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Check out our Citing Sources Research Guide with examples of the most common citation styles and format, as well as helpful hints for creating annotated bibliographies:
Organizing your sources from the beginning as you collect them, can SAVE A LOT OF STRESS later when you need to start writing or create an annotated bibliography!
Citation management programs such as Zotero can help you create, gather, store, and organize citations.
Create a free account and get started today!
Zotero
Zotero is a free and open-source program that anyone can use, therefore, you will retain access to it even after graduation!
For more info about using Zotero check out this guide from CSU Dominguez Hills.
The Modern Language Association (MLA) provides a method for source documentation that is used in most humanities courses. The humanities place emphasis on authorship, so most MLA citations involve recording the author’s name in the physical text. The author’s name is also the first to appear on the “Works Cited” page at the end of an essay.
Quick reference and examples can be found below in these guides created by several other universities:
MLA Handbook by The APA (American Psychological Association) Style Manual is most commonly used by writers of social science papers. It offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, tables, and reference pages.
Quick reference and examples can be found below in these guides created by APA itself, and other universities:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by The Chicago Manual of Style includes 2 documentation styles: the Notes-Bibliography System (NB), used by those in literature, history, and the arts, and the Author-Date System, which is similar in content, slightly different in form, and preferred in the social sciences.
In addition to consulting The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.) for more information, students may also find it useful to consult Kate L. Turabian's Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (8th ed.). Often called the "Turabian" style, it resembles the two patterns of documentation but includes alterations geared to papers written by students.
Quick reference and examples can be found below in these guides created by several other universities:
The Chicago Manual of Style by 
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive or evaluative paragraph called the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
Researching, arguing a position, laying the foundation for scientific experiments, and all other academic pursuits begin with studying the work of others and using this work to inform our own. It is absolutely crucial to give credit to those whose work you use, and this is done using direct quotations and paraphrasing and by always citing your sources. Not to do so would be considered plagiarism. Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are treated as extremely serious violations of ethical conduct and may result in suspension or expulsion from the University.
A quote is the exact wording used by the original author.
Example:
Paraphrasing is rewriting another's words or ideas in your own words, often summarizing or synthesizing a larger text.
Example:
For more information view these guides on quoting and avoiding plagiarism:
