Citing Sources  

Whenever you include someone else’s ideas in a paper, you must document or cite the source of the ideas. In other words, if you have learned anything new and include it in your paper, you must give credit to whoever provided the new information. Remember that failure to do so properly is PLAGIARISM.

Research Paper Navigator

Use for help with

• time management
• library research
• writing your paper
• citing sources

Also has subject guides with suggested databases.

Different professions have their own requirements for documentation and publish their own style manuals.  At HACC three styles are used by faculty in various disciplines:

• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Council of Science Editors (CSE)
• Modern Language Association (MLA)

Ask your professor which of the styles you should use.

Documenting your sources is a TWO STEP process:

1. List citations (e.g. author, title(s), publisher, date, pages) for all the works you used in alphabetical order on a separate page at the end of your paper. This list is called a works cited page, bibliography, source list, or references. How you list your citations depends on which style you use. It is important to be consistent in identifying your sources so that another reader can locate the same material.
2. Identify (briefly in parenthesis) in the paper's text the works you have used.  These are called parenthetical or in-text citations.

For additional help in citing resources, check the following websites:

• The OWL(Online Writing Lab)  at Purdue                                               http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
• The Writing Center @ The University of Wisconsin – Madison         http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Documentation.html
• Duke University Libraries - Citing Sources                                             http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/

The HACC Office for Academic Success provides workshops on the MLA and APA formats.