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Pittsburghese: Citation

Also known as Western Pennsylvania English.

Chicago Manual of Style

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Citing Your Sources

There are numerous formats that can be used to cite sources. Most of the time undergraduates at Duquesne will find themselves needing to use one of three:

  • MLA - Created by the Modern Language Association, it is mainly used in English and the humanities. The current version is the 8th edition.
  • APA - Created by the American Psychological Association, it is mainly used in Psychology and some of the other Social Sciences, as well as Nursing. The current version is the 6th edition.
  • Chicago Manual of Style - Used in many disciplines. The current version is the 16th edition.

When we speak of citing, two things are meant. The first is citing within the text of a paper, either by using parenthetical references, or footnotes. The second is providing complete bibliographic information for your sources in a bibliography (also known as a Works Cited page or Reference list).

The Duquesne University Writing Center has created very helpful guides to assist you with citing in-text and in bibliographies in MLA, APA, and Chicago Manual of Style. PDFs of these documents are available below.

 APA (6th edition): In-text and Reference List

 Chicago, notes and bibliography (16th edition): In-text and Bibliography

 Chicago, author-date (16th edition): In-text and Bibliography

 MLA (7th): In-text and Works Cited

Paraphrasing and Summarizing

In writing papers, you will often want to use exact quotes, especially when you cannot improve upon an author's original way of stating an idea. In those instances, of course, you should use the exact quotation, correctly citing it as the work of someone else.

But a paper cannot be written by simply stringing together exact quotations from a number of authors. More often than not, in writing you will do more stating the ideas of others in your own words, that is you will paraphase or summarize those ideas of other people.

Paraphrases and summaries of other people's ideas must also be cited, or you will be charged with plarigaism. Plagiarism is not just the using of other people's exact words without giving them credit, but also using their uniques ideas without citing them as the source. Because correct paraphrasing and summarizing can often be confusing to students, the Duquesne University Writing Center has created a handout on these topics. To see a PDF of it, click on the link below.

Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Quoting