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A Guide to Comparative Cultural Studies and Humanities Research: Cite My Sources

Know Your Citation Style Before You Start

Reformatting citations can be a painful process. To save yourself time at the end of your paper-writing process, check with your professor to see what citation style they prefer before you start writing your paper!  

Citations: Give Credit Where Credit is Due

For a step-by-step tutorial that teaches you how to avoid plagiarism, see the e-Learning Center's Academic Integrity @ NAU course.

 

Don't forget their five handy rules based on Princeton University's guidelines for when to cite sources:

  • You directly quote a source
  • You paraphrase a source
  • You summarize someone else's ideas in your own words
  • You draw on facts, information, or data from someone else
  • You want to add supplemental information not included in your paper, such as footnotes or endnotes

Note: You do not need to cite generally accepted knowledge. For more information, see Not-So-Common Knowledge.

A general rule of thumb is "when in doubt, cite it."

Finding Information about and Examples of Citation Styles

American Psychological Association (APA)

  • Cline Library has print copies of the APA style manual available for checkout.

Chicago Manual of Style

  • Cline Library has an ebook copy of the Chicago Manual of Style.

Council of Science Editors (CSE)

  • Cline Library has a print copy of the CSE manual available for checkout.

Modern Language Association (MLA)

  • Cline Library has a print copy of the MLA manual available for checkout.

 

Don't see the citation style you need? Ask Us!

And don't forget that RefWorks can format citations for you in a wide variety of styles!

Helpful Links

Find more citation guides and examples of properly formatted citations at these websites:

Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)

Citing Information (UNC Libraries)

The Writer's Handbook (UW Madison Writing Center)

How do I format citations correctly in APA style?

To learn the basics of APA style, please review the following pages from The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Formatting citations within the body of your paper or presentation (these are known "in-text citations" or "parenthetical citations"):

Formatting citations in your references list (the list of works you cited in your paper or presentation):