Research Guides: Educational & Student Affairs Leadership: 4: Cite

Cite Your Sources

How do I cite properly?

Summon has a built-in citation generator, but first you'll need to determine which citation style you should use. Most citation styles have a style guide, which includes a set of rules on how to format citations. Preferred styles vary from discipline to discipline. If you are unsure which citation style to use, check with your instructor.

Some common citation styles include:

APA Style Guide by UNC Libraries
Learn about in-text citations, reference citations, and paper format in American Psychological Association (APA) Style.
MLA Style Guide by UNC Libraries
Learn about in-text citations, reference citations, and paper format in Modern Language Association (MLA) Style.
Chicago Style Guide by UNC LIbraries
Learn about notes, bibliographies, and paper format in Chicago Style.
AMA Style Guide by UNC Libraries
Learn about in-text citations, reference citations, and paper format in American Medical Association (AMA) Style.

What is a citation?

When you cite a source, you are stating that you took the words, ideas, images, or other information from another place. A citation is a short way to identify where the information was found. Most citations consist of the same elements, which are all helpful for readers who want to identify and locate the source of your information. Some of those elements include:

Author name(s)
Date of publication
Title of the publication
Title and/or location of the source
Volume and issue numbers (for articles)

What needs to be cited?

You must cite:

When you quote other people's work
When you discuss, summarize, or paraphrase other people's work
Data, graphs, chats, and tables
Photographs, illustrations, videos, and other media sources

When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!

Why is citing sources important?

To give credit and to be respectful of the ideas and research of others
To show the work that you have done in researching the topic and demonstrate that you understand it
To avoid plagiarism by differentiating between your own ideas and the work of others
To give readers the information they need to find the sources you used in your research

Organize Citations with RefWorks

What is RefWorks?

RefWorks is an easy-to-use tool for creating reference lists. It's free to you as a student!

RefWorks This link opens in a new window
You need to create an account using your @unco.edu or @bears.unco.edu email. Contact stephanie.wiegand@unco.edu. with any questions or concerns.

RefWorks Guide by UNC Libraries
Includes step-by-step instructions for creating your account and video tutorials to get you started with RefWorks.

What can RefWorks do for you?

Import and store sources
- Import full-text sources and save them to your RefWorks account
Manage research articles and other sources
- Organize your articles into projects or within folders
- Assign tags for easier searching
- Write notes on articles
Share and collaborate
- Create a shared folder of sources for group projects or when you work with advisors
Write and cite
- Generate reference lists quickly in over 4,000 styles including APA, MLA, and Chicago
- Format reference and in-text citations