Citing Your Sources
This guide is intended to help you cite sources, avoid plagiarism, learn about citation styles and available citation tools, and more.
Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism
To increase the quality of your paper and avoid plagiarizing, follow these tips:
- Always cite all of your sources using one style consistently throughout your paper (e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.)
- Cite sources using the correct information about the source where you found the information (e.g. don't quote Wikipedia in your paper but cite it as a different source on your reference list)
- Use BOTH in-text citations and full citations on the References or Works Cited page at the end of the paper
- Use quotation marks This link opens in a new window for direct quotations
- Paraphrase properly This link opens in a new window by putting ideas into your own words and citing the source
- Avoid changing only a couple of words from the source
- Avoid using the same sentence structure as the source
- Present your ideas in your words supported by your research
- Your paper should be mostly your own ideas and work with support from other sources
- Turn in your own paper not someone else's
- Turn in a paper you created uniquely for the class assignment and not a paper you completed for a previous class or assignment
- Keep thorough notes while doing your research including citation of the source (title, author, URL, etc.), quotation marks around direct quotes, note when you paraphrase or summarize, and page numbers (when applicable).
