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Important!

Always consult your syllabus and assignment sheets. The information in your syllabus or assignment sheet may differ from the information you see here (or elsewhere) on citing sources and formatting your paper! If you have questions, contact your instructor.

Pre-Formatted Citations

You can get pre-formatted citations from Google Scholar, OneSearch, and Zotero. For information on copying and pasting sources, please see more information here. Pre-formatted citations can also be created from a DOI, ISBN, URL, or title using ZoteroBib.

ALWAYS CHECK PRE-FORMATTED CITATIONS FOR ACCURACY BEFORE SUBMITTING ASSIGNMENTS

What are Citation Styles and Style Guides?

Style guides are sets of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents, like term papers, essays, newspaper articles, books, and websites. A standard style ensures consistency within documents, providing a convenient structure for readers and writers. 

Citation styles are a part of style guides. Citation styles dictate how sources are cited within the text of a document, and how those citations are formatted in the document and in the citation list (also known as a Works Cited page or a Bibliography). Most citations, regardless of the style, contain the same pieces of information. Most citations contain the article/book title, author information, publisher information, and DOI/URL for online resources. 

The following pages contain information on MLA and APA citations. If you have questions about citations, please contact your librarian. 

When in doubt, cite! Here are a few examples that you should cite

  • Direct quotes 
  • Paraphrasing another authors ideas/writing 
  • Summarizing ideas, arguments, or conclusions from a source 
  • Any ideas that were not your own that were critical to developing your ideas 
  • Cite when building off of a program or algorithm 

There are cases in which you do not need to cite information

  • Knowledge that is widely known and found in general sources 
  • Your original ideas, opinions, experiences, and thoughts 

Generally, you will be required to include 

In-text Citations 

  • When you use the work of another person, you must cite it within the text. To do this, you will include an in-text citation that includes brief reference information that signals to the reader that you are using another authors ideas/thoughts/writing.

Works Cited page 

  • Your in-text citations will also be included on a works cited page (references, bibliography, etc.). The last page of your paper must include a list of the sources you used/utilized/consulted.