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4.7: Citing Sources

  • Page ID
    45580
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    Academic writing means using citations, both within the body of the paper and at the end. Your professors are going to expect you to use citations for the following reasons:

    1. Citations help you avoid plagiarism. They give credit to the person(s) who originally did the research, wrote the article, or published the material. Writing involves a lot of work, and you want to give credit where it’s due.
    2. Citations let your readers easily track down the sources you found.
    3. Citations show respect for your reader, establishing you as someone who takes the time to do things right.
    4. By using the tools of the trade you are inserting your voice into a scholarly conversation.

    No matter the citation style you are using – MLA, APA, or Chicago – there are some elements common across them all:

    • Double-spaced text
    • Times New Roman 12 pt. font
    • Standard one-inch margins

    If a source appears in the body of your paper it needs to be represented on a separate References (APA), Works Cited (MLA), or Bibliography (Chicago) page.

    • All sources are listed in alphabetical order with a hanging indent.

    To create a hanging indent in Microsoft Word, highlight the citation entry >> CTRL “T.”


    This page titled 4.7: Citing Sources is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Frost & Samra et al..

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