WR 122 Robillard & Fierman: Cite Sources
How to Cite Sources
The PCC Library page is a great place to start to find information on properly citing your sources. This link includes the library's own citation handouts as well as links to other helpful resources.
Cite Your Sources in MLA
Why cite your sources?
Resources for creating MLA-style citations:
- MLA Formatting and Style guide
- MLA 8 reference guide (pdf)
- MLA 9 citation samples (pdf)
- Citing AI in MLA format (NOTE: Make sure you've fact-checked any assertions the AI text is making and verified any sources that it references. AI tools do not always share accurate information or viable sources.)
Free citation creation tools to help you generate MLA-style citations:
- MyBib
- Generate citations and bibliographies by pasting a URL or searching for a resource by title
- Covers MLA 8 & 9
- Copy and paste citations, download them as a Word doc, save them to Google Drive, print, or email them to yourself
- NCSU Citation Builder
- Simple citation builder for some digital and print materials
- Covers MLA 8 & 9
- Copy and paste your generated citation into your bibliography
- Calvin College's Knight Cite
- Build citations for a wide range of resources in print, digital, multimedia, and communication
- Covers MLA 9
- Create a free Knight Cite account to save citations and export them to Word or RTF document
Need help with hanging indentation?
- Here is a link to a short video tutorial for hanging indentation formatting in Word.
- Here is a link to a short video tutorial for hanging indentation formatting in Google Drive/Docs
APA Format - 6th edition (2009)
- Basics of APA StyleThe American Psychological Association has compiled an online style guide tutorial that walks the user through the basics of APA formatting.
- OWL APA Formatting and Style GuideThis Purdue University OWL guide covers the various types of materials, PowerPoint presentations, statistics, tables, and includes a sample APA paper.
- APA Style AidA very thorough guide to citing sources in APA from CLIP (Cooperative Library Instruction Project). Highly recommended.
- DOIProper APA citations should include a Digital Object Identifier, or DOI. Follow this link to find out more about the DOI and how to locate it in your article.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a very serious form of academic dishonesty. According to PCC's Academic Integrity Policy [PDF], plagiarism is defined as
"the use of another's words, ideas, data, or product without appropriate acknowledgement, such as copying another's work, presenting someone else's opinions and theories as one's own, or working jointly on a project and then submitting it as one's own."
Students are responsible for knowing and understanding the penalties for violating the rules of academic integrity, including plagiarizing another person's work. The following resources will help you to identify and steer clear of plagiarism.
Avoiding Plagiarism - This OWL tutorial from Purdue University includes a handy list of safe practices for citing and crediting your sources and a short exercise for recognizing plagiarized or incorrectly cited sources.
Plagiarism: What It Is and How to Recognize and Avoid It - Detailed and informative explanation of plagiarism from the University of West Florida.
Do you need to cite?
- Alt Text A General Guide to Understanding Written PlagiarismThis is long form alt text for the flow chart "Alt Text A General Guide to Understanding Written Plagiarism"