Why Do We Cite?
Whether for a paper or presentation, you will often have to borrow ideas from someone else. Whenever you use someone else's work, it is important to give them credit for it. If you don't, you are committing plagiarism. In addition to this, it is important that you give your sources credit in the correct way. MLA and APA are the two most common formats when citing. Your teacher should specify which format they expect you to use, but sometimes they will not. In deciding which format to use for your assignment, keep this in mind: APA is used for social sciences and psychology, and MLA is used for humanities and literature. The most recent edition of MLA is 9th, and the most recent edition of APA is 7th.
When you take someone else’s work, words, and/or ideas and then use them as your own, you are committing plagiarism. Besides this traditional definition, plagiarism also includes:
Sometimes you may even plagiarize accidentally. Luckily there are plenty of resources to prevent that from happening. Just remember that whenever you use or borrow someone else's work, you need to cite it!
If you are citing sources in a paper, you need these two things: A references page/works cited page and in-text citations.
The references page/ works cited page should always be on its own separate page at the end of your paper. The sources should have hanging indents and be listed in alphabetical order.
In-text citations are used in your actual paper to 1) acknowledge when you borrowed from another source and 2) direct your reader to the corresponding source on your reference page/works cited page. In-text citations are set apart from the rest of your text with parentheses and are always located at the end of a sentence.
Not sure if you plagiarized? Use the following free online tools to check to see if you have plagiarized:
Still need help understanding plagiarism and academic integrity? Check out these additional resources?
