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Citing Sources

 Examples of citations in MLA, APA, and Turabian styles

Why Cite?
  • Improper citation affects your grade!
  • Give credit to the people whose ideas you used in your research.
  • Anyone reading your paper will have accurate references for future study.
  • Failure to cite your sources constitutes plagiarism.

How to Cite:

Different disciplines rely on different citation methods. Which should you use? Ask each of your instructors which style they prefer. If they have no preference, you can use any or follow these guidelines:

APA psychology, education, nursing, social sciences
MLA literature, arts, humanities
Turabian history; can be used with all subjects
Other Styles CBU Writing Center has additional information on other citation styles
RefWorks Refworks is professional tool for organizing research, RefWorks can generate bibliographies in hundreds of citation styles. For more information, see the RefWorks information page.

Two Steps to Citing Sources:

  1. Cite within the text of your paper with either parenthetical references or footnotes. Provide the exact page number of the passage you're citing, so anyone reading your paper can go back and find the same information you found.

  2. Provide a comprehensive list of all the works you cited. This is called a Works Cited Page or Bibliography, depending on which citation style you use. Order items alphabetically by the author's last name.

See the style manuals (kept on Reserve in Plough Library) themselves for material not represented here.