Often when you complete a written research assignment, you have to also include a bibliography, also known as a "works cited" list. This should not be considered just a formality, but take it seriously. While you are giving credit to those from whom you borrowed ideas for your paper, you are also giving believability to your research. It also should be taken seriously because not to give that credit where credit is due is plagiariam (the use of another's words or ideas without properly crediting them in your bibliography or list of works cited.) You should always include for your instructor complete information about the research sources you used. You accomplish this through using a "citation" in your list of works cited.
Citations must include certain prescribed information about your source and be in a specific order with specific punctuation. How citations should be formatted are described in "style" manuals. The two most popular styles for citations here at USC Lancaster are the MLA style and the APA style. (Usually, MLA is used in arts and humanities courses, while APA is used in science and social science sources. Your professor will usually tell you which style to use.)
In the Library, you will commonly use both print and electronic sources for your research. MLA and APA provide sample styles to follow for both types of sources.
Citing Print Sources (Books and/or Articles)
If you wrote a paper about
using the Internet for research, you might have used a book entitled Electronic
styles: A Handbook for citing electronic information. In
your list of works cited, you would have included a citation such as the
following:
| Li, Xia and Nancy B. Crane. Electronic styles: A Handbook for Citing Electronic Information. 2nd ed. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 1996. |
| Li, X. & Crane, N.B. (1996). Electronic styles: A handbook for citing electronic information. (2nd ed.) Medford, NJ: Information Today. |
You may have also used an
article from Library Journal entitled "Scholarly Sources
in a Googley World". In
your list of works cited, you would have included a citation such as the
following:
| Matthews, Judy and Richard W. Wiggins. "Scholarly Sources in a Googley World." Library Journal 126.15 (2001): 35. |
| Matthews, J. & Wiggins, R.W. (2001) Scholarly Sources in a Googley World. Library Journal, 126(15), 35. |
Note how in both instances, the MLA and APA styles differ dramatically! Make sure you are well aware of the format your instructor wants used in the paper.
Don't forget that parenthetical
references, reference citations within the text, or footnotes, are also
necessary to give any reader of your paper the full picture of the source
of your research information. The MLA and APA style books will also guide
you through the specifics of formatting those references. In Medford Library,
you will find these important style books located at these call numbers:
| MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers | Ref LB 2369 .G53 |
| Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association | Ref BF 76.7 .P83 |
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tutorial
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