In a research paper, you will be drawing on the work of other writers, and you must acknowledge their contributions by citing them. In research writing, sources are cited for two reasons:
- To alert readers to the sources of your information so that they can find these sources on their own
- To give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas
You Must Cite When
- You use a direct quote from any source
- You borrow ideas from a source by:
- paraphrasing or summarizing parts of it
- lifting phrases or sentences from it
- pulling statistics or facts from it
- using information in tables, graphs, or diagrams
Rule of Thumb
If you are unsure of when to document, ask your instructor or a Writing Center tutor. Otherwise, when in doubt, cite the source!
All information written on this page has been excerpted from the official handbook of the IUP writing center: Hacker, D. A Writer's Reference. (2003). (5th ed.). Boston: St. Martin's.