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Citation Guides: How to Cite Your Sources

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This LibGuide connects you with resources to assist with citing your sources. Click on the side tabs to explore style-specific resources.

Citation: A (Very) Brief Introduction

Transcript

  This video is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States license. 
NCSU Libraries Credits

 

Overview

YOU SHOULD CITE WHEN:

  • Referring to a source and stating someone else's opinions, thoughts, ideas, or research
  • Using an image or media file that you did not create

​When in doubt, cite it

WHEN REFERRING TO A SOURCE, YOU HAVE THREE OPTIONS FOR USING IT:

Handwritten text that starts with a quotation mark and ends with a parenthetical citation.

  1. Directly Quoting 
  2. Summarizing 
  3. Paraphrase 

"Which option you should choose depends on how much of a source you are using, how you are using it, and what kind of paper you are writing, since different fields use sources in different ways." Grounds for Argument. When to Quote, Paraphrase, or Summarize a Source. Used under CC BY NC SA

Image:  Random quote by Gabriel Jones. Used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

YOU DO NOT NEED TO CITE:

  • Your thoughts and your interpretations
  • Common knowledge​

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