Citing Sources
When you use the words or ideas of another person in a research paper you must give credit to the author by citing your source, both parenthetically (within your document) and in your Works Cited List. There are variety of very specific styles that have been established to do this; you should check with your instructor to find out which style is required for your course. The MLA (Modern Language Association) and the APA (American Psychological Association) styles are commonly used at St. Mary's, and style manuals for each are on reserve at the Circulation Desk.
- Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)-- Link to the online writing resource which you will use in your writing intensive classes
- KnightCite--from Calvin College. Enter the information from your citation into the form, click the "Submit" button, and you will get a formatted citation for your Works Cited List. Choose MLA, APA, or Chicago style.
While these manuals give you very detailed information and include a large number of examples, you will also find information and examples on the sites offered below.
- Citing Sources --Provides examples of works-cited formats for APA, Chicago style, MLA, and Turabian, a good source for all aspects of research writing, from Duke University Library
- Alberta University Library--Examples of APA and Chicago styles
- American Chemical Society Style Guidelines--University of CA Berkeley
- American Chemical Society Style Guidelines--Williams College
- ASA (American Sociological Association)--Guidelines and examples form California State University, LA (includes other styles as well)
- MLA's Official Site--Contains frequently asked questions and answers
- APA's Official Site
- Turabian/Chicago--from Texas A& M, provides good examples of each of the two systems. Explanation of the two systems here.
- Twin Cities Writing Center--See detailed information about APA style (not just citation) at the Writing Center from St. Mary's Graduate School in Minneapolis
Citation Help from Library Databases
ProQuest, Gale's InfoTrac, EBSCO, and CQ databases among others provide citation information based on a format of your choice while you are viewing a document or article. Just copy and paste the citation into your Works Cited List . Be sure to check to make sure the citation format matches the format prescribed by your instructor or style manual.