Documenting or citing your sources means making a list of all of the materials you used to find information. Whenever you use someone else’s ideas or words in a report, you need to give credit to that person. If you do not, it is called plagiarism. In addition, it is important to cite your sources because the person reading your paper may want to find one of the books or articles you used. If you do not cite your sources, it can make it difficult or impossible to find that information again.

Information comes in different forms. There are print resources, non-print resources and Internet resources. Print resources include books, periodicals, government documents, pamphlets, maps, charts, advertisements, and works of art. Non-print resources include CD-ROMs, videos, DVDs, books on tape, music, lectures, speeches, personal interviews, and television programs. Internet resources include online periodical databases, online encyclopedias, resource centers, web pages, online postings, and e-mail.

Format for Works Cited Page

The works cited page appears at the end of your report on a separate page titled “Works Cited”. The citations should be arranged in alphabetical order. Do not number your citations.

If you are using two works by the same author, you only have to write the author’s name in the first entry. For the second entry, you do not have to write the author’s name. Instead, type in three dashes - - -.

On the next page, you will find an example of a Works Cited page.

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