CPHS Citation Help: Home

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:

• Show that you've done your research
• Provide support for your arguments
• Give credit to the author or source in order to avoid plagiarism (which is like stealing)

       UC Sandiego, http://libraries.ucsd.edu/

Ideally, you will use the EasyBib add-on right within your Google Doc. This allows you to create citations as you go and then your bibliography or works cited page. But here are a couple of free online citation makers to also try.

This chart will help students and teachers determine how much of a creator's work they can use in a project.

Citation styles are rules people use in research to communicate where you found your resources. Different subject areas have different styles. You can choose whichever style makes sense, as long as you are consistent. Click on one of the options below to see more information about each style.

APA (American Psychological Association)

APA is commonly used for Education, Psychology and the Sciences subject areas. It uses in-text citations and a bibliography page.

MLA (Modern Language Association)

MLA is commonly used for English, Languages, Literary Criticism and Cultural Studies subject areas. It uses in-text citations and a bibliography page.

Chicago Manual of Style

CMS is commonly used for History and the Arts. It uses footnotes and a bibliography page.

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:

• When you are taking notes, make sure that you copy all original passages in quotation marks.
• Paraphrase by really putting ideas into your own words; go beyond changing a few words. Recognize that paraphrasing of unique ideas and facts also requires citation.
• As you write, return to the text and check your paraphrase against the original source to make sure you haven’t unintentionally copied.
• Use graphic organizers to restructure your facts and ideas.
• Use your own voice to put a new twist on old information.
• When in doubt, cite!

What is "common knowledge?"

• You don’t have to cite everything. Facts or ideas referred to as “common knowledge” do not have to be cited.
• Common knowledge includes facts that are found in many sources, facts that you assume many people know. A rule of thumb is that if you find a fact in three or more sources, it may be considered common knowledge.
• An example of common knowledge is that John Adams married Abigail Smith.

Yes, even Twitter needs to be cited! Note: This chart is in MLA 7. To format in MLA 8, add a comma after the date accessed, copy/paste URL (no http:// or www.) and end with a period.  Click on image to enlarge: