Citation Guide

Why Citing is Important

It's important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:

• To show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information
• To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas
• To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors
• To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way of footnotes, a bibliography or reference list

Source: MIT Libraries

MLA 9th Edition

The MLA Handbook provides a "universal set of guidelines" for citing sources across all format types. Luckily, the 9th edition mainly expands upon the rules listed in the 8th edition. There are no significant changes in Works Cited/In-Text Citations (whew!).

These guidelines state that, if given, these major elements should be included in the citation:

1. Author.
2. Title of Source.
3. Title of Container,
4. Other Contributors,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location.

Check out Purdue University Online Writing Lab website for detailed examples and instructions.

What to Cite

You must cite:

• Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge
• Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used in other publications
• Publications that must be cited include:  books, book chapters, articles, web pages, theses, etc.
• Another person's exact words should be quoted and cited to show proper credit 

When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!

Source: MIT Libraries

APA 7th Edition

Unless specifically stated by an instructor, an abstract is not required for student essays when using APA 7.

Some changes from the previous edition (APA 6) include:

• Running Heads are not required for student papers but if one is used it now only contains a page number and a shortened paper title.
• Use one space after a period, unless otherwise directed.
• Singular use of the term “they” is acceptable
• The first in-text citation of a work by more than two authors may list only the first author, followed by “et al.”

Reference list changes:

• URLs are no longer preceded by "Retrieved from" unless a retrieval date is needed.
• A website's name is included (unless it's the same as an author), and webpage titles are italicized.
• Publisher location is no longer listed in the book reference.

Check out Purdue University Online Writing Lab website for detailed examples and instructions.