Citation Guides

The following pages consist of a series of self-paced instructional modules designed to introduce you to citing information and the various citation styles. Each module stands alone; you can jump to the citation style you need to use.

Most of the faculty at Stanly Community College require use of MLA citation style for documentation of research papers. Occasionally, you may be required to use APA style. CSE may be required for science classes, and Chicago style is required very infrequently.

Plagiarism is an ongoing concern for faculty and is taken very seriously. The module on plagiarism helps in developing an understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it.

A final note: Citation builders are online forms in which you provide information about the work you need to cite and then have a citation generated with proper formatting. Doing an Internet search for "citation builder" will provide links to several citation builders, but use caution. Remember that the resulting citation will only be as good as the information provided, and some citation builders are not suitable for preparing complex citations. Two good citation builders are Knightcite at Calvin College and the Citation Builder at North Carolina State University.

This guide includes five main sections:

Plagiarism explains the definition of plagiarism and how to use someone else's work without plagiarizing it.
APA explains when and how to cite information using the APA style.
MLA explains when and how to cite information using the MLA style.
Chicago explains when and how to cite information using the Chicago style.
CSE explains when and how to cite information using the CBE style.

Each section contains a number of subsections. While the sections are arranged in a logical progression, each section can stand on its own. It is not necessary, therefore, to follow the sections in sequence.

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