AMES 49S: Film and Visual Culture: Citing Sources

Plagiarism charges can be brought against you for the following offenses:

• Copying, quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing from any source without adequate documentation
• Purchasing a pre-written paper (either by mail or electronically)
• Letting someone else write a paper for you
• Paying someone else to write a paper for you
• Submitting as your own someone else's unpublished work, either with or without permission

What do I cite? For your latest research assignment, you consulted books, journal articles and web sites, viewed a film pertinent to your topic, and even interviewed your roommate. Now, you are ready to write. Do you really need to cite all these sources? The short answer is yes. If you are incorporating an author’s ideas into your paper, or if the work of another has influenced your thinking on a topic, then the source must be cited. It doesn’t matter what the source is. It could be a book, journal article, web site, message from a listserv, television program, speech or a government document. Just remember, if you are using another’s words or ideas, cite them.

The Basics

• Direct Quotation
• Direct Quotation: More Information
• Facts
• Paraphrase
• Summary

Complex Topics

• Loyalty to source: really looking at the sources you cite
• Loyalty to source: respecting the intent of another author
• Nuts and bolts: input on the structure of your paper
• Patchworking: a quilt of everyone's ideas but your own

Citation Tools:

• RefWorks
• EndNote

1. Follow the format your professor suggests.
2. Ask your professor what to use if no format was assigned.
3. If you have no advice from your professor, try these:
   
   

   Humanities (especially literature or languages):Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook

   
   

   Social sciences (especially psychology and behavioral science):American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual

   
   

   Physical and natural sciences:CSE (Council of Scientific Editors) Manual

   
   

   A general guide:Turabian is used by students in all disciplines. It is designed to complement the Chicago Manual of Style, but be simpler and easier to use.

   
   

   A very detailed guide:The Chicago Manual of Style is used by scholarly writers in all disciplines. It contains two separate styles, one for writers in literature, history, and the arts, and one for writers in the physical, natural and social sciences.