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WRIT 1302 (Diepenbrock): Composition II: Citing & Writing Help

Resources for researching immigration from a variety of disciplinary perspectives

Citations

The whole point of doing research is to explore the topic you are researching and present the conclusions you draw from the information you find. When you cite your sources, you are showing readers how you came to those conclusions and how they fit in the greater academic conversation. 

Failing to cite a source is, basically, taking credit for that author's work. It's a form of academic theft.

Citing sources is an important part of academic culture -- you're building on the contributions of others while seeking new discoveries, knowledge, and understanding.

Always cite sources when you use someone else's ideas or work. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism, which violates UHCL's Academic Honesty Policy, even if done unintentionally.

Different disciplines or fields of study put emphasis on different things. For example:

In most humanities fields, there is not as much emphasis placed on the currency of the sources being used. This is because less recent views on particular works or events are often still relevant to new research. In MLA, the citation style used in these disciplines, the essay is formatted so that the focus is solely on analysis and citations.

In social science and education fields, it is important to focus on the currency of the information being used. As you will see in APA citations, the year is noted early in the entry, second only to the author's name. The format of an APA paper also lends itself to the presentation of methodology and results of experiments and empirical studies.

Citation Management

EndNote citation management software is a great resource to help you save and organize your sources, and also allows you to easily create bibliographies with the Microsoft Word plugin. Students, faculty, and staff who wish to install the program at home can do so from the EndNote Download guide link provided below. The guide includes:

  • detailed instructions for Windows, Mac, and iPad
  • tutorials and help
  • information about free EndNote Web
  • and more

EndNote21 Download Guide

For additional training resources, visit the EndNote website.

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, open-source citation management software that uses a web browser extension to save screenshots, full-text PDFs, and citation information from websites, databases, library catalogs, and other search tools with a single click.

With Zotero you can:

  • Save citation information, screenshots, and available full-text
  • Access your library online and sync to multiple devices
  • Use folders and tags to organize your research
  • Create group libraries for collaborative projects
  • Generate citations and bibliographies in Word, Google Docs, and LibreOffice

Always verify output with the latest edition of official style manuals.

  • NoodleBib (now NoodleTools) Express was among the most accurate of free citation builders tested in 2011 by H. F. Chang, Oklahoma State Univ. Library
  • Mendeley is a free, downloadable citation management program that offers storage, organizational, and sharing options
  • Both support APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian styles

Do you need to cite a source but lack complete information or aren't sure where you found something? Try searching all you do have (author? title? a source name?) in Google Scholar. If that doesn't help, contact us.

Google Scholar Search

Citation Styles

See also APA Style, which includes instructional aids (a student title page guide, reference quick guide, and more) and a searchable blog.

The following also may be of help, but always verify with the latest edition of the official style manual.

Cover art

Adapted in part from The Chicago Manual of Style, Turabian's manual helps students "understand how to write, cite, and formally submit research writing."

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