Sources + Citations
December 4 & 5
Noon – 1:30
SNO Foyer
At the end of every quarter, the UW Tacoma Library teams up with the Teaching & Learning Center to make it easier than ever for students to get help in making sure they’ve cited their sources correctly. We’ll be in the SNO foyer on Tuesday and Wednesday with cookies, cocoa, coffee, and expertise–to help you make sure your assignments are ready to hand in!
Why do we offer these services? Because citing is one of the underpinnings of scholarly communications!
Why should you care? First off, it’s the law! WAC (that’s the acronym for state law: Washington Administrative Code) 478-120 specifically prohibits plagiarism, which is the act of representing someone else’s ideas for your own. This isn’t just about impersonation–this also applies to those times when you summarize an article and forget to mention who wrote it.
“Citing” is how you let people know that someone else created the ideas that you’re talking about in your paper. In the style appropriate for your assignment (your instructor probably mentioned something about MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, or another style), you need to write out who wrote the ideas you’re using, when they did it, how it was published, and where we can find it. You’ll mention some or all of this information in the same location in the paper that you write about it (called “in-text” or “footnote” citations) and again in a full reference list at the end of your writing (often called “Works Cited,” “References,” or “Bibliography”). You can learn about the rules for citations on the UW Tacoma Library website: http://guides.lib.uw.edu/tacoma/citations
But hey, did you know that this kind of help (and more!) is available year-round? Make a one-on-one appointment with the Teaching & Learning Center (TLC) to talk about any and all aspects of your paper. Or, stop by Research Help in SNO to get help looking for articles and other sources.
Do you need help when TLC and Research Help are closed (including late nights and holidays)? Ask Us! Help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.