how to give credit in an essay example

Using Sources Correctly

Crediting and Citing Your Sources

Now that you’ve just summarized or paraphrased or directly quoted a source, is there anything else you need to do with that source? Well, it turns out there is. There are some standard ways of using sources that let your readers know this material is from other texts rather than original ideas from your own brain. Following these guidelines also allows us, your readers, to locate those sources if we are interested in the topic and would like to know more about what they say.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Giving credit to the sources you used creating a text is important (and useful!) for several reasons.

• It adds to your own credibility as an author by showing you have done appropriate research on your topic and approached your work ethically.
• It gives credit to the original author and their work for the ideas you found to be useful, and in giving them credit it helps you avoid unintentionally plagiarizing their work.
• It gives your readers additional resources (already curated by you in your research process!) that they can go to if they want to read further your topic.

What Does It Mean to Credit or Cite Your Sources?

For college-level work, this generally means two things: in-text or parenthetical citation and a “Works Cited” or “References” page. What these two things look like will be a little different for different types of classes (for example, it’s likely your writing class will use MLA—Modern Language Association—format, while a psychology class is more likely to use APA—American Psychological Association—format). The specific details required and the order in which they appear changes a little between different formats, but practicing one of them will give you a general idea of what most of them are looking for. All of the information we are looking at here is specific to MLA, which is the format you will use for your writing classes (and some other humanities classes).

Citing: Identifying In-Text Sources

Once you have brought source material into your writing (via quotation, summary, or paraphrase), your next task is to cite or identify it. This is essential because giving credit to the creator of the source material helps you avoid plagiarism. Identifying your sources also helps your reader understand which written content is from a source and which represents your ideas.

When you cite or identify source materials, you make it absolutely clear that the material was taken from a source. Note that if you don’t do that, your reader is left to assume the words are yours—and since that isn’t true, you will have committed plagiarism.

In-Text Citation

Every time you use an idea or language from a source in your text (so every time you summarize, paraphrase, or directly quote material from a source), you will want to add an in-text citation. Sometimes you can accomplish this simply by mentioning the author or title of a source in the body of your writing, but other times you’ll handle in-text citation differently, with a parenthetical citation. Parenthetical means that the citation appears in parentheses in the text of your essay.

A starting point for parenthetical citations is that they include the author’s last name and the page number where the borrowed information came from. For example, let’s say I’m using material from an article written by Lisa Smith. It’s in a physical magazine and spans pages 38-42. If, on page 41, she says something like, “While most studies have shown that Expo dry erase markers have superior lasting power, erasability, and color saturation than other brands on the market, their higher cost is a concern for some consumers,” I might incorporate that into a paper like this:

By most measurable standards, Expo markers are clearly the favored option (Smith 41).

However, you don’t always need both components (last name and page number) in the parenthetical citation. If I introduced the source material in the sentence above a little differently, introducing the author before delivering the material, I wouldn’t need to repeat the author’s name in that same sentence in the parenthetical citation. In that case, my sentence would look something like this: According to Lisa Smith, Expo markers are clearly the favored option by most measurable standards (41).

In this section, we’ll discuss three ways to cite or identify written source materials in your own writing.

1. Introduce the Author and/or the Title of the Source

By introducing the author or the material, you make it clear to the reader that what you’re talking about is from a source. Here’s an example of a quotation that is identified by introducing the author and the title of source (which are highlighted):

In the article, “Grooming Poodles for Fun and Profit,” Jonas Fogbottom explains , “Poodle grooming is a labor of love. It takes years of practice to be good at it, but once learned, it’s a fun and worthwhile career.”

Here’s an example of a paraphrase that is identified in the same way:

In the article, “Grooming Poodles for Fun and Profit,” Jonas Fogbottom says that although it takes a long time to become a skilled poodle groomer, it’s well worth the effort and leads to a good career.

Note that, in the example above, (1) if there are no page numbers to cite and (2) if the name of the author is signaled in the phrase that introduces the bit of source material, then there is no need for the parenthetical citation. This is an example of a situation where mentioning the author by name is the only in-text citation you’ll need. And sometimes, if the name of the author is unknown, then you might just mention the title of the article instead. It will be up to you, as a writer, to choose which method works best for your given situation.

The first time that you mention a source in your writing, you should always introduce the speaker and, if possible, the title of the source as well. Note that the speaker is the person responsible for stating the information that you’re citing and that this is not always the author of the text. For example, an author of an article might quote someone else, and you might quote or paraphrase that person.

Use the speaker’s full name (e.g. “According to Jonas Fogbottom . . .”) the first time you introduce them; if you mention them again in the paper, use their last name only (e.g. “Fogbottom goes on to discuss . . .”).

2. Use Linking or Attributive Language

Using linking language (sometimes called attributive language or signal phrases) simply means using words that show the reader you are still talking about a source that you just mentioned.

For example, you might use linking language that looks something like this:

• The author also explains . . .
• Fogbottom continues . . .
• The article goes on to say . . .
• The data set also demonstrates . . .

By using this kind of language, you make it clear to the reader that you’re still talking about a source. And while you’ll use this type of language throughout any researched essay whether you’re also using parenthetical citations or not, as we mentioned above, sometimes this linking language will be all you need for in-text citation.

