Research and Citing Sources Responsibly (Student)


Student Resources > Avoiding Plagiarism > Researching and Citing Sources Responsibly

 

 

Researching and Citing Sources Responsibly

   

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to know how to incorporate the words and ideas of other's into your work responsibly.  Below are resources that will help you learn how to incorporate sources through quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing as well as how to cite sources correctly--both in-text and bibliographic--in different citation styles.

 

 

Incorporating Sources

 

Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab) was one of the first such online services and remains one of the most respected.

 

 

Developed by Mike Palmquist, Professor of English and University Distinquished Teaching Scholar at Colorado State University, author of The Bedford Researcher and developer of the acclaimed online writing studio writing@csu, this tutorial walks the user through how to integrate sources through direct quotations, paraphrases, and summaries.  Each section includes examples from student writing, but there are no interactive elements in this tutorial.

 

This is the online tutorial from the companion web site of The Bedford Researcher by Mike Palmquist, Professor of English and University Distinquished Teaching Scholar at Colorado State University and developer of the acclaimed online writing studio writing@csu.  Two chapters that are of particular note are Chapter 10: How Do I Paraphrase a Source? and Chapter 13: How Do I Integrate a Quotation into my Draft? Chapter 10 gives students a step-by-step approach to  paraphrasing sources with ample practice every step of the way.  Chapter 13 goes over integrating direct quotations into a sentence or paragraph with ample practice every step of the way.

 

 

Citing Responsibly 

 

Style Guides

 

Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab) was one of the first online services and remains one of the most respected for its online handouts. This resource covers MLA (Modern Language Association) style for citing sources used within the liberal arts and is updated according to the 6th edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers and the 2nd edition of the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing.   The resource includes explanation and examples of in-text citations and the Works Cited page. 

 

Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab) was one of the first such online services and remains one of the most respected for its online handouts. This resource covers APA (American Psychological Association) style for citing sources used within the social sciences and  is updated for the 5th edition of the APA manual.  The resource includes explanation and examples of in-text citations and the reference page.

 

One of the standard styles of the publishing world has finally produced an online version.  Full access to the manual requires a yearly subscription. 

Because the online service is new, they are offering an introductory subscription price for a single user of $25 per year.  There is also a 30-day free trial. The site does include some noteworthly free services. 

The Quick Guide section offers an overview of the Chicago Manual of Style and includes electronic source examples. The . Q&A section is a cornucopia of tidbits about CMS and could be very helpful to students because the questions are common issues and the answers are practical and applicable to many.  The only drawback to this section is that it is organized by Month and not by topic.

 

 

Electronic Sources

 

Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab) was one of the first such online services and remains one of the most respected.  Electronic sources are some of the most confusing types of sources to cite because the changing and expanding nature of new media means it  often does not fit neatly into the traditional citation format structure.  This resource is really a conduit to links to specific resources on documenting electronic sources and is made up of three sections.  The first section is an overview of the issues concerning online sources.  The second section links to resources that examine the issues and intricacies of electronic sources in MLA, APA, and discipline-specific styles from Chicago Manual of Style to Biology/CBE style.  The final section is a list of links to online guides to citing electronic sources.

 

This companion web site site for the text The Columbia Guide to Online Style provides samples from the book on how to cite electronically accesses sources in MLA, Chicago, APA and CBE. 

This companion web site includes a section on how to cite electronic sources from web sites to email messages in MLA, APA, Chicago, CBE, and other styles.  The book was published in 2003 and the website has not been updated since then making some of the most recent electronic source types such as blogs absent from the list.

 

The Library of Congress has a “Learning Page” that explains how to cite sources accessed electronically such as cartoons, films, maps, photographs, sound recordings, presentations, texts, legal documents, and newspapers.