Whatever project you’re working on, if you mention or paraphrase information you learned from a source, or use a direct quote, it’s vital that you cite it. Doing so will help demonstrate your research, credit the sources of your information and ideas, and allow your readers to find and evaluate those sources. It’s also important to remember that failing to cite your sources can constitute plagiarism.
To properly cite a source, first gather its bibliographic information. You can learn how to do this in How to Keep Track of Your Sources on JSTOR. From there, you’ll need to know which citation style is required.
Some commonly used citation styles are MLA, Chicago, and APA. Different citation styles include the same basic bibliographic information, but each organizes it in a specific order. They also tend to use different punctuation to separate elements.
That’s why it’s important to know which style is required by your instructor or institution. If you’re unsure which citation style to use, simply ask your instructor or check your syllabus. It’s better to double-check and be sure than to just wing it!
Let’s look at how different citation styles format the same journal article, “Vietnam: The Television War” by Michael Mandelbaum, published in Daedalus. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024822. Learn how to cite other types of sources using the MLA Style Center.
In Chicago style, the citation would be: Learn how to cite other types of sources using the Chicago Manual of Style Online. Vietnam: The Television War. Daedalus, 111(4), 157–169. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024822 Learn how to cite other types of sources using the APA Style.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
