Research Subject Guides: Sports Leadership: Cite Sources

Why Do You Need to Cite?

To give credit to the person who created the idea.
To allow your readers to locate the sources you used, so they can read and evaluate them for themselves.
To illustrate which authors and sources you are conversing with (think of scholarship and research as a conversation).
To avoid plagiarism.

The Library's Guide to Citations and Bibliographies

Citations and Bibliographies
A guide to frequently-used style guides and to research tools, such as software, to help manage and auto-format your citations.

Citation Style Manuals

Your instructor will generally specify the preferred citation style for your class. Commonly used citation styles include: APA (American Psychological Association), Chicago, and MLA (Modern Languages Association).

Full citation style manuals are available in the library and in some cases, online.

The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff
Call Number: Online and in print at Snell Library Reference Stacks Z253 .U69 2017
MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
Call Number: Snell Library Reference Stacks LB2369 .G53 2016
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association Staff
Call Number: Snell Library Reference Stacks BF76.7 .P83 2010

APA Style Blog
Need to cite a hashtag, tweet, or a blog comment? Search this blog, which is the official companion to the APA Style Guide.

Citation Management Software

Use citation management software to help you collect and manage your references, import citations for articles and books from databases and the library catalog, and auto-format citations and bibliographies in your papers. The Library supports:

EndNote
Helps you manage your bibliography and citations, and is installed onto the computer of your choice. You store your citations offline on your computer, and use a Microsoft Word or Mac Pages plugin to automatically create bibliographies.
Mendeley
A free software that will help you manage your research, annotate PDFs, and format citations. It has both a cloud-based and desktop component. There are also free mobile apps available for both iOS and Android.
RefWorks
Helps you manage your bibliography and citations, and can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet. You store your citations on the RefWorks website, and use a Microsoft Word plugin to automatically create bibliographies.
Zotero
A research toolbar for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari (or available as a standalone program) to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. Save a citation of whatever you're viewing on the web to create your own collection of research in one personalized library.