DOCUMENTING SOURCES

 To avoid any possibility of plagiarism in your papers, make sure you cite a source every time you include a quotation, summarize another author’s ideas, or use information not commonly known.

(See the section on plagiarism.)

• Keep track of your sources while you are working on your paper. Record the full bibliographic information for each source as soon as you start reading it. (Try using the EndNote program described in the Reference Tools section of this handbook. If you prefer the old-fashioned method, put the bibliographic information for each source on a 3x5 card.)
   
• When you take notes, be careful to indicate whether you are quoting from the source or paraphrasing it.
   

There are several styles of documentation (see below). Ask your instructor which you should use. Among them are the MLA style, often used in the humanities; the APA style, used in psychology and other social sciences; and the CBE style, often used in the life sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics. The Chicago and Columbia styles offer extensive guidance in citing online sources.

The differences between these styles lie in small details—placement of commas, for example. You don’t need to memorize this information.

Consult a guidebook such as the Little, Brown Handbook (3rd edition) and carefully follow the form of the examples. You need a recently published guide so that you will have up-to-date advice about citing electronic sources.
 

DOCUMENTING SOURCES

The MLA, APA, and CBE styles all ask you to include:

• A note in your text indicating precisely the source of the material you are using. This note may appear as
  • a parenthetical citation in the text,
  • a footnote,*
  • an endnote.
• At the end of your paper, a list of sources ("works cited," "bibliography," or "references") listing your sources and giving fuller bibliographic information about each source.

In citing online sources, you should include the date when the source was posted online, the date when you consulted the source, and the source’s electronic address.

Here are a few examples of citations written in each style. This is NOT a complete list: you really do need to consult a guidebook.
 

The MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used in the humanities:

(MLA) citations within the text:

example: "Noah Lukeman writes that "style can be too archaic (often found with the historical writer), too florid (the romance writer), too minimalist (the so-called Gen-X writer), too academic (the professor), or too clipped or protracted (the less talented experimentalist)" (64).

Author not mentioned in your sentence:

example: One successful author writes that "style can be too archaic (often found with the historical writer), too florid (the romance writer), too minimalist (the so-called Gen-X writer), too academic (the professor), or too clipped or protracted (the less talented experimentalist)" (Lukeman 64).

(MLA) Works Cited

Author’s name. Book title. Publication city: Publisher, Publication year.

Lukeman, Noah. The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying out of the Rejection Pile. New York: Fireside, 2000.

First author name, and second author’s name in normal order. Book title. Publication city:

Publisher, Publication year.

Comely, Nancy R. and Robert Scholes. The Practice of Writing. New York: St. Martin’s Press, Inc., 1985.

Author’s name. "Article title." Journal title volume # (date published): pages.

Jones, John. "The Triumph of Penmanship." College English 42 (1970): 75-83.

Author’s name. Title of article if different from site name, and page reference. Date created (month, year). Name of sponsoring organization, if any. Date you visited the site (day, month, year). Electronic address (URL).

McDonald, Ian. "Humanities Students in the Lab." Aug. 2003. Science for Poets. 12 December 2003. <http://www.biochem.ucl.ac.uk/~mcdonald/atlas/>.

*******************

The American Psychological Association (APA) style is used in psychology and some of the other social sciences:

(APA) citations within the text:

Author mentioned in your text:

Eisenberg (2003) concludes that "college women with both-sex partners appear to be an appropriate target for health interventions; outreach to these students and further study of related behaviors are warranted" (p. 1).
 

Author not in text:

One researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health claims that "college women with both-sex partners appear to be an appropriate target for health interventions; outreach to these students and further study of related behaviors are warranted" (Eisenberg, 2003, p.1).

The list of "References" at the end of your paper should include all your sources.

Use initials for authors’ first and middle names. Only capitalize first word of title and subtitle and proper nouns in source titles. Do not use quotation marks or italics for titles of articles.

Author’s name. (Publication year). Book title. Publication city: Publisher.

Cullen-Dupont, C.. (2002). American women activists’ writings: an anthology 1637-2002. New York: Cooper Square Press.

First author’s name, & second author’s name. (Publication year). Book title. Publication City: Publisher.

Adelstein, M.E. & Pival, J.P. (1980). The Writing Commitment. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Author’s name. (Publication year). Article title. Journal title, volume #, pages.

Ellingsen, Ellinor. (2003). Relevance of non-human animal studies to the understanding of human sexuality. Scandanavian Journal of Psychology, 44, 293-301.

Author’s name. (year, month day created). Site title. Retrieved month day, year, from Web address

Brown, Jonathan. (1992, November). Opening the book on lending discrimination. Retrieved August 6, 2003, from http://eserver.org/race/housing-discrimination.txt

***********************

Citation within the text: (Ringwald 1992, p.12)

In "References" list at the end:

Arrange your sources in alphabetical order by author’s last name.

Number citation form:

In this style, raised numbers in the text correspond to a numbered list of references at the end.

Citation within the text: "Ringwald offers different results."

Reference list at the end:

• number each source
• list the source in order of its appearance in the paper. For example, Ringwald (see example above) would be listed as source 2.

MORE INFORMATION ON DOCUMENTATION

Olin Library and the Science Library have copies of many guides, including the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA). Ask a librarian to help you.

You may also find these online sources helpful:

The Purdue Online Writing Lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_docelectric.html

The Writer’s Handbook at the University of Wisconsin: http://www.wisc.edu/writetest/Handbook/Documentation.html

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