Citation Literacy
Throughout your college career, instructors will ask that you construct bibliographies and/or footnotes in association with your research assignments. Citation lists are necessary for several reasons:
- to credit your sources of information;
- to avoid plagiarism;
- to validate and support your research;
- to provide a listing of additional reading material.
The typical information needed to prepare a citation includes:
- Author
- Title of Book or Article
- Editors if applicable
- Publisher or Producer
- Place of Publication
- Date of Publication or Posting
- Page Numbers utilized
- the length of a video
- the address of a website
- the date the website was accessed
Your instructor will ask you to prepare your citation in one of the following formats: Turabian, Chicago, MLA (Modern Language Association) or APA (American Psychological Association).
Briefly review the below given citation example, noting stylistic differences:
APA |
Fleming, T. (1997). Liberty!: The American Revolution. New |
Important Elements:
Note: Spacing is important. Some citations appear identical but differ in slight ways, like spacing. For example, compare Chicago, MLA, and Turabian. Consult individual guides for exact spacing. |
MLA |
Fleming, Thomas. Liberty!: The American Revolution. New |
|
Chicago |
Fleming, Thomas. Liberty!: The American Revolution. New |
|
Turabian |
Fleming, Thomas. Liberty!: The American Revolution. New |
You will find the hard copy style guides for each of these citation formats in the LRC. Also, follow the examples provided at: http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/works_cited.htm
At the circulation desk, the LRC distributes a handout providing an example of a MLA citation for information retrieved from NCLIVE. Always direct questions regarding any other peculiar citations to your instructor.
