Citation Help and Avoiding Plagiarism

What is a Citation?

A citation is the documentation you provide about where you got specific information or ideas. You need to include enough documentation about each source so that a reader can find these sources on their own. (This means that, in academic writing, we need to include more than just the link!) Usually you incorporate this information as in-text citations (or hyperlinks on web sources), footnotes, or endnotes.

You will often be asked to compile a list of citations for the sources you've used at the end of a research paper or other assignment. Depending on the citation style you use, this list is called a "Bibliography" (Chicago), "Works Cited" (MLA), or "References" (APA or Chicago Author-Date) page. 

What is a Citation Style?

Your instructor may ask you to use a particular citation style, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago. Citation styles provide guidelines that help you present citation information with consistent formatting and punctuation. If you need to look up guidelines for a particular citation style, our Citation Help page can direct you to various print and online style manuals. We also recommend the Purdue OWL for helpful guidelines and examples. Since different disciplines tend to favor some citation styles over others, check with your instructor to see if there is a style you should use in their class.

When Should I Cite?

Any time you reuse, reference, or make a call out to someone else's ideas or work you need to add a citation. Usually this includes any time you include direct quotations, paraphrase an idea, or summarize someone else's work! 

• Quote: When you reuse phrases or sentences exactly as they appear in the original source document. Use quotation marks or set quotes off using block quotations.
• Paraphrase: When you restate an idea from the original source document using your own words.
• Summarize: When you provide a brief version of what you learned from the source document.

Why Should I Cite?

Citing your sources is a fundamental research skill and a crucial step in avoiding plagiarism. Citing your sources also helps demonstrate that you understand the scholarly conversations and conventions within your discipline. By including citations, you:

• Acknowledge and credit the work that has helped influence your thinking or informed your research
• Provide evidence to back up and strengthen your arguments
• Enable your audience to track down and examine the sources you used for themselves and deepen their own understanding

Watch the following video (1:54) for a short introduction to citation:

“Citation: A (Very) Brief Introduction” by North Carolina State University Libraries is published under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license.

Contact a librarian if you have questions about when or how to cite your sources or make an appointment with a Writing Center tutor for help paraphrasing others' ideas and organizing your supporting evidence.