Skip to main content
LibApps staff login

ENG 102/105/108, First-Year Composition

A step-by-step guide to finding sources for ENG102, 105 or 108 research papers.

Citing Sources Guides

Citing Your Sources: How

Check the Citing Sources LibGuide for explanations and examples for most citation styles, including MLA, APA , etc.

Use this handout to help you write your Works Cited page in MLA 8th edition format. It provides examples of the types of sources you'll be using in this course.

Citing Your Sources: Why & Where

 

Why should you cite your sources? 

1. To give credit to the original author when you directly quote someone else's words, or paraphrase their ideas, within the text of your paper.

2. Your statements are more credible when you back them up with authoritative sources.

3. To allow readers to easily locate the sources you used by providing a Works Cited page.


 

 

Where should you cite your sources?

1. Within the text of your paper, in parentheses after you quote or paraphrase a source. Include author's last name and the page number (if given).

  • Example: Fifty percent of the freshmen at ASU are citing their sources correctly (Jones 9).

2. In the Works Cited list at the end of your paper. Include complete information about the source.

  • Example: Jones, Jennifer. "Citing Sources is Important."  State Press 10 June 2009: pp.8-9. 

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.