FYED 102A Superheroes Go to School

It's important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:

• To show your reader you've done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information
• To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas
• To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors
• To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way of footnotes, a bibliography or reference list

These are sites that will help you "build" citations. They're pretty accurate, but be sure to cover your bases by comparing the citations against those in a style manual. Just choose MLA or APA and the type of source you need to create a citation for (a book, a journal article, etc.), and input all of the necessary information.

Ask a librarian if you need additional assistance. 

Citation management software allows you to organize and retrieve citations to books, articles, etc. from library databases. Once citations are captured, they can be stored and manipulated in mini-databases. Citations and footnotes can be inserted into word processing documents and stand-alone bibliographies saved in common word processing program formats.

There are several citation management programs available to WSU students, faculty, and staff including EndNote, Endnote Web, Zotero, and Mendeley.

All WSU students, faculty, and staff can download the EndNote software for free. It is available for both Windows PC and Mac platforms. Go to the EndNote library guide for more information. Click here for a handout on downloading and using EndNote. The web version is called EndNote Web. Click here for a handout on using EndNote Web.

Zotero is a free, open source, web-based tool for management citations, organizing pdfs, and creating bibliographies. Go to the Zotero library guide for more information. Tutorials and help are also available through the Zotero website.

Mendeley is a free, web-based took for managing reference, creating bibliographies, and pdf organizater. Tutorials and help are available through the Mendeley website.