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The Importance of Citing References

How To Cite References

We found a great resource that you can use, or recommend to your students to use. Recommended by the American Psychological Association (APA), this Web site provides information and format on how to cite electronic resources from the Internet (http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html).

The following examples are included on the APA Web site:

• Citing Email Communications
• Citing a Web Site
• Citations and Quotations in Text
• Creating References for Specific Documents on a Web Site
• Creating References for Articles and Abstracts Obtained From Electronic Databases

Another resource that we found that provides a guide for writing research papers based on MLA can be found at: http://webster.commnet.edu/mla.htm (prepared by the Humanities Department and the Arthur C. Banks, Jr., Library, Capital Community College, Hartford, CT). Examples are given that include working with quotations; formatting; parenthetical documentation; citing from CD-Rom; and sections on how to cite references including government documents, parts of a book, essays and article, legal documents, and much more.

We believe that if students are given the tools that they can use to avoid plagiarism, then the temptation to plagiarize may decrease. Students need to know that it is okay and desirable to cite references when expressing ideas or thoughts about any given topic.

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