Citing Your Sources Literature Research LRC@TCC

When you are writing a research paper, you are almost always using the ideas of other people.   Whether you find these ideas on the Internet, in a book or periodical, on a television program or in a  movie, or even in a class lecture, you must cite your sources. If you do not, you are guilty of plagiarism. 

Citing sources serves two purposes: 

      1.The original author is given credit for his or her ideas. 
      2.The reader is able to locate the sources you used in order to verify the information. 

When you find a useful source of information, write down all of the information from it that you will need for your bibliography or reference list right away. If you wait until the day before your paper is due you may be disappointed to find that you lack a vital piece of the information. There are several ways to format your citation. Ask your instructor which format to use.

Our writing assignments subject guide provides more information on formatting citations using MLA, APA, and other styles.