CITING YOUR SOURCES
Responsible scholarship involves citing the information sources you use in you research. There are two reasons for documenting.
1. You must acknowledge anyone whose ideas and work you are using to make your case. Not only does it give him or her credit but it demonstrates to the reader that you have based your research on something more than just what's in your head.
2. You must provide a way for the reader of your research to locate those sources so that he or she may look at the original text for more complete information and to review your interpretation of that text.
Failure to cite your sources is plagiarism. For some good examples of what constitutes plagiarism, click here. For tips on how to avoid plagiarism, click here.
The are several types of citation styles. Each style contains some common elements. The two most widely used styles at Plattsburgh State are the MLA and APA styles. For useful handouts on how to cite sources using these two styles, click on the following links. (NOTE: The handouts listed below in pdf format require Adobe Acrobat Reader software to open. Click here for a free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader software).
MLA handouts (Quick Guide, Detailed Guide, Parenthetical Documentation)
APA handouts (Quick Guide, Detailed Guide, Parenthetical Documentation)
CHECK IT OUT! Son of Citation Machine web site automatically generates an MLA and/or APA citations for nearly any source material (book, article web site, etc.).