Citing Sources

When you write a research paper, you use information and facts from a variety of resources to support your own ideas or to help you develop new ones. Books, articles, videos, interviews, and Web sites are some examples of sources you might use.

Citing these sources of information in your work is essential because:

• It gives credit to the author of the original work who provided you with the information or idea

• It allows your audience to identify and find the source material in order to learn more about your topic

• It gives your paper more credibility because it shows you're supporting your arguments with high-quality source. It also helps earn your readers' trust because you're telling your readers the source of your facts so that they can confirm them for themselves

• It helps you avoid plagiarism

Watch this short video from The Learning Portal to learn why you cite and when you cite. 

Plagiarism is using the ideas, words, creative works, or expressions of a source other than yourself without giving them proper credit. Plagiarism can range from unintentional (forgetting to include a source in a bibliography) to intentional (buying a paper online, using another writer’s or AI ideas as your own). Beginning writers and expert writers alike can plagiarize. Plagiarism does not apply only to written works; it also applies to images, graphics, charts, music, videos, etc. that you use in your research.

This brief video from Eastern Gateway Community College explains plagiarism and shows you ways you can avoid it.

No matter what citation style is required by your teacher, there are three areas that will be impacted by the style.

 Area 1: General Format (how the paper looks) 

•  Margins 

•  Line spacing 

•  Font size and style 

•  Page numbers and headers 

Area 2: Bibliography (list of all sources used) 

•  Title of bibliography 

•  Placement of bibliography 

•  Arrangement of citations 

•  Specific citation elements

 Area 3: In-text Citation (use of sources within paper) 

•  Parentheticals 

•  Footnotes

•   Endnotes 

•  Author/date method 

•  Author/page method

A Works Cited page is a list of all of the sources you used within your research paper. 

Placement: The Works Cited list appears at the end of the paper, on its own page(s). For example, If your research paper ends on page 8, your Works Cited begins on page 9. 

Arrangement: Alphabetize entries by author's last name. If source has no named author, alphabetize by the title, ignoring A, An, or The.

Spacing: Like the rest of the MLA paper, the Works Cited list is double-spaced throughout. Be sure NOT to add extra spaces between citations.

Indentation: To make citations easier to scan, add a hanging indent to any citation that runs more than one line.

What Are In-Text Citations?

In-text citations are brief references within the body of your paper that tell your readers that a) you've used an outside source, and b) point them toward that source in your Works Cited list. Where relevant, the in-text citation also points your reader to the location in the source being cited (e.g. page number).

The in-text citation can appear within the body of your paper, within a parentheses, or a combination of the two.

You need to cite all direct quotations, paraphrased information, and summarized ideas.

What To Include in an In-Text Citation

• An in-text citation begins with the shortest piece of information that di­rects your reader to the entry in the Works Cited list. Therefore, it begins with what ever comes first in the entry: the author’s name or the title of the work.

• Most often, an MLA in-text citation begins with the author's last name followed by the page number: (Jones 14).

• If there is no author, use the "Title" of the source:  ("Global Warming" 129).

If page numbers are available, they MUST be listed. This often means examining the pdf version of database articles to locate page numbers.

As a rule of thumb, these are the three basic elements, but this will vary with the type of source:

• WHO: Identify the element of the source (author or title) which provides the greatest authority and/or secondary credibility. Does the author have credentials?

• WHAT: What type of publication is it—newspaper, government report, magazine, journal? (In other words, would everybody know that the Kansas City Star is a newspaper? If not, tell them!)

• WHEN: When was the book, magazine, newspaper or journal published (date)? When was the person interviewed? When was the website last updated and/or when did you access the website?

Articles

If you are quoting from a magazine, newspaper or journal article, mention the author (if relevant) as well as the (full) date and title of the source. This applies to both print sources and those found in the library databases.

Examples:

• “According to Len Zehm, a sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, in an article from May 31, 2006…”

• “Newsweek magazine of December 4, 2005 lists bankruptcy as the…”

• “In the latest Gallup Poll, cited in last week’s issue of Time magazine…”

You do not need to give the title of the article, although you may if it helps in any way. For example, if you are quoting one or more articles from the same newspaper, this would help differentiate the sources. You do not need to give the page number nor the name of electronic database that cataloged the periodical/publication.

Books

If you are citing information from a book, provide the title of the book, year of publication and a brief mention of the author's credentials. You don’t have to mention the page, publisher, or city of publication:

Example:

• "In his 2005 book, Eating to Be Smart, Charles Larson, a registered dietitian, notes that consuming yogurt…”

Websites

If you are citing a website, you need to establish the credibility of the website and its author(s). Mention:

• the title of the website

• the author of the content you're quoting

  • This could be a named individual or an organization.

  • You will need to establish the credibility of the author(s). You can look at the "About" page on the website, if one is available, but you should also confirm that information using an outside source. Wikipedia can be a good place to find information on an author or organization. Visit the Evaluating Sources page for more information.

• the last date it was updated, if known, and the date you accessed the site.

Examples:

• “One of the most active developers of neurotechnology, Cyberkinetics.com, claims on their website, last updated on March 24, 2006, that…”

• “From the website maintained by the Wisconsin Council of Dairy Farmers entitled “Dairy Products and Your Diet”, as of January 10, 2007, yogurt…” (or “of an unknown date which I accessed on September 18th of this year”), yogurt proves to be…”

In an oral citation of a website, you do not need to give the URL.

Caution: If a website quotes a book, magazine or newspaper, remember that your source is the website, not the book/magazine/newspaper from which the quote originates.

Example:

• “From the website Beconvinced.com, a commercial website promoting the religion of Islam, the book Principles of Oceanography is quoted as stating that…”

Interviews

If you are quoting the source of an interview, give the person's name and statement of their credentials, date of interview, as well as the fact that the information was obtained from a personal interview:

Example:

• “In a personal interview on January 15 that I conducted with Nancy Manes, head of cardiac care at Central DuPage Hospital, the most important…”

Caution: Interviews are not the same as conversations or undocumented recollections of class lectures; interview sources must be credentialed “experts” in their fields.