Research Success for High School Students

CITE YOUR SOURCES

Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves a number of purposes:

• It credits authors for their work and ideas that you used to write your paper
• It demonstrates academic integrity by providing context and proving your paper is well-researched
• It allows your readers to find your sources and learn more about your topic
• It enables others to further your research and make new discoveries

You should always cite other people's words and ideas that you use in your papers. This includes but isn't limited to books, journal articles, webpages, reports, data, statistics, speeches, lectures, personal interviews, and more. Cite whenever you use a direct quote, summarize or paraphrase ideas, or use uncommon facts or statistics that relate directly to your argument. When other authors cite their sources properly, you can also use their research to enhance your own!

To learn more about citing sources in various citation styles and review examples of citing different source types, visit ASU Library's Citation Guide.

Academic integrity and plagiarism are concerns of the utmost importance at ASU. This page from the Office of the University Provost has a lot of valuable information about academic integrity.

Academic integrity (or academic honesty) is the foundation of academic life. It helps determine how you should behave in an academic environment when you do research, write a paper, or create a project. The fundamental five values of academic integrity are honesty, trust, respect, fairness, and responsibility. You can learn more about academic integrity by completing ASU Library's Academic Integrity tutorial.

Plagiarism is one aspect of academic dishonesty. It is the act of using, stealing, or representing someone else's ideas, words, or products as your own without crediting the author or originator. When using or quoting the works of another person word-for-word, you must use a citation to acknowledge your use. Summarizing or paraphrasing the words or ideas of another without giving that person credit is also considered plagiarism. Learn more about plagiarism and discover strategies for avoiding it by completing ASU Library's Plagiarism Awareness tutorial.

Follow these steps to get generated citations on ASU Library's One Search:

1. On the results list or the item record, click on the quotation marks icon ("). 
   
2. A menu should pop up to view generated citations in common styles like APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian.
   • Note: Other databases may contain more options for citation styles and/or editions.
     
3. Copy the citation, then paste it directly into your paper. 

These instructions may differ depending on the database you use. There may be quotation mark icons you can select, or buttons marked "Cite" or "Citations." There may also be more available citation styles and editions than the ones presented in Library One Search. If you need assistance, use Ask A Librarian.

Double-check your citations and make corrections as needed! Citation generators can often have inaccuracies, which will be described in the next section.

Although these citation generators are not integrated with ASU Library's article databases or catalog, they could still be useful in double-checking citations or creating citations for different source types.

• ZoteroBib: Generates citations in thousands of styles that can be saved in a bibliography from any computer or device without creating an account or installing any software. ZoteroBib also generates in-text citations, unlike most other citation generators.
• EasyBib: Generate citations for free in the MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles for a long list of source types. Paying users have access to many additional citation styles and can save their bibliographies online.
• BibMe: Generate citations for free in the MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles for a long list of source types. Paying users have access to many additional citation styles and can save their bibliographies online.
• Citation Machine: Generate citations for free in the MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles for a long list of source types. Paying users have access to many additional citation styles and can save their bibliographies online.