Citation Lesson

Citations in research

What is plagiarism?

Different Citations

Databases

A how-to guide

For any research that you do, you MUST cite your sources, aka, show where you got your work from.

+ Start Here

Choosing articles

Citing in Britannica

Citing in Gale

Works Cited/ References

No citation button?

Grammarly Citations

Citing in Learn360

What is Plagiarism?

And why do we use citations

Plagiarism is when you take other people's work or words and do not give credit for it. When you are doing research, you need to look for information to support you, but you need to let others know where you got it from. A citation is a sentence with information that tells others what information you found, where you found it, and who wrote it.

Citation Example

Different citations

MLA vs. APA

When you do research, your citations need to be formatted in the same way to make sure that your audience can understand where you got your information from.

APA

• Usually used for research in science classes
• Called References

MLA

• Usually used for reading classes
• Called Works Cited

+ INFO

Different databases

Which ones do you have access to? Click on the buttons to access the websites.

Britannica is an encyclopedia, which has basic information of different topics.

Gale has a lot of articles, images, and videos with information of thousands of topics.

Gale

Britannica

Learn360 has mostly videos. Username: eastlake378 Password: digital

National Geographic is mostly magazines.

NatGeo

Learn360

What articles should I choose?

The first one isn't always the best one

If you are using articles, make sure that the information is accurate to what you want to look for, as well as a good source. Not everything online is true, and not the first result is the one you need. Is it:

• Reliable? Is it from a person/company we can trust?
• Current? How old is the information
• Useful? Will you use the information or are you just citing?

Publisher (where it's from) is important

Author has written multiple articles

Is this the source I need?

Date is less than 5 years

Databases will often have good information to use, but make sure that you double check important information on the citation. Encyclopedias and magazines should be as current as possible.

Where can I cite in Britannica?

I found the article, now what?

On the top right of every article, there are various icons that can help you with accessing different tools. Hover over, then click on the icon that says "Cite". Choose your style of citation, then copy and paste the citation to your works cited.

Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). Cactus. Britannica School. Retrieved October 16, 2023, from https://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/cactus/273438

Where can I cite in Gale?

I found the article, now what?

On the top right of every article, there are various icons that can help you with accessing different tools. Click on the icon that says "Cite". Choose your style of citation, then copy and paste the citation to your works cited.

Nelson, M. R. (2010). Cacti. In K. Krapp (Ed.), Experiment Central: Understanding Scientific Principles Through Projects (2nd ed.). UXL. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2644200139/MSIC?u=j071909050&sid=bookmark-MSIC&xid=d953e212

Where can I cite in Learn360?

I found the source, now what?

On the top right of every video, there are various icons that can help you with accessing different tools. Click on the icon that says "Cite". Choose your style of citation, then copy and paste the citation to your works cited.

Films Media Group. (2022). Films Media Group. (2022). How cacti survive in the desert? (I wonder: Stem) [H.264]. Available from . Learn360. Retrieved October 17, 2023, from https://learn360.infobase.com/titles/290248?

I can't find a citation button!

What do I do?

Not all websites will let you cite easily. National Geographic is one of them. You still need to cite these sources if you're using them! For most sources, citations will need some basic information, just like we discussed before. General formats for websites usually look like this:

Title

Authors

APA Author last name, First initial. (date) Title. Website name. Link.

MLA Author last name, First name. "Title" Website name, date accessed, link.

O'Brien, Cynthia, and Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh. "Native People of the American Southwest." National Geographic Kids., kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/native-people-of-the-american-southwest. Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.

O'Brien, C., & Kiffel-Alcheh, J. (n.d.). Native People of the American Southwest. National Geographic Kids. https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/native-people-of-the-american-southwest

Using Grammarly for Citations

For creating basic citations

Don't panic if you can't find the citation. There are some online tools that can help you make your citations formatted for you. Grammarly is one of the many websites that supports this. This video shows you how to use it. Click on the button to go to the citation website.

Grammarly

Works Cited/References

All together in a nice place where we can see it.

Once you have all your sources together, you need to put them together at the end of your research/presentation/project. They need to be in alphabetical order by the author's last name. This makes it easier for everyone to find your sources when you cite them.

Got an idea?

Use this space to add awesome interactivity. Include text, images, videos, tables, PDFs... even interactive questions! Premium tip: Get information on how your audience interacts with your creation:

• Visit the Analytics settings;
• Activate user tracking;
• Let the communication flow!

What does a citation look like?

A citation will include who, what, where, and when.

Author

Date Published

Title

• Who wrote/made this? (Author)
• What is this about? (Title)
• Where is this from and how can I find it? (Website/Book/Newspaper)
• When was this made and when did I use it? (Date of publication and access)

Not all sources look exactly the same.

Website name

Website link

Got an idea?

Use this space to add awesome interactivity. Include text, images, videos, tables, PDFs... even interactive questions! Premium tip: Get information on how your audience interacts with your creation:

• Visit the Analytics settings;
• Activate user tracking;
• Let the communication flow!

Welcome!

In this lesson you will learn how to properly cite your sources using your school databases. How to use this page: Every panel in this page has a short lesson teaching you about a term or how to cite using a specific tool.

1. Click on the button in the bottom right of the panel you want to learn from;
2. Read or access the videos in the page;
3. Click on the back arrow at the top right to return to the main screen