What is citing your sources

It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. Identifying Parts of a Citation: Why Citing Sources is Important This guide will help students to determine what identifying information should go on citation pages for most citation styles.

Template courtesy of Nash Community College. This page illustrates how to interpret the parts of an MLA citation for different. You provide complete information about the source author, title, name of publication, date, etc. Note: Different disciplines use different citation styles , as do various journals within a single discipline. If you are unsure which to use, check with your instructor. You acknowledge, on your slide, where the graph, chart or other information came from.

You use comments to credit the source of any code you adapted from an open source site or other external sources. Generally, providing a URL is sufficient. You also need to follow the terms of any open source license that applies to the code you are using. Citing sources points the way for other scholars. Citation helps that process continue.

A bibliography is a list of all of the sources you have used in the process of researching your work. In general, a bibliography should include:. An annotated bibliography is the same as a bibliography with one important difference: in an annotated bibliography, the bibliographic information is followed by a brief description of the content, quality, and usefulness of the source. Footnotes are notes placed at the bottom of a page.

They cite references or comment on a designated part of the text above it. For example, say you want to add an interesting comment to a sentence you have written, but the comment is not directly related to the argument of your paragraph.

In this case, you could add the symbol for a footnote. Then, at the bottom of the page you could reprint the symbol and insert your comment. Here is an example:. When your reader comes across the footnote in the main text of your paper, he or she could look down at your comments right away, or else continue reading the paragraph and read your comments at the end. Because this makes it convenient for your reader, most citation styles require that you use either footnotes or endnotes in your paper.

Some, however, allow you to make parenthetical references author, date in the body of your work. See our section on citation styles for more information. Footnotes are not just for interesting comments, however. Sometimes they simply refer to relevant sources -- they let your reader know where certain material came from or where they can look for other sources on the subject. To decide whether you should cite your sources in footnotes or in the body of your paper, you should ask your instructor or see our section on citation styles.

Whenever possible, put the footnote at the end of a sentence, immediately following the period or whatever punctuation mark completes that sentence.

Skip two spaces after the footnote before you begin the next sentence. If you must include the footnote in the middle of a sentence for the sake of clarity, or because the sentence has more than one footnote try to avoid this! Otherwise, put it right at the end of the most relevant word.

If the footnote is not at the end of a sentence, skip only one space after it. The only real difference is placement -- footnotes appear at the bottom of the relevant page, while endnotes all appear at the end of your document. If you want your reader to read your notes right away, footnotes are more likely to get your reader's attention.

Endnotes, on the other hand, are less intrusive and will not interrupt the flow of your paper. Sometimes you may be asked to include these -- especially if you have used a parenthetical style of citation. A "works cited" page is a list of all the works from which you have borrowed material. Your reader may find this more convenient than footnotes or endnotes because he or she will not have to wade through all of the comments and other information in order to see the sources from which you drew your material.

A "works consulted" page is a complement to a "works cited" page, listing all of the works you used, whether they were useful or not. Well, yes. The title is different because "works consulted" pages are meant to complement "works cited" pages, and bibliographies may list other relevant sources in addition to those mentioned in footnotes or endnotes.

Choosing to title your bibliography "Works Consulted" or "Selected Bibliography" may help specify the relevance of the sources listed. Skip to content. Identifying Sources in the Body of Your Paper The first time you cite a source, it is almost always a good idea to mention its author s , title, and genre book, article, or web page, etc.