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Information Literacy Tutorial

Information Literacy Tutorial

Citing Sources

When you quote (use a passage from a document exactly as it appeared) or paraphrase (put the passage into your own words) the idea of another person in your research paper, speech or PowerPoint presentation, you must provide a proper citation for the source in a bibliography or list of references to:

  • Give credit to the author or creator and
  • Enable a reader to locate the source that you cited.

Providing references for sources you used also lends credibility to your work, especially if you use authoritative sources. Be sure to provide full citations to all types of sources you use, including:

  • Books
  • Articles
  • Internet sites
  • Interviews
  • Government documents
  • Nonprint media (DVDs, CDs)
  • Images

A citation must include:

structure of a citation