Subject Guides: FNDS 3910: Make Learning Your Superpower: Cite your Sources

Cite Your Sources

Whenever you use someone’s words or ideas to support your own writing assignment, you need to give credit back to the original sources, which we do through citations. The sources below will outline how to properly cite sources to give credit where credit is due. Remember, anytime you directly quote or paraphrase someone else's words or ideas you need to cite them.

There are many different types of citation styles. For this course, choose the citation style that works best for you.

Most common citation styles:

APA

If you are new to citations, this brief video will cover an introduction to in-text citations and reference lists in APA 7th edition. Scroll down for more recommended resources about citations.

More information including examples and sample papers can be found at the recommended websites below:

APA 7th edition quick reference handout
This quick reference guide to APA 7th edition citations is handy and includes many commonly cited source types and corresponding in-text citations.
APA In-text Citation Checklist
APA's official In-text citation checklist for the 7th edition.
APA Style Website: Reference Examples
Guidelines about references from the official APA Style website.
APA Style Website: In-text Citations
Guidelines for in-text citations from the official APA Style website.

Chicago Citation Style

Citations provide the information necessary for readers to identify and retrieve each source you use. When you use someone else's words or ideas in your papers, you should create Text citations or footnotes (within the paper) and References Cited citations (at the end of the paper). Each Text citation or footnote should lead to a References Cited citation, and each References Cited citation should come from an Text citation or footnote.

Text Citations

Place citations in parentheses and include the last names of the author(s) and the source's year of publication:

One author: Last Name Year of Publication (Anderson 2018)
Two authors: Last Name and Last Name Year of Publication (Anderson and Chenoweth 2018)
Three authors: Last Name, Last Name, and Last Name Year of Publication (Anderson, Mills, and Chenoweth 2018)
Four or more authors: Last Name et al. Year of Publication (Anderson et al. 2018)

When you're quoting from a source, add the page number from which you're quoting to the above template. If your quote is over two pages, include both pages:

Last Name(s) Year of Publication, Page Number (Anderson 2018, 41)
Last Name(s) Year of Publication, Page Number-Page Number (Anderson, Mills, and Chenoweth 2018, 40-41)

References Cited Citations

Use the Chicago Manual of Style Citation Quick Guide citation templates and Reference list formatting guides:

Journal Article citation template and formatting
- For articles consulted online, include a DOI or the name of the database in the reference list entry. Many journal articles list a DOI (Digital Object Identifier). A DOI forms a permanent URL that begins https://doi.org/. If you can't find the DOI, list the name of the database instead of the article URL that appears in your browser's address bar.
News or Magazine Article citation template and formatting
Book or Book Chapter citation template and formatting
E-Book citation template and formatting

Anthropology students can also use the American Anthropological Association Guide to Chicago Style for help citing your sources and formatting your papers.

MLA Style Citation

Use Purdue OWL's Modern Language Association (MLA) Style (9th edition) guidelines and templates to help you format you papers and bibliographies:

Here is a quick reference guide, an MLA Handout, with citation examples for the works cited page and in-text citations. For additional information on MLA Citations, consult the 2021 9th edition of the MLA Handbook.