FCWR 161-Dr. Athanasiou-Krikelis: Citing Sources

• It shows the reader you have done the proper research by showing the sources of the information. 
• It allows the reader to know where you found the information you are listing in your paper. 
• Citing sources gives attribution to other's ideas and makes you a responsible scholar. 
• To prevent plagiarism.
• Citing a source shows the reader that you took words, ideas, images, videos, comics, and another type of content from somewhere else. 

What should I cite? 

Ok, so let's say you are writing your paper and found the most amazing zine in a blog post, you want to use that blogger's idea, but are you supposed to cite a zine? The answer is always, yes. Cite everything. 

• When you copy the exact words or a unique phrase
• Words or ideas presented in a: 
  • Magazines
  • Books
  • Newspapers 
  • Songs 
  • TV programs 
  • Movies
  • Web pages 
  • Computer programs
  • Letters
  • Advertisements
  • Zines and comics
•  

• Information you gain through:
  • Interviewing or conversing with another person
  • Face to face
  • Over the phone
  • or in writing
• When you reprint any:
  • Diagrams
  • Illustrations 
  • Charts 
  • Pictures 
  • or other visual materials
• When you reuse or repost any electronically-available media, including images, audio, video, or other media

What shouldn't be cited? 

• Writing your own lived experiences, your own observations and insights, your own thoughts, and your own conclusions about a subject
• When you are writing up your own results obtained through lab or field experiments
• When you use your own artwork, digital photographs, video, audio, etc.
• When you are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events (but not historical documents)
• When you are using generally-accepted facts, e.g., pollution is bad for the environment, including facts that are accepted within particular discourse communities, e.g., in the field of composition studies, "writing is a process" is a generally-accepted fact.

 *Adapted from  Purdue Online Writing Lab: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/02/

MLA: 

MLA ( Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. When deciding to cite in the MLA styles, be sure to include the following information in this order: 

• Author
• Title of source.
• Title of container,
• Other contributors,
• Version,
• Number,
• Publisher,
• Publication date,
• Location.

Example: 

APA:

APA ( American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social science. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., 2nd printing.   When creating a reference list in the APA format, make sure to include the following information: 

• Author
• Year of publication
• Title of work 
• Location ( Source of Title)
• Publisher 
• Volume, issue, and pages

Example: