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Citations: Home

This guide explores the basics of citation styles and introduces tools for citing both print, database, and web sources.

Style Guides

What To Cite?

You must cite:

  • Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge including paraphrases, summaries, and direct quotations.
  • Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used in other publications or interviews.
  • Publications that must be cited include books, book chapters, articles, web pages, films, reports, etc.

When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!

From MIT Libraries

Citations have two components: in-text references and a Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page. This guide will help you create both types of citations for MLA 8 & APA.

All library databases include a built in citation creator. Look for the following icons located on the top or right side menus. Always verify that the citation provided by the database matches your textbook or assignment.

EBSCOhost: Image of cite icon in EBSCO

Gale & Opposing Viewpoints: or  

Proquest: 

Newsbank: 

CQ Researcher: 

Credo Reference: 

Films on Demand: 

Why Cite?

It's important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:

  • To show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information
  • To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas
  • To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors
  • To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your references, works cited, or biliography page

From MIT Libraries

Free Citation Generators

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