Citing Sources

Why Cite Your Sources?
APA Style
ASA Style
MLA Style
Annotated Bibs
Citation Generators

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Why cite your sources?

When you conduct research for your papers and other projects, you must cite your sources.

Citing your sources:

Gives credit to the original sources you got your information from.
Adds strength and authority to your work by showing you can back up what you’re saying.
Leaves a trail for readers who want to read your sources for themselves.

VIDEO: Citation: A (Very) Brief Introduction (University Libraries, NC State University)

The following resources will help you with your American Psychological Association (APA) citations. You may also contact Library staff and Writing Center staff for assistance. Copies of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) are available in the campus libraries.

APA Formatting and Style Guide - Comprehensive guide from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
APA Style Blog - Guidelines from APA experts.
Citing Research Databases APA Style [PDF, 872 KB] - How to reference MCC's research databases.
NoodleTools Express: APA - Walks you through your citations step-by-step.

Sample APA papers: An example from the APA website and another from the Purdue OWL.

The following resources will help you with your American Sociological Association (ASA) citations. You may also contact Library staff and Writing Center staff for assistance.

In-Text (Citation) References - Guidelines for referencing sources within your paper.
References Page Formatting - How to cite books, journal, magazine, newspaper articles, etc.

The following resources will help you with your Modern Language Association (MLA)citations. You may also contact Library staff and Writing Center staff for assistance. A digital version of the MLA Handbook (9th edition) is available and you may also borrow print copies from a campus library.

Citing Research Databases MLA Style - How to cite MCC's research databases.
- EBSCOhost [PDF, 1151 KB] - Cite an eBook, a journal article with a DOI. a magazine article without a DOI, or a newspaper article.
- Films on Demand [PDF, 883 KB] - Cite a streaming video.
- Gale eBooks [PDF, 813 KB] - Cite an encyclopedia article.
- Nexis Uni [PDF, 906 KB] - Cite a newspaper article or a law review.
- Opposing Viewpoints in Context [PDF, 736 KB] - Cite a viewpoint essay or a magazine article.
- SIRS Issues Researcher [PDF, 877 KB] - Cite a magazine article or a newspaper article.
- Statista [PDF, 679 KB] - Cite a chart/graph.
MLA Handbook Plus - Contains digital copies of the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), MLA Guide to Digital Literacy (2nd ed.), MLA Guide to Undergraduate Research in Literature and an MLA style video course.
MLA Style: How to Format an Author's Name, Title, Publisher's Name and Publication Date [PDF, 887 KB]
MLA Formatting and Style Guide - Comprehensive guide from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
NoodleTools Express: MLA - Walks you through your citations step-by-step.
Works Cited: A Quick Guide - From the MLA website. Includes a practice template.

Sample MLA papers: The Purdue OWL's works cited page and sample paper.

See the websites below for instructions on how to write an annotated bibliography.

Annotated Bibliographies - From the OWL at Purdue. Includes sample MLA and APA annotations.
How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography - Cornell University Library.

Citation generators allow you to enter a source's bibliographic information in order to automatically produce a citation that you can copy and paste into your paper. Because they are machine generated, the citations are not always 100% accurate. Be sure to double-check that your generated citations are correct with a style guide or other authoritative source. This also holds true for citations you find in a library database. See the Purdue OWL's Using Citation Generators Responsibly for more information.

Library staff and Writing Center staff are also available to assist you with your citations.

Research 101