Research Guides: Library Research Overview: Citing Sources

Why Cite Your Sources?

Why do I need to cite my sources?

To allow others to find the information you used in your research paper.
To help establish the credibility of your research.
To acknowledge the work of other scholars who have made your own research possible.
To help you avoid plagiarizing!

Help With Citing Sources

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association Staff
ISBN: 9781433805592
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the official APA style guide and is available at each campus. Remember, your instructor is the final authority for all citation questions.

TCC Guide to APA Style Citations
Guide to in-text citations and formatting the References page in APA style.
Purdue OWL Guide to APA Style
APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 7th edition of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page.

Using Microsoft Word to Write an APA Paper.
Created by the Trinity River Library to assist you with formatting a paper using the APA style.

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
ISBN: 9781603292627
The MLA Handbook is the official style guide published by the Modern Language Association and is available at every campus library. Remember your instructor is the final authority for all citation questions.

TCC Guide to MLA (9th edition) Style Citations
Guide to formatting in-text citations and building the Works Cited page.
MLA Style Examples for Southeast Campus
This guide has been developed by the Southeast Campus Writing Center and Liberal Arts Division.
Purdue OWL Guide to MLA Style
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (8th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

Using Microsoft Word to Write an MLA Paper
Created by the Trinity River Library to assist you with formatting a paper using the MLA style.

The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff
ISBN: 9780226287058
There is a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style in the reference collection at each campus. This is the official CMS style guide. Remember, your instructor is the final authority for all citation questions.

TCC Guide to Chicago Style Citations (17th edition)
Guide to creating footnotes and formatting a bibliography in Chicago style.
Purdue OWL: Chicago Manual of Style Citation
The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) covers a variety of topics from manuscript preparation and publication to grammar, usage, and documentation and has been lovingly called the “editors’ bible.”
Chicago Manual of Style - Online
The Chicago Manual of Style Online is the venerable, time-tested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format.

Citation Tips

Forgetting to document a source is considered plagiarism!

Don't wait until you finish your paper to begin citing your sources. 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!

When you decide to use a source, be sure to copy all the information required to develop a citation.
When you add a quotation to your paper, document the page number (or the paragraph number if no page number is present) of where the quotation was found.
Also, be careful if you cut and paste a quotation 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.

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

Video Tip

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

Online Citation Generators

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

Easy Bib
EasyBib is an online platform that provides citation, note taking, and research tools. We cite according to the 8th ed. of MLA, 6th ed. of APA, and 17th ed. of Chicago (7th ed. Turabian). Easy Bib is NOT a free service.
BibMe
BibMe is a free automatic citation creator that supports MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian formatting.
Son of Citation Machine
Citation Machine helps students and professional researchers properly credit the information that they use.
KnightCite
Brought to you by Calvin College Admissions. We use the 9th ed. of MLA, 7th ed. of APA, and 17th ed. of Chicago (9th ed. Turabian).