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Citing Sources
The primary reasons for citing sources in a research paper are to give credit to the authors whose work you have drawn upon and to allow readers to track down your sources, should they wish to do so.
There are many style guides for formatting citations and creating bibliographies. Turabian (a simplified version of Chicago) is frequently used, but you may be called upon to use others.
See the box at the right for tools to help you format citations and bibliographies.
Citation Manuals
- Bluebook: a Uniform System of Citation byCall Number: KF246 .U5ISBN: 1062-9971The authoritative guide for citing legal materials.
Citation Managers
- RefWorks This link opens in a new windowRefWorks is an online research management, writing, and collaboration tool designed to help researchers gather, manage, store, and share information and generate citations and bibliographies.
- ZoteroZotero is a free tool designed to help you gather, manage and share information about books, articles, web pages and other digital objects that you are using in your research, and to generate citations and bibliographies. Zotero is a Mozilla browser plugin. You can choose to gather your data on your hard drive (if you are working mainly from one computer), or on a flash drive or a network (if you frequently access your data at multiple workstations).
- MendeleyMendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research. You can automatically generate bibliographies, collaborate with other researchers online, import papers from other research software, find relevant papers based on what you’re reading, and access your papers from anywhere online.
Citation Guides
Many libraries and other institutions have compiled guides of best practices for citing government information in various styles. Although the "official" manuals of style remain the authoritative source, you might find the guides below have helpful examples:
- Purdue's OWLPurdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab) provides guides to MLA, APA, and Chicago styles, as well as advice on research, writing and citation.
- How to Cite US Government Documents in MLA, APA Citation StyleThis guide from Cornell University Library covers a variety of government documents for both MLA and APA styles.
- APA Style - Government ReportPDF from Trinity College on citing government reports in APA format.
- Citing Government Information Sources Using MLA StyleThis style sheet from the University of Nevado Reno Library details how to cite government information using the Modern Language Association.
- Uncle Sam: Brief Guide to Citing Government PublicationsCitation examples for laws, agency reports, and other types of government publications. In Chicago/Turabian format. From the University of Memphis.
- Chicago Quick Guide to Government DocumentsA 9-page PDF on citing government publications according to the Chicago Manual of Style (15th). From Bowdoin College.
- Citing Records in the National Archives of the United StatesIn response to frequent requests from researchers, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) offers the following guidelines for citing unpublished records it holds. The guidelines cover citations to textual records, microform records, nontextual archives (i.e., photographic records, posters, motion pictures, tape recordings, cartographic records, and architectural drawings), electronic records, and online references.
