Citing Sources: Citing Sources in Academic Work

 Citation is part of research:
-You don’t know everything about your topic
-You need to support your claims
-Give credit to the author of the information
-Allow your reader to find the source
-Put yourself in the scholarly conversation

•Cite all mentions of another author’s original ideas, statistics, studies, borrowed concepts & phrases, images, quoted material, and tables.

•You do not have to cite facts commonly known by your audience & easily verified in reference sources.

•When in doubt, cite your source.

Citation styles vary by discipline; information about each of these styles is provided within this guide. Here's an overview:

APA Style documentation is used by social sciences, communication, business, and some STEM fields. Guidelines are published in the 6th edition of The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Chicago/Turabian style is most often used for courses in the literature, arts, and history. While Chicago is the full style for publishing, Turabian is a shortened version for students. There are two ways to cite in these styles: author-date and notes.

CSE Style is used in scientific publishing, and there are three ways to cite using CSE: citation-sequence, name-year, and citation-name.

MLA-style documentation is used primarily in liberal arts and the humanities. Guidelines are published in the 8th edition of the MLA Handbook. 

When you use information that you got from another source, you should indicate to your audience where you found it. This can be done by quoting or paraphrasing, but be sure to include a brief citation.

Academic work often includes a list of all sources cited within. This will be part of a larger work, like a paper, a poster, or a presentation. The name for this list depends on the style used; in APA, it is labeled "References," and in MLA, "Works Cited." If you are using Chicago/Turabian, the list is called "Bibliography" in the notes style, but "References" in author-date style.

Reference Assistance is individualized help with a specific question or need. Reference librarians are available to assist during  the hours the library is open. 

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