CITING SOURCES

Citing your sources is essential for avoiding plagiarism, but proper citations can be tricky! The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a great resource for learning how and when to cite in your research paper, as well as other helpful writing tips. There are also citation programs that can help you create citations for your papers. Some free citation programs are: Zotero, Mendeley, EasyBib, and Son of Citation Machine. Find out more about these resources below!

Students are required to follow the MLA format of citation and referencing when referring to or using outside sources in their writing in order to avoid plagiarism.Below is the definition of plagiarism, cited in MLA format:

“Plagiarism is intentionally or unintentionally using someone else's words or thoughts without giving proper credit” (Anderson 80).

Anderson, A. J. "How Do You Manage: A Lesson In Plagiarism 101." Library Journal 119.10 (1994): 80-82. Academic Search Elite. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

To avoid plagiarism when using outside sources, you must always: (1) cite quotations and borrowed ideas in proper MLA format, (2) enclose direct quotes in quotation marks, (3) put summaries and paraphrases in your own words, and (4) have both in-text citations and a works cited page.

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has a formatting and style guide for citations in MLA style.

Go to the MLA Formatting & Style Guide:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

The Purdue OWL also has resources for writing, research, grammar, and ESL. Check out the links below:

Go to the Purdue OWL homepage:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

PURDUE OWL

These are a few citation programs to help you generate citations and bibliographies. Some also help you to organize your research.

Zotero is a free tool for citing and organizing your research sources. It can create citations in MLA style. Check it out here:

http://www.zotero.org/

Mendeley is a free academic social network and reference manager. It can create citations in MLA style. Check it out here:

http://www.mendeley.com/

EasyBib is a citation and bibliography generator. Only MLA style citations can be generated for free. Check it out here:

http://www.easybib.com/

Son of Citation Machine is a free citation generator. It can create citations in MLA style. Check it out here:

http://citationmachine.net

CITATION PROGRAMS