When you conduct research, it is important to "cite" your sources. This means you provide important information about a soucre--like the author, publisher and date--so that readers can see where you are getting information. If they want, they can go look at the information on their own. It's like saying, "Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself!" Citing sources makes your work look stronger because you are connecting it to a solid foundation.
The two most common ways to cite sources are MLA Style and APA Style.
MLA stands for Modern Language Association. MLA Style is commonly used in the Humanities: subjects like English, History, Language, Philosophy, the Arts, and Cultural Studies . In these subjects, many REALLY old ideas still hold up--so the date isn't as prominent in the formatting.
APA stands for American Psychological Assocation. APA Style is commonly used in the Sciences, such as Psychology, Sociology, Biology, Business, and Communications. In these subjects, having the newest information is more important--so the date is included earlier.
Which one should you use? Ask your teacher! All good citation tools will allow you to easily format your source information for a different style. You can explore a few options below.
Remember! Even though these tools will automatically format things to make it easy, it's important to check that everything they are using is correct. Proofread the results and edit to make them accurate.