Citing Sources and Writing Papers

What is a citation?

A citation or bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article, web page, or other published item, with sufficient detail to identify the item. The two most commonly used citation styles at De Anza College are:

APA (American Psychological Association) style which is set of rules and guidelines for citing social science information. The social sciences include anthropology, sociology, political science, history, economics, jurisprudence and philosophy.

MLA (Modern Language Association) style: which is a set of rules and guidelines for citing humanities information. Humanities include art, communication, languages, literature, philosophy and religion. It is a good idea to ask your instructor which format to use.

Citing Sources, Guide to Library Research This website is from Duke University Library and shows both APA and MLA styles.

Landmark's Citation Machine At this website, users enter information such as author, title, journal name, into a form and the "machine" formats the information according to specified guidelines, e.g. MLA or APA.  Then the user can copy and paste the citation into a bibliography.

What is a Scholarly Journal?  What is a Popular Magazine? How can you tell the difference?  This website from the University of Texas explains the differences.

Evaluating Information Found on the Internet Can you trust the information you find on the Internet?  Is it propaganda?  Misinformation?  or have a bias?  This website from Johns Hopkins University Library can help you develop some skills to evaluate what you find.

Research and Documentation Online If you are writing a paper, take a look at this website.  There are sample pages and papers.  There is also a glossary of research terms that explains words such as:  primary source, secondary source, serial, and more

Still have questions?Consider enrolling in a one unit class, Introduction to Online Research (LCEN 50) taught by the Library and Distance Learning departments.