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SPCH 1311 / SPCH 1315 / SPCH 1321 SO

This guide has been designed to assist you in the research for informative, argumentative, business, and persuasive speeches.

Citation Tips

Many students wait until they finish writing their paper before citing their sources. They may find themselves “on a roll,” and won't want to stop to check or to cite their sources, thinking they will add their citations later. It is a better idea to cite your sources as you find them and use them.  Use these tips to help ensure that documenting your sources is quick and easy!

  1. When you decide to use a source, be sure to copy all the information required to develop a citation.
  2. When you add a quote to your paper, document the page number (or the paragraph number if no page number is present) of where the quote was found.
  3. Also, be careful when you cut and paste your quote from one of our database articles to your paper. It is all too easy, while writing, to cut and paste a quotation without also jotting down the citation information. Forgetting to document a source is considered plagiarism.

The best way to make sure you do not forget to cite the sources you use - cite while you write!

What is citation? And why do we do it? This video explains! (1:54 min)
Courtesy NCSU Libraries

Recommended Resources

In the library:

Additional resources:

In the library:

Additional resources:

The Chicago Manual of Style Online:

In the library:

Additional resources:

Citations from the Databases

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Remember to check all your citations!

Most databases have a citation feature that allows you to copy the full citation for your source in your chosen format. This is a great way to get started with your reference list, but citations pulled from databases are not always 100% correct! 

  • Pay attention to details such as names, dates, capitalization, and punctuation.
  • Pay attention to what edition of the citation style is being used.
  • Remember that it is up to you to check over all your citations to make sure they are complete, accurate, and formatted correctly according to the citation style you are using.

Click below to view where to find the citation information in the different library databases. 

Screenshot from the Bloom's Literature database

  • Look to the top of the item for "Citation" 
  • Select the citation format that you want
  • Formats available include MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and APA

Screenshot from the CINAHL Complete database

CINAHL Complete, Communication and Mass Media Complete from EBSCO, eBook Collection from EBSCOhost

  • Look to the right of the item for an icon that looks like a document. If viewing the PDF, you'll only see the icon. If you are in the detailed record view, you will see "Cite" next to the icon, which will be listed under the "Tools" on the right side of the screen.
  • Scroll down to locate the citation format you want
  • Formats available include ABNT, AMA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, and Vancouver/ICMJE

Screenshot from a Gale database

  • Look to the top of the item for "Cite"
  • Click on the citation format that you want
  • Formats available include MLA, APA, Chicago, and Harvard

Screenshot from the JSTOR database

  • Look to the top of the item for "Cite"
  • Formats available include MLA, Chicago, and APA

Screenshot from a ProQuest database

  • Look to the top of the item for "Cite"
  • Use the drop-down menu to select the citation format
  • Formats available to choose from include MLA, Chicago, APA, Harvard, and many others

Screenshot from the PubMed database

  • Look to the right of the item for "Cite" (or to the top of the item if viewing on a smaller screen size)
  • Use the drop-down menu to select the citation format
  • Formats available include AMA, APA, MLA, and NLM

Screenshot from the TCC Library Catalog

  • In the item record, look for "Citation" listed in the options under "Send to" (located just below the item information listed at the top of the record)
  • Click on the citation format that you want
  • Formats available include MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, and Harvard

Online Citation Generators

These sites have [limited] free, online tools that can help you format citations for your bibliography.