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Research Process :: Step by Step

This guide provides students with detailed research steps, as well as, what is plagiarism, and how to quote, paraphrase, and summarize.

Tip!

It's important to cite sources you use in your research:

  • 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 citing 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 a reference list.

Online resources are available to help you as you learn to use the various citation styles:

Forgetting to Document Your Sources

Forgetting to document a source is considered plagiarism!

Don't wait until you finish your paper to begin citing your sources. It is a better idea to cite your sources as you find them and use them.  Use these tips to help ensure that documenting your sources is quick and easy!

  1. When you decide to use a source, be sure to copy all the information required to develop a citation.
  2. When you add a quotation to your paper, document the page number (or the paragraph number if no page number is present) of where the quotation was found.
  3. Also, be careful if you cut and paste a quotation from one of our database articles into your paper. It is all too easy, while writing, to cut and paste a quotation without also jotting down the citation information.

The best way to make sure you do not forget to cite the sources you use - cite while you write!

Help with Citing Resources: APA, MLA & Chicago

Many of the article databases that WC subscribes to, such as Proquest and Ebsco's Academic Search Complete, will provide citations. These citations should be carefully checked for accuracy.

You can also ask a librarian or the Writing Center for help, or consult the following websites:

Citation Style Guides for Library Checkout