largely in the humanities. MLA handbook for writers of research papers