Welcome to the Citation & Style Topic Guide
These pages cover the reasons, expectations, and specifications for appropriately giving credit for works and concepts used in your research.
Using the left-hand tabs, you will find:
- Start Here
In this section you will find information about why creating appropriate citations is so important, what kinds of citations there are, and some of the citation generators that are available.
- Avoiding Plagiarism
This section defines the different types of plagiarism and gives links to various tutorials focused on identifying and avoiding plagiarism in your academic work. Included are the WNC guidelines regarding academic integrity, including plagiarism.
- Copyright & Fair Use
Copyright laws protect the owners of intellectual properties from having their work reproduced, performed, distributed, or otherwise used without their permission or acknowledgement. Fair Use allows researchers and students the ability to use copyrighted material in a limited fashion. This guide defines these concepts and gives guidelines for the Fair Use of different types of materials.
- APA Style
The American Psychological Association (APA) publication style is commonly used to cite sources and format papers in the social sciences. This section includes basics about APA, online resources and tutorials, and example papers.
- MLA Style
The Modern Language Association (MLA) publication style is commonly used to cite sources and format papers in the humanities disciplines. This section includes basics about MLA, online resources and tutorials, and example papers.
- Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) is a publication and citation style generally used in papers focused on history, literature, or the arts. This section includes basics about CMOS, online resources and tutorials, and example papers.
If you are assigned a paper or project that requires a different style of formatting the paper and citations, we can assist you with those styles, as well.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us at refdesk@wnc.edu and the library staff will be happy to help.
