Guides on How To Cite Your Work
Whether you're writing a paper or creating a work of art, everyone needs to cite their work. Below are links to formatting and style guides.
Academic Citation Resource Guide
This guide is a great place to start if you're unsure about which citation style to use.
APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences.
Chicago Manual of Style is commonly used by those in literature, history, and the arts.
MLA Formatting and Style Guide
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities.
We cite our sources when we are using someone else's words and/or ideas. It does not matter if we are paraphrasing another person, we still need to cite from where we are paraphrasing. Another reason to cite your sources is to give proper credit to the creator of those words/ideas. You wouldn't want someone to steal your creative output, artwork, words, or ideas. The last reason is so the reader can trace the original source or resource of the words and/or ideas.
We cite our sources when you are stating something that is new (not common knowledge like "there are 24 hours in a day"), something that you saw in a documentary, or that you read somewhere. Citing a source means you are giving credit to the creator of the idea and/or words.
You must cite your sources when:
When in doubt, cite the source.
For more detailed information about citation best practices and plagiarism, please see this Resource Guide.
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