Give Credit Where It’s Due: A Basic Guide to Citing Sources
When writing a research paper or completing a presentation, information used from books,
websites, videos, articles, etc., must give credit to the author.
There are two things that require a citation: direct quotes and paraphrased content.
A good rule of thumb: If the sentence or paragraph isn’t your original idea, you must cite it!
In-text Citation
 As you write, whether quoting or paraphrasing, place a parenthetical citation afterwards.
In parenthetical citations, include the author’s last name, the year (and page number for
books). This is called an in-text citation.
 When using a parenthetical citation, the period is placed after the close parentheses.
In-text Citation Examples
Book: (L’Engle, 1963, p. 67)
Website: (Christensen, 2016)
Website without author: (English Oxford Living Dictionaries, 2017)
References
 At the end of your report, you will complete a References section. In this section, you
will write out the full information for each source.
 Books: include the author’s last name and initials, year, title of book, publisher, city, and
state (or province).
 Websites: Include the author’s last name and initials (or website name), year, title of
article, and a link to the website.
Reference Examples
Book:
L’Engle, M. 1963. A Wrinkle in Time. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. New York, NY.
Website:
Christensen, M. 2016. How to Make Dill Pickles. http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-dillpickles-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-193350
Website without author:
English Oxford Living Dictionaries. 2017. Source.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/source
Additional Notes for References
 When references are more than one line, indent the second and all following lines.
 Place a period after each piece of information (except website links).
 Remove hyperlink from website links.
 If you cannot find the date on an article, simply put “n.d.” This is short for “no date.”