What does sources cited mean

The information you share when you cite a source is called a citation , or sometimes a reference. There are two kinds of citation:. Readers look at the short in-text citation and then if they want more information, they look up the rest of the information in the longer list at the end. In-text citations. These are short so that they don't interrupt the flow of reading. The exact rules vary according to citation style see below , but the in-text citation typically contains just the author's name and date of publication, sometimes with a page number.

Sometimes it is just a number - when it is a number, it is called a footnote or endnote number. Example of in-text citation in APA style:. According to Smith , NYC pizza was ranked the most foldable kind of pizza by pizza-eaters. As a reader, you would now have enough information from this in-text citation to look at my list of references to find more information about where Smith provided this information in - it could be a book, article, video, interview, or any other source.

What the matching end-of-work citation would look like:. Citing your sources consistently and accurately helps you avoid committing plagiarism in your writing. But : What if the URL breaks? What if your reader doesn't have access to Geisel Library's databases? Report a problem. Why cite sources? Scholarly discourse Scholars cite their sources and provide lists of the sources to give credit to the work of other researchers, and so that colleagues and others can locate the source. Document your research Instructors are interested in knowing which ideas stem from the student and which ideas are built upon those of other writers.

Citing sources gives your instructor a sense of how much work you've done on a paper -- what have you read? Ethics If you don't cite your sources, you are not giving credit for the work of others. This is called plagiarism and is considered a serious offense by all universities. How does one cite a source? There are many different ways to cite sources using different citation styles.

Not at all. On the contrary, citing sources actually helps your reader distinguish your ideas from those of your sources. This will actually emphasize the originality of your own work.