LM 19 Documenting Sources

When you are researching and writing a project, it is important to keep records of all of the sources you use. When you use the words, ideas, and images of others, you have to acknowledge their work using proper documentation in footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies.

Making Notes

Be sure to record your information carefully as you conduct your research. This prevents you from forgetting where the information came from or making mistakes later on. Make notes in your own words to avoid copying the words of others. If you want to use the exact words from other sources, be sure to use quotation marks. You may want to highlight these quotations or write them in a different colour to make sure it is clear that these are sources that must be credited.

Recording Footnotes, Endnotes, and Citations

When quoting directly from another source, you must acknowledge the source in footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical or in-text citations. There are two accepted styles for citing sources.

MLA Style

The Modern Language Association (MLA) style uses footnotes or endnotes. Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page when there are only one or two citations per page. Endnotes appear at the end of a chapter or document when there are multiple citations.

Example1 Rosemary Sadlier et al., Black History: Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas (Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications, 2009), 100.

APA Style

The American Psychological Association (APA) style uses parenthetical citations inserted in the text to identify sources.

ExampleObama’s remarkable accomplishment is an inspiration to people of African heritage everywhere (Sadlier et al., 2009).

Recording Bibliographies

A bibliography records all of the sources you used as you conducted your research. It should appear at the end of your document.

MLA Style

List sources alphabetically, beginning with the author’s last name, and by category—that is, books, newspapers, government documents, websites, etc.

ExampleSadlier, Rosemary, et al. Black History: Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications, 2009.

APA Style

List sources alphabetically, beginning with the author’s last name, but do not sort by category.

ExampleSadlier, Rosemary, et al. (2009). Black History: Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications.

Citing Different Sources of Information

Newspapers / Author/title of article/name of newspaper/date/page reference
Magazines / Author/title of article/name of magazine/volume number/date of publication/page reference
Government Documents / Country/government department/title of publication/place of publication/agency/year
Websites / Author/title/date/organization/URL or website address
Electronic Sources / Title/type of source/place of publication/publisher/date

LM 19Documenting Sourcescontinued

Name:Date:Project:

Books / Author name (first & last) / Book title / Place of publication / Publisher / Publication year / Page refs.
Newspapers/Mags. / Author name (first & last) / Title of article / Publication / Date or vol./no. / Page refs. or ed.
Websites / Author name (first & last) / Title of article / Date / Organization / URL
Electronic Sources / Title / Type of source / Place of publication / Publisher / Date