Plagiarism: What it is and how to avoid it

There are several reasons why it is important to cite your sources properly.

• It is important to give credit to the person or group who discovered or created that information.
• It allows your reader to find the source later if she wants to read it herself.
• Citing experts gives credibility to the argument of your paper.
• Proper citing indicates that you did a thorough job researching your topic.

Citation Managers let you

• Import citations from the catalog and databases
• Store and organize citations
• Add research notes
• Format in-text citations
• Create bibliographies in different citation styles

Citation Style Guides show you how to

• Document the sources you are using in your work
• Create citations manually for all types of sources
• Embed quotations and paraphrases properly in your text

A citation is the information needed to locate the article (or book).

For articles, a complete citation generally includes:

• The author's name 
• The title of the article 
• The name of the magazine or journal in which it is located 
• The volume number of the magazine or journal (and sometimes the issue number) 
• The page numbers on which the article is located 
• The date when the article was published

For books, a complete citation generally includes:

• The author's name 
• The title of the book 
• The publication date
• The city in which the book was published 
• The book's publisher

Citations are also used to help readers of your papers find the information you used.