What are some best practices for citing sources?

Cite the sources of the ideas, fact, and words in your work.

Citing your sources is an important and sometimes confusing part of academic writing. It doesn't have to be! I like to think of it as gathering friends. You're showing your readers that you aren't the only person who has had a thought; you're part of a tradition. You're proving claims using what someone else has said or researched. You're helping people follow your research train of thought. You're even spicing up your work with a dialog between you and people who have written on this topic in the past.

Of course, proper citation is the way we prevent plagiarism by giving these friends credit, making it so that no one will mistake someone else's idea for your own. You must cite a source both when you directly quote and when you paraphrase an argument. It's the idea that you are citing, not necessarily the word choice.

There are three situations that require citation:

• quoting exact words from a source
• paraphrasing ideas (that is, putting them in your own words)
• when you use an idea that comes from a source you consulted

You can also use citations to point readers to sources that are relevant to your thoughts, but that you don't quote or paraphrase. This shows that you are familiar with the resources available. It's advanced citation technique that makes you a part of the scholarly conversation.

There are several acceptable styles of citation at Iliff, each of which is guided by a particular handbook. You should always consult your assignment to determine which is appropriate. Many assignments do not require a particular style, but you must be consistent. A mix of styles is not generally acceptable, so pick one. The most common styles in most Iliff programs are:

• The most common at Iliff in general is Chicago Style, which is governed by the Chicago Manual of Style, though it is sometimes called "Turabian" after the author of this incredibly useful guide:
  Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, 8th ed. Revised by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2013. ISBN: 9780226816388
• APA Style (American Psychological Association), most useful for pastoral care:
  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010. ISBN: 9781433805615
• SBL Style (Society of Biblical Literature), recommended for biblical studies projects:
  Collins, Bille Jean, ed. The SBL Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies, 2nd ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2014. ISBN:9781589839649

In this workshop video, I give you some tools for understanding when, where, and how to cite your sources properly and with minimal fuss.

Don't forget that here on Zendesk Help Center you can search for specific answers and ask questions to them answered for everyone. Don't be shy!

Iliff also has a subscription to the Chicago Manual of Style Online. It's free to you!

For a guide Chicago for students, we recommend Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, 8th ed. Revised by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2013. ISBN: 9780226816388

We also love the thorough resources for citation found at the OWL at Purdue. It offers online handouts covering writing, research, grammar, and Chicago, MLA and APA style.

Some other good citation resources around the internet:

• SBL Style Guide for Students: A handy reference for students using the Society of Biblical Literature style (recommended for bible students).
• APA Style Citation Guide: A quick guide for those interested in citing psychological studies, useful for those studying pastoral care and counseling
• Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide: A useful and quick cheat-sheet citation guide to the Chicago Manual Style.
• Bibliography as an Intellectual Project: A discussion of the importance of bibliography as a product rather than simply a list.
• Duke's Citation Tutorial