Trout Library Blog

First assignment due dates are coming up so now is a good time to look at two common citation styles, APA and MLA. Let's look at where you can find the information needed to help cite your sources.

First, it is important to remember why we cite our sources.  

• To give proper credit to the original authors of ideas we are using.
• To avoid plagiarism. It is wrong to take the ideas of others and claim it as our own. It is a serious offense in academia. 
• To allow our reader to follow up on our claims and learn more about a topic. 

Citing sources involves two steps:

1. List your sources in a properly formatted bibliography at the end of the paper.
2. Refer to all sources listed in your bibliography in the body of your paper. This is also known as in-text citation. 

Now let's look at APA and MLA citation styles:

APA

American Psychological Association, more commonly known as APA, is a citation style used primarily, in psychology although many other fields have adopted it. APA publishes a manual on the citation style called Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association

ISBN: 9781433832154

Publication Date: 2019

It is currently in the 7th edition. The 7th edition released in late 2019 and hasn’t been adopted by everyone yet. For this reason, the library has guides for both the 6th and 7th editions of the APA manual on our Cite Sources guide. Check with your instructor to confirm which edition of APA they would prefer.

To start writing a citation, first determine the format of your source. Are you citing a book, an article or a website? The format of your source determines what information you need to include in your citation. The Cite Sources guide lists details and examples for each of the most common sources types. Once you have a citation you can now refer to the citation in the body of your paper. This is called an in-text citation. Information on how to format your in-text citations is also on the guide. 

MLA

Modern Language Association or MLA is largely used in English and the Humanities. MLA produces a manual for this style called The MLA Handbook, 8th edition. 

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America

ISBN: 9781603292627

Publication Date: 2016

See the Cite Sources MLA guide for instructions on this style along with examples for the most common sources. MLA also uses in-text citations with specific formatting. Be sure to check our MLA guide for details on how to format in-text citations. 

Using library databases helps you avoid plagiarism. Another good reason to use the library databases is that most of them provide you with the citation in at least APA and MLA format. For instructions on how to find formatted citations in the databases see our database tutorials. Just be sure to check each citation against examples in the Cite Sources guide. The citations in the databases are created by an algorithm, not a human, so you should always check them. 

Finally, some pro tips: 

• Always check with your instructor or read the syllabus to find out what citation style is required and ask questions if you are unsure. 
• Collect your citations as you conduct research. I often see students make the mistake of writing a bibliography after they have finished writing a paper. If you wait until you’ve finished writing you will likely forget where you found your sources. As you are reading or searching, take a moment to write down the citation for your sources. It is much easier to delete a citation from a bibliography if you don’t use it than track down a forgotten citation. 
• When in doubt, cite. Students often ask me “should I cite this”? While there are some cases where you do not have to cite, my best advice is “when in doubt, cite.” Citing makes your arguments stronger, not weaker. 
• If you use a citation generator, check the citations for accuracy. Check each citation against examples in our Cite Sources Guide to make sure they are correct.
• Ask us if you are not sure how to cite something. See our library homepage for all the ways you can reach us. Faculty can request a librarian to attend class virtually to give a workshop in the citation style of choice.   

Roxanne Sutton

Reference and Special Collections Librarian

rsutton@harcum.edu

610-526-6022

This week marks the 19th anniversary of one such event: the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Many of you are too young to remember that sunny but tragic Tuesday morning, or perhaps you were not even born yet. For those of us who were around, the day left an indelible mark. We all remember where we were and what we were doing as the events unfolded. Some have family members who were affected. Others who were first responders or who were lucky enough to escape from the Twin Towers and the Pentagon suffer from lingering health effects, both physical and psychological. The attacks also influenced our national security and foreign policy for years afterward and continue to do so through the present day.

Whether the events of 9/11 are seared into your memory or predate it, we invite you to explore my 9/11 Library Guide in order to learn more about this important event. Find the guide by clicking on Library Guides under Quick Links on the Library's home page. Then select "9/11" under Special Topics.

In the guide, you will find websites, useful articles, books, eBooks, and videos on the topic. The material is geared toward the needs of Harcum students and faculty, emphasizing narratives of the event as well as its various health implications. Under the Websites & Databases tab, you will also see several links to 9/11 teaching materials and lesson plans.

The books selected feature several accounts of escape from the World Trade Center. I highly recommend that you read them -- in particular 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers. It reads like a suspenseful novel. The book is available through Internet Archive Open Library. (If you have not already done so, you must create an account in Open Library in order to read the book.)

102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers by Jim Dwyer; Kevin Flynn

Publication Date: 2005

Reported from the perspective of those inside the towers, captures little-known stories of ordinary people who took extraordinary steps to save themselves and others.

The Videos tab lists content from both Kanopy and YouTube. On YouTube, find live network footage from that morning as well as additional survivor stories. Among the Kanopy videos, I especially recommend that you watch In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11, a piece in which students from a high school only blocks from the World Trade Center, now in their thirties, describe their harrowing experiences on that day.

 

 

In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11

Publication Date: 2019

Weaves footage of the attack with compelling commentary from student eyewitnesses from nearby Stuyvesant High, who, as young teenagers, found themselves in the heart of the danger zone, fleeing debris, and with a harrowing journey home.

 

If you have questions about this topic or any another, please never hesitate to contact us by email at library@harcum.edu or use our chat service during the posted chat hours.

 

Bill Fanshel Evening/Weekend Librarian wfanshel@harcum.edu 610-229-9311

Want to know my number one college tip? Learn how to access and use the library databases. They will give you the most reliable, authoritative and high-quality information available. These databases are behind paywalls and much of the information inside is not available on the open web. The library subscribes to 28 subscription databases and we’ve collected 26 open databases in one place for easy access. This gives you access to hundreds of thousands of full text academic journal articles and ebooks from your computer, anywhere.  

How do you access these resources? First, let's locate the passwords. Passwords are located in Harcum Hatch. Log into Harcum Hatch and go to Quicklinks.

On a computer, Quicklinks is a gray tab on the right of your screen. Scroll down until you see "Library Database Password List". 

On mobile, Quicklinks is in the menu under your name. 

Now you have passwords in hand, let's start searching.

If you want to run a quick search of the databases, let’s say you just want to see what’s out there on a topic, go to the library homepage and type your search words into the search bar. If you are off campus this is where you need those passwords we talked about. This is our EBSCO Discovery search. It searches all of our EBSCO databases at once. It's great for quick searches on general subjects.

For more specialized research you'll want to go one step further.

Let’s say you are searching a very specific allied health topic, searching in Discovery might not get you the specialized results you need.  In this case you might want to search a subject specific database. Go to our full A-Z list of all 60 databases.

You can filter by subject to see if there is a database suggested for your field. For example, for nursing and allied health, we subscribe to CINAHL. For dental we subscribe to Lexicomp and Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source. If you need a little help navigating these databases for the first time we have short video tutorials on each database. Alternatively, you can look at the library research guide we have expertly crafted for your program and see a nicely curated list of databases specific to your field. 

If you run into any difficulty at any point you can always reach out to library staff for help. Look for our contact information on our homepage or do a live chat with us. Little known fact, a primary source of nutrition for librarians is questions.

Roxanne Sutton

Reference and Special Collections Librarian

rsutton@harcum.edu 

610-526-6022