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Research: Cite Your Sources: Home

Citing Your Sources

As an OCC student you are expected to acknowledge the sources you use in your course assignments. This guide provides information on how to cite your sources using two common citation styles, MLA and APA. Explore the blue tabs above for more information on citations.

Why use Citations?

  • Citations give proper credit where credit is due. They acknowledge the ideas of other researchers and identify the ideas that are not your own. This avoids plagiarism.
  • Citations show that your work has a factual basis. They provide support for your ideas and demonstrate to the reader that you have done your research.
  • Citations provide a bibliography so that others can locate the references you used and read those sources.

 

What Needs to be Cited?

Use citations ... 

  • Any time you use exact wording taken from another source
  • When you summarize or paraphrase ideas from another source
  • Use another person's ideas  

Avoid Plagiarism

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Types of Citations

  • Include the full citation of the resources you used in your research on the Works Cited, Works Consulted, Reference List or Bibliography page at the end of your research paper.
  • Use in-text citations when you refer to the work of others within the written part or text of your paper. These lead to the full citation included at the end of your paper in the Works Cited section. 

The two most commonly used citation styles are MLA and APA. Follow the style guide required by your professor.

 

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Coulter Library, Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, NY