Student Life Skills (SLS) Research Guide

Check out the BILT Tutorial to find out about Citing Materials.

Plagiarism frequently happens unintentionally, for a variety of reasons. Don't let these happen to you:

• You think something is common knowledge and it isn’t
• The information from a web page wasn't cited properly and now you're giving credit to the wrong person
• You can't remember where you got the information because you have so many sources
• You've revised your paper and after all the changes you can't remember where the information came from
• You've revised your paper and accidentally removed quotation marks

Usually this happens when you’re working in a hurry or have your information disorganized.

Prevent plagiarism when researching by ensuring you keep track of your resources as you find them. 

You can do this by using the online folder applications in databases, by creating an email folder on your computer or OneDrive for each class / assignment or by doing the same within Google Docs -- and capture article PDFs, citations, and permalinks there.

By taking this "saving" step, you can store the original articles and / or URLs so when the time comes to write your citations, you're ready to go -- and you have what you need to cite correctly in your assignments.

Module 8: Citing Materials

• Plagiarism: When must I document a source?
• Introduction to documentation
• Basic MLA citation format (Library-based databases)
• Basic MLA citation format (with examples) of web resources
• Citation examples of print reference materials

For further examples of citations consult the following sources:

• Eastern Florida State College Writing Center LibGuide
• The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

*Remember that your instructor is the final authority on your assignment and may require slightly different formatting.

Two of the most common citation styles in use at EFSC are APA and MLA. Check with your instructor for the preferred citation format.

When using the databases, many of them will offer citation help. In EBSCO databases access the Citation help through the link to the right.