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Citation and Formatting: Home

An introduction to available materials on MLA, APA, Turabian/Chicago Styles, legal resources and legal citations.

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Why Cite?

Why Do I Have to Cite?

To Build Upon the Research of Others

Citing your sources demonstrates that your arguments and conclusions are not based solely upon your own opinion or biases, but are supported by the findings of other researchers.

To Give Credit When & Where It Is Due

Citing information allows you to demonstrate exactly what information you took from another researcher and it shows what information is original to your work.

To Allow for Further Research

When you cite others' research in your work, you are giving your audience the sources they need to seek out additional information related to your topic.

To Avoid Plagiarism!

Plagiarism is a serious offense at Brevard College and is subject to disciplinary action. Plagiarism results from not giving credit to the sources of information you use in your research. See the Plagiarism page for more information.

What Do I Have to Cite?

Ideas From Your Reading

When you quote directly from a source.
When you rephrase, reword, or summarize information from a source.

Arguments and Terminology

When you make use of another person's argument, idea, or specific terminology.

Graphs, Charts, Photos, Drawings, etc.

When you use or glean information from another person's graph, chart, photograph, drawing, or other representation of information.

Which Format Should I Use?

In academic writing, the most commonly used citation formats are APA, MLA, and Chicago (Turabian). Check with your instructors to see which citation format they prefer. There are examples and more information about APA, MLA, and Chicago listed on the other tabs in this guide

Zotero

Citation Software

Zotero

A free app that helps you collect, organize, and analyze research and share it in a variety of ways. When it senses you are viewing a book, article, or other object on the web, it can automatically extract and save complete bibliographic references.

  • Store author, title, and publication info
  • Export that information as formatted references
  • organize, tag, and search your citations in advanced ways
  • Interacts seamlessly with online resources
  • Runs both as a web service and offline on your personal devices

RefWorks Lite - Citation Management

  • Save search results and upload documents
  • Generate citations and bibliographies
  • Organize research documents
Register to use RefWorks Lite
  1. Follow this link to RefWorks's website.
  2. Click the "No Account? Sign up here" button.
  3. Follow the instructions.
  4. Use your Brevard.edu email address to sign up for this product.