Darn, I Have to Cite My Sources!

Why should I bother? It’s about academic honesty—give credit where credit is due. It’s about covering your glutes in case the information in your research turns out to be inaccurate or biased. It’s required.

#1: What is a citation? The citation summarizes bibliographic data to provide your reader (teacher) information to locate the book, website, or magazine that you used: Author (if given) Title of article, webpage, or entry Publication information (publisher, website, magazine title, date, location) Medium (Print, Web, etc.) Date of access

How is a citation formatted? Each citation or entry follows a specific format. Punctuation used in the citation defines different types of information in the entry. Formatting is very important. The parts of the citation follow a specific order and have their own function.

What does a citation look like? Title of webpage Name of website “Preview: 2008 Dodge Challenger." Billy Bubba’s Hemiworld. 9 Feb. 2006. Web. 28 June 2006. Date of publication or update Medium Date of access This citation example is for a webpage. Other sources will look different and will have other kinds of information.

What’s up with punctuation? Titles of articles, webpages, or entries in a reference work are usually noted by quotation marks. Titles of books, websites, or reference sources are usually noted with italics. This is a change from MLA 6th ed. “Preview: 2008 Dodge Challenger." Billy Bubba’s Hemiworld. 9 Feb. 2006. Web. 28 June 2006 <http://www.billybubba.org/hemi/challenger.htm>. Dates in MLA citations follow a specific format. It’s very European. You need to define in what medium you accessed the material. If you got it from the web, use “Web.” Each part of the citation is completed with a period. The web address or URL is no longer required in the citation. This is another change in the 7th edition.

What goes in quotes and which gets italicized? Generally speaking, the citation goes from specific to general. Author always gets first billing, but if there is no author, you need to list the title of the specific article, entry, etc. first. That gets the “quotation treatment.” Next, you need to include the larger work in which that content was found. Probably it was part of a book, magazine or website. That source gets the italic treatment.

I still don’t get it. If you got an article from an encyclopedia: “Lewis and Clark” is the specific article World Book is the larger source If you got an article from a website: “Terrorists get their day in court.” is the article CNN.com is the larger source If you got an article from a magazine: “Obama challenged by right.” is the article Time is the larger source

What are the other mediums? Print. is used for almost anything printed on paper. Examples are books, reference magazines, pamphlets, etc. Web. Is used for any web-based content. Other medium examples include: CD Film Television Ask yourself—by which medium did you get the information?

#2: What’s a works cited page? The works cited page is an alphabetical listing of all cited sources for your research. This list could include books, websites, databases, interviews, and any other source of information used. Remember that if you use someone else’s ideas, words, quotes, data, or other information, you must cite your source.

How do I format a works cited page? The entire page is double spaced The page is titled “Works Cited” Use a hanging indent. If you tab, you may get funky line breaks. See next slide on how to format a page for hanging indents.

What should it look like? “Works Cited’ centered at top of page Entries alphabetized Page has hanging indents What’s wrong with this page? ‘cited’ should be capitalized! Oops!

What is in a parenthetical reference? Because the parenthetical reference is a pointer to an entry in your works cited list, you put the last name of the author or the first word of the title of the source if no author is given. If you are using information from a book, magazine, or print source, include the page number where the information was found.

What’s the connection? The parenthetical reference should match the first word of the entry in your works cited page.

Where do I put them? Include a parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence, paragraph, or section that uses information from that source. Place the reference before the period if at the end of a sentence.

In review… The requirement to cite your sources is about academic integrity and good research practice. A works cited page is a listing of your properly-formatted citations. A parenthetical reference is a pointer within your paper or project to a citation in your works cited list.

Students will listen to the song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel Students will then be assigned two topics from the song to research. They must explain why the person and event were considered important in influencing the shaping of the United States in the late 20th Century? Students will practice their research skills by visiting websites to find information on their topic. They must submit a works cited page with 3 websites to verify that the information is valid and reliable. Students will create a 2-minute presentation on their topic.