Students and researchers often use citing as a technique to denote sources when writing papers. Therefore, perfectly citing an essay is essential and an accurate statement of intellectual honesty and integrity.
Citing your essay offers credit to the original creator while assisting readers in verifying the accuracy of your supporting arguments.
The failure to rightly cite sources is plagiarism. Therefore, acquaint yourself with diverse styles in academic work.
The most utilized citation styles for essays include APA and MLA. However, you can try out other styles available, including:
• Chicago
• IEEE
• Tubarian
• MHRA
Learn how to cite your essays professionally. Here is a simple breakdown of how the essay is cited.
Is It Important?
As a scholar, discerning the diverse styles in use is a highly useful skill. Below are several reasons for citing your sources:
• Avoid instances of plagiarism by highlighting where information is taken from.
• Give the author source credit.
• Allow your audience to conduct further research from your sources.
• When summarizing or paraphrasing someone else’s ideas or information using their own words.
• Refer to an idea or theory unique to a particular source.
• After stating specific statistics, facts, or data.
Citations are necessary when using a quote or paraphrase. In addition, when citing sources such as books, journals, and peer-reviewed works, one must remember to include citations from other sources, such as examples, inspiration, or ideas.
How to Choose the Preferred Method
In most cases, the institution or professor dictates students’ citation style. Therefore, we recommend reading the guidelines or asking the instructors.
In other cases, the writer must choose their preferred citation style. Therefore, select one that works well for you and practice it consistently.
The APA style is most frequent in social sciences and other related fields. However, the MLA style is prevalent in humanities.
Tips From the Experts for Students
There are numerous citation styles available to scholars when writing their research papers. Here is a breakdown of each style and how to use it.
1. MLA
This citation style is trendy in diverse disciplines, such as cultural studies and writing services like WriteMyEssays. The MLA style might seem difficult to pull off on the first attempt. However, after sufficient practice, it becomes simple to write.
The following are the critical steps to cite in this citation style:
• Author’s name: Starting the citation with the author’s last name. A comma and a first name follow this. Finish with a period. For example, Styles, Peter. Title: Place the title of the essay in quotation marks. Remember to capitalize on the first letter of each word, followed by a period. Example: Styles, Peter. “The Other Side.”
• Collection: Writing the title of the more significant part of the essay while capitalizing on the first word and ending in a period. Example: Styles, Peter. “The Other Side.” The Greater Look at Society. John Stones.
• Publication information: This includes the publisher’s name and year of publication. Styles, Peter. “The Other Side.” The Greater Look at Society, by John Stones. Great Stones Press. 2019
• Page numbers: Add “pp” followed by the range of page numbers where the quote appears. Styles, Peter. “The Other Side.” The Greater Look at Society, by John Stones. Great Stones Press. 2019, pp 34-36.
2. APA
Most students are highly conversant with the style due to its simplicity and practicability. However, this is also common in other fields of education. Therefore, the following is a basic guideline for using APA when citing your essay:
• Creator’s name: Start by writing the creator’s last name and initials while ending with a period.
Publication year: Add the year of publication in parentheses and end with a period.
• Essay title: Write the title in the sentence case while capitalizing on proper nouns.
• Collection: Writing the title of a larger part of the essay. Remember to capitalize on the first letter of each word.
• Editors: If the collection features an editor, follow with ‘In’ and the editor’s initials and last name.
• Page numbers: Write “pp” and follow the range of page numbers in which the essay appears.
Publication information: State the publisher’s name and end in a given period.
This is a simple example of Styles, P. (2019). The Other Side. In J. Stones (Ed.) The Greater Look at Society. (pp. 34-36). Great Stones Press.
Final Words
In conclusion, learning to cite sources in your papers is a prerequisite for any academic work. Familiarizing yourself with these citation styles gives the author credit and shows intellectual integrity. In addition, a well-cited essay is an evidence of a well-researched work that shows diligence, commitment, and honesty.
