Watch this video for a summary of citations in academic writing. By NCSU Libraries. CC BY NC SA 3.0.
To avoid plagiarism you must give credit whenever you:
Use another person's words, ideas, opinions, or theories
Present facts, statistics, graphs, and drawings that are not common knowledge
Quote someone's written or spoken words
Paraphrase someone's written or spoken words
Whether your information sources comes from the Internet or from print materials, it is important that you record the information in your papers accurately and follow the citation style that is specified by your professor.
This Cal Poly document includes a definition of plagiarism and outlines the consequences of cheating.
Popular Citation Styles
APA Style
Established by the American Psychological Association. This style is standard for multiple disciplines including many in the Social Sciences. The official APA style site provides robust citation examples and support.
This provides exhaustive documentation for APA stylistics, grammar and citations. A print copy is available for short-term checkout from Permanent Reserves in the Crandall Service Point.
MLA Style
Citation style established by the Modern Language Association.
The ninth edition builds on the MLA's approach to documenting sources using a template of core elements common to most sources, like author, title, and publication date. It allows writers to cite any type of work, from books, e-books, and journal articles in databases to song lyrics, online images, social media posts, and more. A print copy is available on short-term checkout on Permanent Reserves in the Crandall service point.
Turabian provides a more student-friendly version of Chicago style, and this text provides comprehensive guidance. A print copy is available on Permanent Reserves in the Crandall service point for short-term checkout.
This exhaustive manual covers all aspects of The Chicago Manual of style. A print copy is available for short-term checkout on Permanent Reserves in the Crandall service point.
CSE/CBE refers to the citation format established by the Council of Biology Editors. CBE is the format preferred by writers in Biology, Geology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine, and Physics.
Scientific Style and Format is a recognized, authoritative reference for authors, editors, publishers, students, and translators in all areas of science and related fields.