Citing Your Sources

 

Whenever you use a source of information – whether it’s a book, article, website, or other source – you need to indicate whose ideas you’re using and where those ideas came from by providing some basic, identifying information about each source you use.  This information, which must be presented in a specific format, is called a citation.   Citations typically are listed at the end of a research paper, in alphabetical order by author.  Citations typically include such information as

  • the name of the author,
  • the title of the article, book chapter, or web page,
  • the title of the periodical, book, or web site, and
  • publication information (such as a publisher, page numbers, date of publication, and/or the URL).

 

These different elements are listed in a specific order, and formatted and punctuated a certain way, depending upon the citation style that is used.  For this course, you may use either the MLA or APA citation style.

 

MLA stands for Modern Language Association, and is the style most often used with Humanities courses. This style underwent several changes in April 2009. This course uses the 2009 version.

 

APA stands for American Psychological Association, and this style is used for psychology and other social science research.

 

Specific information about MLA and APA citation style is provided in handbooks and on web pages.  We’ll look more closely at these handbooks and websites in later units.

 

Let’s take a look now at what citations look like for webpages, books, and periodical articles, in both MLA and APA style. Be sure to pay attention to the punctuation, capitalization, spacing and indentation (the second, and all subsequent lines, are indented 5 spaces).

 

 

Books

 

MLA style:

 

Chinn, Mike.  “Illustrating the Script.”   Writing and Illustrating the Graphic Novel: Everything You Need

to Know to Create Great Graphic Works. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's, 2004.  70-113. Print.

 

In the citation above, you will see: Author name, "Chapter title", Book title, City & State of publication, Publishing company, Year of publication, Page numbers for the chapter used. Medium of publication.

 

 

APA style:

 

Chinn, M.  (2004).  Illustrating the script. In Writing and illustrating the graphic novel: Everything you need

to know to create great graphic works (pp. 70-113). Hauppauge, NY: Barron's.


In the citation above, you will see: Author name, Year of publication, Chapter title, Book title, Page numbers for the chapter used, City & State of publication, Publishing company.

 

 

Magazine Article

 

MLA style

 

Coulton, Antoinette Y.  “Name That Commercial Tune: These TV-Ad Tracks Are More Than Just Jingles.” 

People Weekly  22 Aug. 2005: 46.  Academic Search Complete. Web.  2 July 2009.

 

In the citation above you will see: Author name, "Article name", Magazine name, Date of publication, Page number(s), Name of database used, Medium of publication, Date you looked at the article.

 

 

APA style

 

Coulton, A. Y.  (2005, August 22).  Name that commercial tune: These tv-ad tracks are more than just

jingles.  People Weekly, 64, 46.  Retrieved July 2, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.

 

In the citation above you will see: Author name, Date of publication, Article title, Magazine title, Volume number, Page number, Date you looked at the article, Name of database used.

 

 

Web Page

 

MLA style

 

“Green Buddhism.”  Earth Sangha.  2009. Web.  2 July 2009. 

 

In the citation above, you will see: "Name of webpage," Name of website, Copyright (or last update) date, Medium of publication, Date you looked at the webpage.

 

APA style

 

Green Buddhism.  (2009).  Retrieved July 2, 2009, from

http://www.earthsangha.org/buddhism/ethical.htm

 

 In the citation above, you will see: Name of webpage, Copyright (or last update) date, Date you looked at the webpage, URL for the webpage (no period after the URL)

 

All of these formatting details – the capitalization, punctuation, order, etc. – may seem really picky, but there is a reason for it:  because of the formatting, we can look at a citation and know exactly who the author is, what the title is, and so forth without having to actually state “Author: Toni Morrison”.  Having to follow a specific format also ensures that we include complete information on each source we use, which will allow someone else to find that particular source.

 

Why is it important to even bother creating citations in the first place?

  • As mentioned above, we need to give credit to the source where we found each piece of information we use in our research.
  • Citations will let anyone reading your research know exactly where to find the original articles, books, or websites that you used.
  • A list of citations can give strength and credibility to your research – they can show that other sources support your ideas.
  • To avoid plagiarism.

 

When to cite:

 

  • When quoting from a source,
  • When summarizing or paraphrasing information from a source,
  • When using statistics, facts, or other information that is not common knowledge.

 

You do NOT need to cite information that is common knowledge, such as the fact that there are twelve months in a year, or that Mars is the fourth planet from the sun.

 

There are some online citation generators (e.g., Citation Machine, EasyBib.com) that will automatically create a citation for you, based on information you provide.  While this can be a good starting point, it is important to know that the resulting citations are not always correct.  There can be problems, for example, with capitalization, order, missing elements, and punctuation.  Therefore, if you do use an automatic citation generator, be sure to doublecheck the resulting citation against your citation manual or online citation sites.

 

You will learn how to create citations for books, periodical articles, and web sites in the remaining units.