Understanding Citations for Church, Biblical, and Religious Sources: Home

Why do we use citations?

• To give credit to the work of others
• To help our readers and colleagues find more information
• To share the sources we have found helpful

What are citations?  Citations are specific references to the sources of information we have

• quoted directly (the words are precisely the same as the original and are enclosed in quotation marks);
• paraphrased (a passage from the source is expressed in our own words);
• summarized (the central idea of the passage is related in our own words).

Please note:  even if we paraphrase or summarize, the source must be given credit by citation.

What is an in-text citation?
An abbreviated reference in parentheses in a sentence we have written.  It refers to the complete citation in the "Works Cited" at the end of the paper.

What is a "Works Cited" page?
Also known a "References" or "Bibliography", it is an alphabetical list of complete citations.

OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue University provides invaluable information, guidelines, and examples for creating citations for all kinds of materials in MLA format.