how to cite in english essay

how to cite in english essay

How to Properly Cite Sources in an English Essay

1. Importance of Citations

Plagiarism is one of the most serious crimes in education. Although more generally used in colleges and high schools, plagiarism can affect any student directly from primary to postgraduates. Often, plagiarism is simply because students don’t understand how to cite properly or because they don’t know about plagiarism tools available to quickly check any citation and find record sources. In some cases, students may take the extra step to ensure their citations are taken properly or checked with a plagiarism monitoring system. This can be as simple as ordering a paper writing, research services or essay editing services for your essay.

When writing an essay, research paper or report, it is important to find ways to express the sources you use to create your paper. When asked to write an essay or research paper for students, a teacher or professor will often ask to include citations. The assignment details will then usually specify the citations and why they are important. In general, citations should be added not only to the place where the source was initially included in the text itself, but also to a work cited, bibliography, or reference page, in the form specific by the style used by your school. The most common styles used in an English composition include MLA, APA, Chicago and more. Some universities even have their own unique format, so schools prefer that students use slight variations in style, depending on discipline and instructor class.

2. Different Citation Styles

When a work has no author or the author is an organization, the work’s title can be used in place of an author. When the title is used in the text sentence, example: ‘relationship between health and aging,’ then only the publication year is put in parentheses after the sentence. Publications with more than three authors: In text, only the first person’s name is mentioned followed with ‘et al.,’ as the rest of the authors. Example: Footnotes: Not much emphasis is laid on these citations since they are used in few academic or essay writings. Footnotes are mainly used in Chicago writing style by students, newspapers, and journalists writing. Long contemplations or annotations of a certain information are majorly inserted in a footnote of an essay. These citation styles depict how a student has sketched the sources that substantiate various arguments presented in their essay. These citations and referencing are created to properly give credit to other people’s original ideas and work used in the construction of well-drawn essays.

Citations in the body of the essay are of different forms as explained below. In-text citations: These include references to books, magazines, movies, speeches, song lyrics or musical compositions and sound recordings. The names of all authors should be included while citing multiple sources. An in-text citation is usually written in brackets immediately after the information source mentioned. Example: The killing of a lecturer in Kenya by students over exams failure may have opened a new debate on the issue among various sectors of the economy. If the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence, then only the year is included in parentheses after the sentence. Example: According to the 2004 study about the relationship between health and aging, differences among individuals become more important as people grow older.

3. In-text Citations

To include a direct quote in your essay, ask yourself whether it is significant. You should include a quote when its wording is aesthetically perfect and encapsulates an essence. Also, use an in-text citation when it is a concrete or trivial fact. One way of tracking the author of a quote is to use the synonymous synonym method. This method will not result in barely visible marks, especially for well-known authors. The synonym should espouse the verb. Use an in-text citation when you whisper a thundering thought. Here, the signal verb is not obligatory, although using it will make your in-text citation more eloquently magnificent.

When and how to use in-text citations? Use in-text essay citations when you add a direct quote to your essay, paraphrase an idea from a source, or summarize information from a single source. Include a full, corresponding citation for this source at the end of your essay. In-text citations are a crucial element in writing a paper in English. Proper in-text citations within a research or term paper can make the difference between a passing and failing grade, as failure to provide proper in-text citations can lead to a charge of plagiarism. In-text citations are most times used when:

4. Works Cited Page

If you are unsure as to whether or not there is a second word or there is a Mark. This first word is where you are concerning yourself. The reason that the Works Cited is so very important are because it’s very carefully laid out. Because it’s in alphabetical order, your teacher knows where to go to look at your information neatly and clearly. There is no ghostwriter’s writing all over the page. No cross-outs, do you have any beautiful handcursil or some fabulous artwork surrounding your title. It makes everything very clear.

Finally, there is the Works Cited page. This is a list of all the sources you used in your essay. It is a separate page at the end there should be a heading that says Works Cited up at the top. If you only used one book or one article, then this list must be in alphabetical order. If you happen to have two articles or two books, one article and one book, it doesn’t matter, it seems kind of like a rainbow squiggle. Which is in alphabetical order of the first word starting from the left. The first word is the most important because that is the title of the Booker articles. After the first letter of that first word that you’re looking at. The second paper starts going in alphabetical order. If the words are divided in a Mark between two spaces, then you look at the second word.

5. Common Citation Mistakes to Avoid

Proper quotation is important because a reader might be confused about the actual source of a quotation. Only the actual source of a quotation can verify its context, content, and meaning. Readers often look to the end of a sentence, or the end of the paragraph, to discover the source of a direct quotation. If they do not find a proper citation at the end of the sentence or the end of the paragraph, they might believe you to be the originator of the quotation. This can, and often does, lead to severe legal penalties. Also, depending on how clear or vague you have given credit to your sources, your teacher might refuse to regard the sources where credit was not actually given, even if you did in fact intend to give credit later in your paper.

As you write your essays, you are expected to produce and use your own original ideas, and your teachers expect you to give credit to your sources for both direct and indirect references. Proper citation and quoting will not only make your essay more interesting to read, but also avoid the possibility of accidental plagiarism. In this instructional article, we will go over everything you will need to know how to properly cite sources in your English essays. You must not only properly identify your sources but also make sure that your credit is clearly given to your sources. You do not need to quote every source word-for-word. Instead, use colloquial language to give credit to the source, then use indirect reference (paraphrase).