Skip to Main Content

LIS2004 Research Strategies for College Students | Prof. Richardson

Introduction

Learning Outcomes

After completing this module, you will be able to:

  • Identify the publication information necessary to cite the contributing work of others in your own information production
  • Give credit to the original ideas of others through proper attribution and citation to avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement

Information Literacy Competencies

You will apply and learn about information literacy competencies while completing this learning module.

  • The primary competency related to this module is Scholarship as Conversation
  • The primary knowledge practice is to cite the contributing work of others in their own information production
What are Citations and Citation Styles?

When we use a writer’s ideas and data, we must give him/her credit by providing citations to their work (the books, database articles, website, etc, we used as our sources). Creating and listing citations is how we give credit to the author and acknowledge their ideas and work.  In MLA, the list of citations is called the Works Cited page and in APA the References page. These are the last pages or slides of your paper/project and allow the reader (your professor) to review the quality of your sources and to refer to your sources as needed.

APA or MLA

MLA: Modern Language Association, used for Humanities: English, Literature, Foreign Language.

APA: American Psychological Association, used for Social Sciences: Psychology, Sociology, Health and Nursing, Business, and other Social Science subject areas.

There are many other citation styles too! Chicago/Turabian is used for History, IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is used or engineering, computer science, and information technology, AAA (American Anthropological Association)...you get the idea.

Two-Part Citation System

APA and MLA styles are both two-part citation systems. A complete citation includes an in-text citation within the body of the paper and a reference or end citation at the end of the paper.

  • In-text citations show where you paraphrased, summarized, or used a direct quote within the body of your paper. Below is an example of an in-text citation in APA style:

Students’ ability to trust their teachers greatly impacts their learning (Davis, 2004).

  • Reference citations make up the bibliography at the end of your paper. It is the list of all the sources you consulted in writing your paper. The citations must be complete enough to allow your reader to find the exact sources you used. Below is a corresponding reference citation example in APA style:

Davis, K. S., & Dupper, D. R. (2004). Student-teacher relationships:  An overlooked factor in school dropout. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 9(1/2), 179-194. doi:10.1300/J137v9n01_12

For every reference citation in your bibliography, you MUST have at least one corresponding in-text citation.

Reference/Works Cited Citations

Reference citations are designed to provide enough information to your reader to be able to find and access the sources you've cited. The information you include, the order, and the punctuation depends on the style guide you are using and the kind of source (book, eBook, website, journal article, online journal article, journal article from a database, DVD, etc.). Please see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association and the MLA Handbook to see complete details for each kind of source.

In general, APA style Reference citations include as much of the following information as possible: author's name, publication date, title of the source, pagination information, and URL or DOI.

In general, MLA style Works Cited citations include as much of the following information as possible: author's name, title of source, title of container, other contributors, version/edition, volume and issue, publisher, publication date, and URL or DOI.

In-Text Citations

There are two common ways to construct in-text citations.

  • Placing the in-text citation information in parentheses at the end of a sentence:

Behavior analysis is necessary for society because "almost all major problems involve human behavior" (Skinner 24). [MLA Example]

  • Placing the author's name in the sentence and the page number (MLA) or publication year (APA) in parentheses at the end of the sentence:

According to B.F. Skinner, behavior analysis is necessary for society because "almost all major problems involve human behavior" (24). [MLA Example]

Formatting

Both styles include formatting rules for your paper or annotated bibliography. This includes page margins, page numbering, font, line spacing, titles, headings, and more. For both, the entries in the bibliography are listed in alphabetical order, are double-spaced, and have a hanging indent.

The rules for each style are outlined in detail in the respective manuals. They are also outlined in detail in the Miami Dade College Libraries LibGuides for each style (APA | MLA). You are not expected to memorize these details for the style you are using. However, you are expected to submit an annotated bibliography which adheres to these style rules.

Learning Activity 1: Anatomy of Citations

Anatomy of Citations - APA Style

Anatomy of Citations - APA Style by Marquette University is licensed under CC-BY-SA

Anatomy of Citations - MLA Style

Anatomy of Citations - MLA Style by Marquette University is licensed under CC-BY-SA

Learning Activity 2: APA and MLA Resources

Select both a database article and a book from the library collection. Identify the components of the citation and create a citation in MLA Style. Use the resources listed below and in Module 6 to complete this activity.

LibGuides:

Review

In this module, you have learned how to:

  1. Identify the publication information necessary to cite the contributing work of others in your own information production.
  2. Give credit to the original ideas of others through proper attribution and citation to avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement