Citation Styles
Write and Cite: Your academic papers must use both in-text citations in your essay paragraphs and full citations at the end. Plagiarism can easily happen if you focus too much on writing without citing. Don't wait until the final draft to add citations. A good habit is to put citations in your rough outline!
In-text citation vs. full citations: Mentioning the source of information within a paragraph is known as an in-text citation. Skipping in-text citation is a frequent problem for less-experienced writers, so make sure you understand this concept. An in-text citation can be written as part of the flow of the sentence or in parentheses. Here are some examples of in-text citations in MLA style where Cooke is the author and the information comes from pages 6 through 8:
According to Cooke, misinformation and disinformation are spreading rapidly online (6-8).
Cooke explains the process of how misinformation and disinformation spread rapidly online (6-8).
Misinformation and disinformation spread rapidly online (Cooke 6-8).
MLA, APA, and other citation styles have different formats to use, and the format is different if the author is a person or a general organization with no person's name listed. The resources linked below explain what to do.
Know Your Assignment! Your instructor decides which citation style you will use for your research paper. Check all computer-generated citations for accuracy with the appropriate style guide. Click here for a video clip on how to generate automatic citations in CU Search. Use these links for more information to help you create and edit your citations.
Citation Formatting Software