The idea simply is to provide enough information so that someone else can answer Who and Where you got your information.
There are different conventions to follow but they all do the same thing. In general a citation consists of the author's name, the title of the work, the page numbers and/or the complete web address.
For this class you will be using the APA format.
Citing sources is extremely important! Failure to do so is plagiarism and can carry serious consequences. At Ivy Tech it can result in failure of an assignment, a class, or suspension from school. In the professional world there have been forced resignations and legal proceedings.
What you include in a citation will change depending upon the type of resource. For example, a book with multiple authors is cited differently than a book with one. So use the citation handbook and double check you are citing as correctly as possible.
APA Citation: BOOKS
Author's Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title. City: Publisher.
Delbanco, N. (2004). The sincerest from: Writing fiction by imitation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
APA Citation: E-BOOKS
Author's Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title. Retrieved from URL
Laycock, J. (n.d.) Zero dollars, a little talent and thirty days. Retrieved from from http://www.searchengineguide.com/ebooks/30DayBook.pdf
Note: the abbreviation "n.d." refers to "no date."
APA Citation: JOURNALS(print)
Author's Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title of article. Journal Title, Volume. (Issue), Page Numbers.
Hersh, W., Henning, M., Jensen, J., Yang, J., Gorman, P., & Ruch, P. (2006). Advancing biomedical image retrieval: Development and analysis of a test collection. The Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Vol. 5. (13), 488-496.
APA Citation: MAGAZINES(print)
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Title of article. (Date). Magazine Title, Page Number.
Playing a high stakes game. (2001, August 20). Newsweek, 4.
Note: when forced to cite without an author name, you may use the title of the work, but the date is always the second item in APA citations.
APA Citation: ARTICLES in DATABASES
Note: APA prefers using a DOI(digital object identifier) when you can find one associated with a database article instead of the URL. If a DOI is not available, use the URL of the journal. Do not use the exact link to the article. This rule applies ONLY to Databases.
Author's Last Name, First Initial. (Date). Title of Article. Title of Publication, Volume. (Issue). Page Numbers. Retrieved from Database Name database URL
Szabo, L. (2009, July 13). Danish doctors find autoimmune/autism link. Foreign Medical Journal, Vol. 32. (12). doi: 10.3134/ehtj.09.00
OR
Szabo, L. (2009, July 13). Danish doctors find autoimmune/autism link. Foreign Medical Journal, Vol. 32.(12). Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com
APA Citation: WEBSITES
Author's Last Name, First Initial. (Date of last update). Document Name. Website Name. Retrieved [date you accessed the page] from URL
Top ten reasons to support organic in the 21st century (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2009 from http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-206
Visit the Carter Library's Citation/Plagiarism help page.
For help with APA or MLA formatting look at the latest Ivy Tech Citation Handbooks. The citation management application NoodleTools Citation Builder will help you insert your Works Cited or References list into your paper .
Finally, there are some handy tips how to avoid plagiarizing other people's work