Giving credit to your sources is an important part of academic research and academic integrity. When you share something on social media, you might link back to the original source as a simple way to give credit. However, giving credit in academic research involves a more formal strategy called citation.
Citing your sources is the best way to avoid plagiarism. The following resource will help you learn more about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
One thing that can be confusing for students, no matter where they are in their academic careers is why there are so many different citation styles. APA, MFA, and Chicago style are the three most common but there are even more than that.
The reason there are so many is because different disciplines (e.g. the sciences, the humanities, etc.) prefer different ways of giving credit to sources.
As for which is the best to use, the simple answer is: whichever one your professor requires! But if the decision is up to you, the best answer is whichever one you are most familiar with or feel most comfortable with.
If you’re not familiar or comfortable with any citation style, it may help to look at examples of each one to see which makes most sense to you. If none of them do, you can always ask your professor, a peer, or a librarian for help.
Unfortunately, there are too many different styles and too many different kinds of sources to provide a detailed guide on how to cite your sources here. However, the below guide serves as a good starting point no matter which citation style you’re using and provides some librarian-approved resources for help with formatting citations
