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Chaucer: Citation

The Merchant

The Merchant

AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Franklin

The Franklin

AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Summoner

The Summoner

AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Should I Cite My Sources?

The primary reason to cite your sources is to avoid plagiarism and give proper credit to the original author or creator.  Other reasons for citing your sources:

  • Enables a reader to locate the sources you cited.
  • Demonstrates the accuracy and reliability of your information.
  • Shows the amount of research you’ve done.
  • Strengthens your work by lending outside support to your ideas.

Terms to Know

Citing:  Also called documenting or referencing.  The recording of information (e.g., author, title, publisher, publication date, page numbers, database name, URL address, etc.)  from a source (e.g., book, magazine article, web site) which allows an instructor or anyone to identify and locate a source.  By citing your sources, you are also giving proper credit to those sources. This information is then formatted to a citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago) specified by your instructor and inserted into your essay.

 

Common knowledge:   Facts or ideas that are well know by many people and that can be found in numerous sources (e.g., Barack Hussein Obama II served as the 44th President of the United States from January 20, 2009, to January 20, 2017.).

 

Quotation:  Also called a quote.  Using someone's exact words.  When you use a direct quote, place the passage in quotation marks and cite the source according to the citation style specified by your instructor (e.g., Using a direct excerpt from Barack Obama’s January 2009 inaugural address).

 

Paraphrasing:   Using someone's ideas, but putting them in your own words. This is probably the skill you will use most when incorporating sources into your writing. Although you use your own words to paraphrase, you must still cite the source of the information (e.g., Using an excerpt from Barack Obama’s January 2009 inaugural address and putting it in your own words).

Citing Sources

This video from the Pollak Library at California State University, Fullerton, offers an introduction to citing information found in books and articles, and to managing citations.

Citation Style Guides

MLA Format

 The OWL Purdue's Online Writing Lab for MLA.

APA Format

The OWL Purdue's Online Writing Lab for APA.

Chicago Style

The OWL Purdue's Online Writing Lab for Chicago Style.

 

Citation Management

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