A citation is the specific information about a source that you used for research and often includes a title, author, or website name. There are different citation formats (MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.), so check your assignment description or ask your teacher which one to use. A citation has several purposes:
UC Sandiego, http://libraries.ucsd.edu/
Thank you to Edina High School for sharing their guide with us!
A type of academic misconduct in which you try to pass off someone else’s ideas or words as your own. It is a form of intellectual theft.
You can avoid plagiarism:
What is "common knowledge?"
Citation styles are rules people use in research to communicate where you found your resources. Different subject areas have different styles. Click on one of the options below to see more information about each style.
APA is commonly used for Education, Psychology and the Sciences subject areas. It uses in-text citations and a References page.
MLA is commonly used for English, Languages, Literary Criticism and Cultural Studies subject areas. It uses in-text citations and a Works Cited page.
CMS is commonly used for History and the Arts. It uses footnotes and a Bibliography page.
You can borrow from the works of other writers as you research. Good writers use three strategies—summarizing, paraphrasing and quoting—to blend source materials in with their own, while making sure their own voice is heard.
Quotations are the exact words of an author, copied directly from the source word for word. Quotations must be cited!
Use quotations when:
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Paraphrasing means rephrasing the words of an author, putting his/her thoughts in your own words. A paraphrase can be viewed as a “translation” of the original source. When you paraphrase, you rework the source’s ideas, words, phrases, and sentence structures with your own. Paraphrased text is often, but not always, slightly shorter than the original work. Like quotations, paraphrased material must be followed with in-text documentation and cited on the Works-Cited page.
Paraphrase when:
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Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) of one or several writers into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summarized ideas are not necessarily presented in the same order as in the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.
Summarize when:
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