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Health Studies

Cite Like a Champion

A citation allows you to:

  1. show that information you are sharing came from another source
  2. appropriately credit that information and
  3. allows people to find the original source of that information. 

By using citations, you also avoid plagiarism (for more on plagiarism, visit that tab on the left). 

It also shows how much research you've done on a topic, and strengthens the validity of your argument by showing that others agree or disagree with you, and may already have performed studies to prove your points.  By citing, you distinguish your work from others by separating out your ideas. 

Want to know more? Watch the video below by UTM Library, and look at the resources available to you in the other tabs in this box. 

Bibliographic Management Tools help researchers organize and manage their research. They may be able to help you format papers and create footnotes and bibliographies.

  • ESU has loaded the EndNote bibliographic management software on all general access computer labs on campus. You can use this software to save sources and create bibliographies in the various standard formats like MLA and APA.  It is not usually a desktop icon, so you'll have to look for it in the program list or search programs and files for "endnote". Here's a link to their quickstart guide.

There are also many citation building tools available on the web. These tools can be useful but you should always check your citations against the appropriate style guide to be sure the all the information is included and formatted correctly for that style.

  • Mendeley: free social software that allows you to manage and share research papers, this also creates and tracks citations, allows you to save your PDFs in one place, and also has a mobile app and desktop download.  It does a lot more, and is incredibly useful. This is probably my personal favorite because it does an amazing amount and it's free. Check out the tutorials here. There's also this amazing LibGuide that walks you through how to use it that's really useful.
  • Zotero:  this is fairly identical to Mendeley, it's just a different interface. It's also free! Pick one and run with it!
  • NoodleTools: works like Mendeley and Zotero
  • Citationsy: this requires a login, but allows you to build a reference list quickly and easily all in one place. This is very easy to use. Don't forget to check for accuracy. Has an extension in some browsers, like Firefox.
  • Citation Generator : cloud based, ad-free, quick, easy to use and free. You can type your document and cite as you go - it's easy. Or copy and paste your paper in and create your citations after.
  • Son of Citation Machine: an interactive tool to help create reference citations

The below APA manuals are both at the library at the Circulation Desk under Reserve - this means if you ask for them at the Circulation Desk you can check them out for two hours to be used inside the library. You can also find the rules online at Purdue Owl.