Citing Sources

Lesson 6 Citing Sources

Essential Question

Why is it important to document where information comes from?

Grammar in the World

What Do I Know?

The following is an excerpt from an article by Becky Hogge featured in the British news magazine New Statesman about the phenomenon known as lolcats (i.e. funny cat memes).

Here is the passage:

What is interesting about lolcats is the gradual standardization of the language used to caption the pictures, such that anyone already familiar with the lolcat idiom can understand my opening phrases instantly, even though they won’t have read them before. Linguists have come to call this form “kitty pidgin”—pidgin being a type of communication that emerges between adults who don’t speak each other’s language.

Hogge, Becky. “A Lesson in Hai Culture.” New Statesman. 137.4900 (2008): 52.

Use the interactive below to see how much you already know about giving credit to others when you use their ideas in your writing:

Building Blocks

Grammar is a complex system and structure of language. Mizzou Academy Grammar Lab spotlights one skill (or block) at a time, but it’s often helpful to see how a skill works together with other, related blocks to build the language structure as a whole. You may find the following resource topics helpful as context for this lesson:

Learn About Citing Sources

Why We Cite Sources

When we write – especially for school assignments, but also for any public or personal writing – it’s not wrong to consult other sources to help us learn more about the topic. In fact, research is a rich and invaluable way to learn! And we are fortunate to live in a digital age, where all the information and inspiration we could possibly want is right at our fingertips.

That said, having easy access to so much information presents its own set of challenges, which is why it’s so important to document any sources (in print or online) that you use to inspire, inform, and support your writing.

There are two main reasons to cite your sources:

Citations help you track your sources, so that you can evaluate whether the information is accurate and up-to-date, relevant for your purpose, and trustworthy.
Citations help you avoid plagiarism, which is cheating and can have serious consequences, even if it’s unintentional.

Merriam Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary defines plagiarism as "the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person." Even if you've summarized information found in a book or online, if you don't give credit to the person or place where the idea came from, you are committing intellectual property theft.

Always give credit where it is due.

Examples of Plagiarism

Copying and pasting text of an online source (even a small portion) without using quotation marks and citing the source.

Using quotation marks or a reference within the text of your writing to show that you’re using someone else’s words or ideas, but failing to provide a full citation for the source.

Changing a few words but keeping the basic idea or structure of someone else’s sentence(s) and presenting it as if it were your own.

Copying so many words or ideas from a book or online site that most of the writing in the paper is not your own.

Buying an essay or having someone else do the writing for you and presenting it as if it is your own work.

When We Cite Sources

Not sure when you need to cite a source? Try using this chart to help you decide:

Image courtesy of Purdue Online Writing Lab Links to an external site.

How We Cite Sources

For most high school writing assignments, you will use in-text citations to identify your sources, followed by a Works Cited page at the end of your essay or project that includes each complete citation in MLA style.

In-text citations

In-text citations are reference notes that you make in the paragraphs as you write. These notes tell readers when information came from an outside source, and they identify which information came from which source.

An in-text citation can take different forms, such as referencing the writer’s name or the title of a study within the sentence to introduce a quotation or paraphrase, or it can appear inside parentheses following a paraphrase or a direct quotation.

Here are a few things to remember about in-text parenthetical citations.

If the author’s name is already referenced in the sentence, you do not need to also include it in a parenthetical citation.
A parenthetical citation should contain the writer’s last name only.
A parenthetical citation should include the title only if the writer’s name is unknown.
The period goes AFTER a parenthetical citation.
A parenthetical citation ALWAYS appears at the end of the sentence.

Examples of In-Text Citations

Original Source

“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final paper. Probably only about 30% of your final paper should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes.”

Lester, J. Writing Research Papers. 2nd Ed. (1976): 46-47

Example Paraphrase and In-Text Citation 1

In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to one-third or less. Since the problem usually originates during note-taking, it is essential to minimize recording exact words (Lester, 46-47).

Example Paraphrase and In-Text Citation 2

According to writing instructor J. Lester, students should take just a few notes in direct quotes from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (46-47).

Example Quotation and In-Text Citation 1

In his helpful guide to writing research papers, J. Lester advises, “only about 30% of your final paper should appear as directly quoted matter” (46-47).

Example Quotation and In-Text Citation 2

A handy tip to remember is that “only about 30% of your final paper should appear as directly quoted matter” (Lester, 46-47).

*A Note About Page Numbers: Because so many sources are now published online, you may find that page numbers are not available, and that’s okay. Include them in your in-text citation if you can find them; leave them out if they’re not provided.

Works Cited Page

While in-text citations tell your reader that information came from an outside source, you also need a way for your readers to find those sources. The Works Cited page is where you provide that complete list of all the sources you used and referenced in your paper.

Creating citations can seem daunting at first, but once you get the hang of what kinds of information to include, you can apply the basic formula to almost any kind of source.

Here’s what you’re looking for:

the author’s name (and/or other contributors such as listed editors)
the title (of the book, article, or study)
the name of the container, if applicable (such as the name of magazine where an article appeared, for example, or the Web site that hosts it)
the name of the publisher (if different from the container)
the date of publication
the page number(s) if available
the URL, if applicable (the web address that provides a direct link to an online source)

Rules for Works Cited pages

Create your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your document.
Write Works Cited centered at the top. Do not italicize the words or put them in quotation marks.
Create a separate entry for each source you used.
Put your sources in alphabetical order by author (if available) or by title (only if the author’s name is not available).
Double-space each entry and do not skip lines between entries.
For each citation, use a 0.5 cm hanging indention for every line after the first one.

The following chart illustrates the format for three of the most common types of citations.

Book (with one author)	Author’s Last Name, First Name. **Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.** Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York, Laurel Leaf, 1993.

Periodical (magazines, newspapers)	Author’s Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." **Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, pages.** Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time, 20 Nov. 2000, pp. 70-71.

Page on a Website	Author’s Last Name, First Name (if known). “Title of article or page.” Name of host Web site. Name of parent publisher (only if different from the name of the Web site). Date of publication (if known). URL. Date of access. Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make- Links to an external site. vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.

The sample below shows what a complete Works Cited page for the sources above would look like, including alphabetization, full source citations, and formatting:

Works Cited

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Laurel Leaf, 1993.

Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Links to an external site.

Accessed 6 July 2015.

Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time, 20 Nov. 2000, pp. 70-71.

*A Note about Citation Generators: Many online sources provide citation generators for you right there on the web page. (Look for a link on the page titled “Cite This Source,” for example, which will show you how a complete citation should look in MLA, APA, or other format style.) Citation generator tools and software also are available for download or online guest use. These tools can be extremely helpful, but use them with some caution. A generated citation will be only as good as the information you give it, so practice locating and confirming the required information on your own first. Also, be sure to double-check that the citation you select from a generator appears in the format style that your instructor has requested.

Do I Get It?

What have you learned about citing sources? Complete this activity to check your understanding.

Use the following information to answer the questions in the interactive below:

The following excerpt is from an article written by Nicholas Carr titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains.” It was published in the July/August, 2008, online issue of The Atlantic magazine: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868 Links to an external site.

Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives—or exerted such broad influence over our thoughts—as the Internet does today. Yet, for all that’s been written about the Net, there’s been little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us. The Net’s intellectual ethic remains obscure.