Skip to Main Content

Religion in the American South: Citing Help

Why Cite Sources?

Whenever you quote or base your ideas on another person's work, you must document the source you used. Even when you do not quote directly from another work, if reading that source contributed to the ideas presented in your paper, you must give the author(s) proper credit.

Citations allow readers to:

  • locate and further explore the sources you consulted;
  • show the depth and scope of your research, and
  • give credit to authors for their ideas.

Think of documenting your sources as providing a trail for your reader to follow to see the research you performed and discover what led you to your original contribution.

Failing to do so constitutes plagiarism, which comes with serious academic consequences. As you gather sources, make sure you have all the information you need to cite a source, even if you're not 100% sure you'll use the source.

View this guide, Giving Credit Where Credit is Due, to learn more about why and how to cite sources.

Online Style Guides

The Research and Citation section of Purdue University's OWL site also includes helpful quick overviews and sample citations from the main citation styles (including Chicago, MLA, and APA

Print Style Manuals

The following print style guides are available in the University Library. Click on the title to determine where the book is shelved.

The Library provides access to the 17th edition (the most current one) of the Chicago Manual of Style in electronic form only: 

Chicago Manual of Style Online (you will need to sign in with your Campus ID and password).

You can also access Chicago Manual of Style Online through our Databases by Name list (under "C")

Zotero

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use, open source tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.

Zotero works with your browser! But it will only work with Firefox, Safari, or Chrome.

See the library's Zotero research guide for help with downloading and useful tips.

I can also help get you started with Zotero! Email me at janderson73@gsu.edu if you have questions about Zotero, or would like to schedule a Zotero training session with.

For additional information, see the Zotero website.

Endnote

EndNote is a program for managing bibliographic citations. It can automate much of the work of organizing and formatting citations and bibliographies in your writing. EndNote can connect to online sources such as GIL and article databases, output results in over 1,000 different bibliographic styles, and more.

Please see the library's EndNote research guide for information on how to download and use the software.

Don't want to download the software? Use EndNoteWeb, the Web-based version that allows you to access your citations from any computer, any where, any time. .