Using and Citing Sources: Background You’ll Need

  • Explain why citing sources is important and the purpose of citation styles

Why Cite?

Citing the sources you use in your work is essential to ethical and effective academic writing. Here’s why:

  • citations help others find the information you used in your research paper
  • citing your sources accurately helps establish the credibility of your research
  • citations connect your work to the work of other scholars
  • citations are one way that scholars enter into a dialogue with one another
  • citations are a way to honor and acknowledge the work of others who have made your own research possible

Citing sources is a fundamental part of participating in academic and professional communities, where ideas are shared, built upon, and honored through careful attribution.

Standardized Systems for Citing

Decorative image.If you drive in the U.S., you know green means “go” and red means “stop.” These standardized signals prevent confusion and keep roads safe. Imagine the chaos if a city suddenly changed them!

Academic writing follows a similar system of standardized guidelines to ensure clarity and consistency. Different disciplines use specific formatting styles, such as:

  • MLA (Modern Language Association) – Common in language and literature.
  • APA (American Psychological Association) – Used in behavioral and social sciences.

Your instructor may require MLA, APA, or both. Following these citation styles allows readers to easily trace your research sources and ensures your work is properly formatted with in-text citations and a References (APA) or Works Cited (MLA) page that appropriately gives credit to the authors who inspired your work.

MLA periodically updates its style guide. As of 2021, the 9th edition is the latest, but it does not change in-text or Works Cited citations from the 8th edition. You can see a full list of 9th edition changes at the MLA website.
This video further explains what citations are, and why they matter. In this module, you will learn how to properly cite in MLA and APA format, as shown toward the end of the video.

You can view the transcript for “What’s a Citation and Why Does It Matter?” here (opens in new window).