Citing Information Sources

Ethical use of information requires that, when you use someone else's written words or ideas, you acknowledge your source. Proper documentation:

• gives credit to the original source
• enables your reader to find the original source
• provides a standard style for stating your source information

A few examples of plagiarism (cheating) include:

• copying verbatim work authored by someone else
• creating a paper using various sources taken from different papers and pasting them together with some of your own writing
• intentionally altering all or part of someone else's written words or ideas and presenting them as your own
• submitting work without properly acknowledging your sources

Cayuga faculty members use an online plagiarism prevention service called TurnItIn.com to help identify non-original material in papers.

Every time you use information from any print, visual, or electronic source, you must cite (document) that source.

There are several valid citation formats you can use. Please click on the links below to find examples of correct formats for citing information resources at Cayuga Community College:

• MLA Format for Print Resources
• MLA Format for Electronic Resources
• APA Format for Print Resources
• APA Format for Electronic Resources
• Chicago Manual of Style Format (also called Turabian style)