When writing research papers it is important to cite all the resources you used. As you're conducting your research be sure to collect the citation information from each book, article, or Website you find. Whether you quote directly from one of these sources, or put the ideas in your own words you must cite it. If you don't cite correctly you could be found guilty of plagiarism
Citations are easy to find in the Library's databases; many of which allow you to email the correctly formatted citation to yourself. Basic citation information includes the title of the work, author, publisher, date, and perhaps source. Use the citation templates to find what information you need to collect for your sources.
Basic format for an article or other short work in a database:
Author's last name, first name. "The Article Title." Journal Title. volume #, issue # (year of journal issue): page #. Database. Web. day month year that you first found the article.
Example:
Buchanan, Brad. "Oedipus In Dystopia: Freud And Lawrence In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World." Journal Of Modern Literature 25.3/4 (2002): 75-89. Literary Reference Center. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
Basic format for a selection in an anthology (in other words, a short story or an essay published with other works):
Author's last name, first name. "Title of selection/story/essay." Book Title. Ed. editor names. any edition information if available. City published: Publisher name, year published. page range of selection. Print.
Example:
Matter, William. "Utopia Isn't All It's Cracked up to Be." Reading on a Brave New World. Ed. Katie de Koster. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. 61-69. Print
Hacker Guide:
A web version of the A Writer's Reference or A Pocket Style Manual. Use the drop-down menu that says MLA Works Cited to scroll through different citation types to find examples like the ones in the box above this one. APA and other citation formats are also available.
Purdue OWL:
OWL stands for Online Writing Lab by Purdue University. Use the menu on the left hand side to identify what type of citation you need to find more examples. APA and other citation formats are also available on this website.
Citation: A (Very) Brief Introduction (1:54) is a visual explanation of citation from the North Carolina University Libraries.