Plagiarism

One way to prevent yourself from accidentally plagiarizing is to make sure you know how to create proper citations. Check out the NECC Citation Guide for tips and examples of how to use and create MLA and APA citations.

Organize Your Sources

Save all of the sources you use for a project in one place. You can do this any number of ways:

• Print out all your sources and keep them in a folder
• Create a project folder for links and PDF files on your computer or a USB drive
• Create a bibliography document in Word at the beginning of your project

This will make it easy to find your sources again as you work through your drafts, or if your instructor wants you to include them when you hand in your paper. This includes websites - bookmark in your browser any websites you use, or copy and paste the link into a document!

Cite As You Go

Be sure you note in the body of your paper when you are including words or ideas from one of your sources as you're writing your paper or presentation. Even if you just note the author in parentheses (Smith) and then revisit it later to create the proper citation style, it will help you to remember where you got your information. This is MUCH easier than trying to piece it together later!

Use the Shortcuts in the Databases

Almost every library database has citation help built right in, so when you find an article in a library database, look for a button or link that says "Cite" or "Citation Tools." These may be located in different places on the page depending on which database you are in, but citation tools will automatically format information from the article into MLA, APA, or Chicago for you. Then you can just copy and paste the correct citation (after double-checking it of course!) into your bibliography.

Use WorldCat to Generate a Book Citation

When citing a book, the easiest way to get a full citation is to use WorldCat.

• Type or copy & paste the ISBN number of your book (usually located on the back of the book on the barcode) into Worldcat's search box
• Find your book in the search results and click on the title
• Once you're looking at the record for the book, click on the "Cite/Export" link (in the upper right part of the page).
• This generates the citation for the book in several styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago.

Ask a Librarian!

We know citation is complex and full of rules that are hard to understand. That's why we're here to help! If you're having trouble citing something, or aren't even sure what you're citing (a chapter? a poem? a tweet?) stop by the reference desk, call, email, or ask us a question through LibAnswers. Librarians work with citations all the time, so we can help you when you're stuck!