Cite Your Sources: Why & How

WHY Cite Your Sources?

1. Helps you avoid plagiarism

Always give the author proper credit!

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WHY Cite Your Sources?

2. Shows you consulted many good sources. You didn’t just make it up!

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WHY Cite Your Sources?

3. Provides a “trail” for your readers, in case they want to follow your path and do further research

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WHY Cite Your Sources?

4. Expected in all academic settings, from high school to graduate school to your professional life

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WHEN Should You Cite Your Sources?

1. When you quote from a source

If you use the author’s exact words, put them in “quotation marks” and then cite your source.

2. When you paraphrase a source

If you use the author’s idea, even if you put it in your own words, you must still cite your source.

WHEN Should You Cite Your Sources?

My source says: Frogs live on every continent except Antarctica, but tropical regions have the greatest number of species. Frogs are classified as amphibians.

WHEN Should You Cite Your Sources?

My source says: Frogs live on every continent except Antarctica, but tropical regions have the greatest number of species. Frogs are classified as amphibians.

My paper says:Frogs live on every continent except Antartica.

Do I need to cite my source? Thumbs up for yes, down for no.

What else am I missing here?

WHEN Should You Cite Your Sources?

My source says: Frogs live on every continent except Antarctica, but tropical regions have the greatest number of species. Frogs are classified as amphibians.

My paper says:In the third grade, I had a pet

frog called Hoppy.

Do I need to cite my source? Thumbs up for yes, down for no.

WHEN Should You Cite Your Sources?

My source says: Frogs live on every continent except Antarctica, but tropical regions have the greatest number of species. Frogs are classified as amphibians.

My paper says:Frogs are amphibians.

Do I need to cite my source? Thumbs up for yes, down for no.

HOW to Cite Your Sources

Use the OSLIS Citation Maker at:

cm.oslis.org

Click the MLA Secondary link

Choose your Source Type from the yellow box.

HOW to Cite Your Sources

Enter information about the book or website

-- Look for place of publication, publisher, and publication date on the copyright page of the book

HOW to Cite Your Sources

Note the difference between Title of Work and Title of Overall Website.

Identify the author, if possible

Who published/sponsored the site?

If you can’t answer either of those two questions, are you sure you trust this site?

Works Cited Page

HOW to Cite Your Sources

What’s wrong with this Works Cited list?

HOW to Cite Your Sources

Activity

Go to the LOJ website, Library, Class Projects, and Cite Your Source Practice

Make an MLA citation for one of the websites listed there.