Information Literacy

Why Cite Your Sources?

When you write a research paper, you use information and facts from a variety of resources to support your own ideas or to help you develop new ones. Books, articles, caselaw, videos, interviews, and Web sites are some examples of sources you might use. Citing these sources of information in your work is essential because:

* It gives credit to the author of the original work who provided you with the information or idea

* It allows your audience to identify and find the source material in order to learn more about your topic

* It gives your paper more credibility because it shows you're supporting your arguments with high-quality sources.

Quoting

When quoting directly, put quotation marks around the exact words you are quoting and keep the person’s name near the quote (remember not to overuse direct quotes as they might decrease the effectiveness of your work). If the quotation is longer than forty words, write it as an indented separate paragraph and give in-text reference. 

When quoting indirectly (paraphrasing or summarising), begin with a statement giving credit to the source (e.g. According to…,) and rewrite the key ideas using different words and sentence structures than the original text.

Tips:

1. When paraphrasing or summarising, read the text carefully then  rewrite it in your own words. Then check to make sure you haven’t used the same words or phrases. It is important that the information in the original text be recorded correctly.

2. A combination of direct and indirect quoting is also very common. Make the differentiation clear by using quotation marks for direct quotes.

Source: Plagiarism Handout. METU Academic Writing Center

How To Cite?

Citing sources using APA, MLA, HARVARD and Chicago

METU Library Citing Sources