Understanding and Using Citations

Home

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Understanding and Using Citations

Plagiarism is representing the work of others as your own. A key piece of avoiding accidental plagiarism is citing your sources. Citing your sources is important for showing which parts of your paper are not your own work, showing respect for the people whose work it is, and showing that you've done a good job backing up your argument. And on the practical side, keeping good records of the sources you used helps you or others to find those sources for verification later.

More reading on citing sources in general:

UMD Libraries: Citation Tools Links to an external site.
This page will give you general information on how and why to cite.

Common Elements of Citation Styles

Citations provide the information necessary to specifically identify and locate the sources you used. Citation styles are discipline-specific ways of formatting those citations. It is important to learn and use the citation style of the discipline you're writing for.

Even though all citation styles are different, they contain similar elements. Compare the two journal article citations below:

MLA Style