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SCLA 102: Transformative Texts, Critical Thinking and Communication II: Modern World

This is a research guide to help you conduct research for SCLA 102 with Dr. Catalano

Why Cite Your Sources?

You will always want to give credit to the work of other researchers whose research has helped you gather evidence or formulate a claim or argument in your own research. The way to do this is by thoroughly and accurately citing the sources you looked at and have incorporated into your own research presentation. 

There are several common styles for citing your sources (see How Do You Cite below). For this presentation in Dr. Catalano's class, you may use either MLA or APA for your works cited page. 

During your oral presentation, make sure to provide enough information about your source, so your audience knows

  • who the author was,
  • when the source was created, and
  • where it was published or made available.

See the Worcester Polytechnic Institute guide on citing orally in speeches for more helpful tips. 

How to Cite Your Sources

APA, or the American Psychological Association, style is typically used in the social sciences, business, and nursing. APA in-text citations include the author's last name, date, and when directly referencing content from another source, the page number in parentheses (i.e. (last name, date, p. # ) ). See the resources linked below for more information on how to cite using APA. 

MLA, or the Modern Language Association, style is typically used in the humanities, specially language arts and cultural studies. For in-text citations, MLA requires the page number and the author's last name in either the sentence or the parenthetical citation (i.e. (Brown, 78) ). Please see the links below for more details on how to cite with MLA. 

Using the Catalog's Citation Generator

The Libraries' catalog (and many other databases) have a convenient tool for automatically generating citations that you can copy and paste into your Works Cited page. Because they are automatically generated, they may not be 100% accurate. Please visit the resources in the How to Cite section above to verify that they are properly structured and have all the necessary information.

Here are some steps for using this tool in the catalog:

1. From a catalog record page, click on the Citation option under the Send to section.

click "citation" under the send to section

 

2. Select the correct citation style from the left-hand side of the pop-up (in your case, use MLA). You can then copy the generated citation to a document you are using to keep track of your references.

 

Select the correct citation style 

 

 

From a specific database (e.g. International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance),

1. look for a Citation option from the right-side menu.

 

select the cite option from the menu

 

 

2. Once you've clicked on Citation, you will get a popup that allows you to copy and past the generated citation. Make sure you're using the right style!

 

select the correct citation format