At some point you’ll present your findings, whether you are writing an essay, a formal research paper, a script for a presentation, or a page for a Web site. Remember that you must include complete citations, which are references that enable a reader to locate a source based on information such as the author’s name, the title of the work, and its publication date.

Citing your sources serves many purposes. For one thing, acknowledging the information and ideas you’ve borrowed from other writers distinguishes between other writers’ ideas and your own and shows respect for their work. Source citations show your audience that you have based your conclusions on good, reliable evidence. They also provide a starting place for anyone who would like more information about the topic or is curious about how you reached your conclusions. Most important, citing your sources is the simplest way to avoid plagiarism—taking another person’s ideas or work and presenting them as your own—which we will explore in more detail later in this chapter.

Source citation includes many details and can get complicated, but it all comes down to two basic rules. As you write, just remember these two points:

Your instructors will tell you about their preferred method for citation: footnotes, references in parentheses included in the text of your paper, or endnotes. If you’re not given specific guidelines or if you simply want to be sure that you do it right, use a handbook or style manual. One standard manual is the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, published by the Modern Language Association (mlahandbook.org). Another is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (apastyle.org). You can now download MLA and APA apps on your mobile devices from Google Play or iTunes.