Whenever you quote, paraphrase, or summarize, distinguish between your ideas and the information you obtained from your sources by using attributions — brief comments such as “according to” or “as the author points out” — to alert your readers that the point is not your own.

Writers who use the MLA or APA documentation system also provide citations — or acknowledgments of source information — within the text of their documents to indicate where borrowed material ends. These citations, in turn, refer readers to a list of works cited or a list of references at the end of the document.

Note the following examples, which use attributions and in-text citations.

When you acknowledge material you’ve borrowed from sources, try to vary the wording of your attributions. Be aware, however, that the verbs in attributions can convey important shades of meaning. For example, saying that someone “alleged” something is quite different from saying that someone “confirmed” something. The form your attributions take will depend on your use of citation style. MLA recommends present tense (“the author points out”), while APA recommends past tense (“the author pointed out”) or present perfect tense (“the author has explained”).

Some Common Attributions

You can learn more about text citations in Chapter 21 (MLA style) and Chapter 22 (APA style).