This page is adapted from the Indiana University Bloomington Library DIY project created by Andrea Baer and Julia Davis, which was adapted from the original Portland State University Library DIY project created by Meredith Farkas, Amy Hofer, Lisa Molinelli, and Kimberly Willson-St. Clair. Thank you to all for sharing their content, which may be reused and adapted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.
This Library DIY version is hosted through LibGuides version 2 and can also be adapted under the Creative Commons. Attribution-Share Alike license.
Citing sources is a way to credit the sources you use to inform your academic work.This of it as a way to engage in a larger conversation with those interested in your research are. Citation helps you to support your own ideas with evidence and previous research and to make connections between your ideas and those of others. Use clear references and citations to indicate from whom the ideas come.
Avoid inserting source information without adding your own analysis; instead include your own voice and your own analysis and ideas. You will likely want to include sources which are are in agreement AND in disagreement with your own views. This way you can recognize and respond to multiple perspectives on the given issue. In doing so, you can make your own argument stronger.
When you use sources to think and write about a topic, you will almost always need to cite those sources following a specific citation style. Below are guides for the most common citation styles. The most common citation style used in history is Chicago style. Sometimes you may also be asked to use MLA style (from the Modern Language Association).
In-text citations are included in the main body of a text. They usually appear in the following contexts:
For more detailed information, please see the Purdue Online Writing Lab on Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
A reference list (sometimes called a bibliography or works cited page) appears at the end of a written text. It includes the full citations for all referenced sources.
One of the best ways to find more sources is through citation chaining. With citation chaining, you find other sources that an original source has referenced. These citations create a "web" of related sources. Learn more from this Citation Chaining Guide or from this Citation Chaining tutorial.
Using the components below will help you integrate sources into your writing.
Contact the RU Writing Center for more in-depth help with integrating sources.
Citation management software can help you manage your sources and cite while writing. RU students, faculty, and staff have access to several citation management programs.