Let’s look back at the last Fogbottom example from above, and imagine you wanted to add two more sentences from the same source. The linking language is highlighted :

In the article, “Grooming Poodles for Fun and Profit,” Jonas Fogbottom says that although it takes a long time to become a skilled poodle groomer, it’s well worth the effort and leads to a good career. Fogbottom goes on to explain how one is trained in the art of dog and poodle grooming. The article also gives a set of resources for people who want to know more about a dog grooming career.

Using the linking language makes it absolutely clear to your reader that you are still talking about a source.

3. Use a Parenthetical Citation

A parenthetical citation is a citation enclosed within parentheses.

The classic parenthetical citation includes the author’s name and, if there is one, a page number. To learn more about parenthetical citation and see some examples, see the Purdue OWL article on “ MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics ” (available from owl.english.purdue.edu).

Here’s an example :

(Fogbottom 16)

If there are two authors , list both (with a page number, if available):

(Smith and Jones 24)

If there are three or more authors , list the first author only and add “et al.”* (with a page number, if available):

(Smith et al. 62)

* et al means “and others.” If a text or source has three or more authors, MLA style has us just list the first one with et al .

But my source doesn’t have page numbers!

If you are using an electronic source or another kind of source with no page numbers, just leave the page number out:

(Fogbottom)

If you’re quoting or paraphrasing someone who was cited by the author of one of your sources , then that’s handled a bit differently. For example, what if you quote Smith, but you found that quote in the article by Fogbottom. In this case, you should introduce the speaker (Smith) as described above, and then cite the source for the quote, like this:

(qtd. in Fogbottom)

But my source doesn’t have an author!

This happens sometimes. Many useful documents, like government publications, organizational reports, and surveys, don’t list their authors. On the other hand, sometimes no clearly listed author can be a red flag that a source is not entirely trustworthy or is not researched well enough to be a reliable source for you.

If you encounter a source with no author, do look for other indicators that it is a good (or poor) source—who published it, does it have an appropriate list of references, is it current information, is it unbiased?

If you determine that this source is an appropriate source to use, then, when you create your in-text citation for it, you will simply use the title of the source (article, chapter, graph, film, etc.) in the place where you would have used the author’s name. If the title is long, you should abbreviate by listing the first one or two words of it (with a page number, if available).

Let’s imagine you’re working with a newspaper article entitled, “What’s New in Technology,” enclosed in quotation marks to indicate that this is an article title, and with no known author . Here’s what that would look in a parenthetical citation:

(“What’s New” B6)

If there is no author and you’re working with an electronic article, use the first one or two words in your parenthetical citation, again, enclosed in quotation marks. Let’s imagine you’re working with a web article entitled, “Pie Baking for Fun and Profit” and with no author. Here’s what that would look in a parenthetical citation:

(“Pie Baking”)

The parenthetical citation should be added at the end of the sentence that contains the source material. Let’s go back to the Fogbottom example and see how a parenthetical citation would work:

“Poodle grooming is a labor of love. It takes years of practice to be good at it, but once learned, it’s a fun and worthwhile career” (Fogbottom).

Here’s what it would look like if we used it with a paraphrase instead of a quotation:

Although it takes a long time to become a skilled poodle groomer, it’s well worth the effort and leads to a good career (Fogbottom).

Note that the citation is placed at the end of the sentence; the period comes after the parentheses. Misplacing the period is one of the most common formatting errors made by students.

Using parenthetical citation makes it crystal clear that a sentence comes from source material. This is, by far, the easiest way to cite or identify your source materials, too.

If using parenthetical citations is easy, why would we bother with using introduction or linking language to identify sources?

Good question! There would be nothing wrong with only using parenthetical citations all the way through your writing—it would absolutely do the job of citing the material. But, it wouldn’t read smoothly and would feel somewhat rough because every time a parenthetical citation popped up, the reader would be “stopped” in place for a moment. Using a combination of introduction, linking language, and parenthetical citation, as needed, makes the writing smoother and easier to read. It also integrates the source material with the writer’s ideas. We call this synthesis, and it’s part of the craft of writing.

Works Cited Entries

At the end of texts that have drawn from existing sources, you will often find a Works Cited page. This page gives more information than the parenthetical citations do about what kinds of sources were referenced in this work and where they can be found if the reader would like to know more about them. These entries all follow a specific and consistent format so that it is easy for readers to find the information they are looking for and so the shape and type of that information is consistent no matter who is writing the entries.

Until recently, the MLA required a slightly different format for every type of source—an entry for a Youtube video required certain information that was different from an entry for a book that was different from an entry for an online article. The most recent version of MLA, though—MLA 8—has simplified this so there is just one format rather than many.

You can learn how to create works cited entries in MLA 8 format, and see an example, in the “ Creating a Works Cited Page ” appendix to this text.

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How to Give Credit to Sources When Writing a Research Paper

When writing a research paper, finding and citing appropriate sources are the most important aspects of backing up your thesis. Proper sourcing can make the difference between strong and weak arguments in your paper. The two most commonly used writing and citation styles in research writing are the American Psychological Association (APA) and Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines. While APA style is most commonly used to cite sources for research papers within the social sciences, MLA is more often used for liberal arts and humanities work.

Cite sources on the reference page of your research paper by organizing sources alphabetically by the authors' last names. Each source should be cited beginning with the author's name, listed last name first, followed by the initials of the first name. Any additional authors for the same source should be added after a comma. Do not list more than six authors for a single source. For sources with seven or more authors, use ellipses after the sixth author's name.

Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L. L., Harland, A. A., Stamos, J. A., Thomas, S. T., . . . Rubin, L. H. (2009). Web site usability for the blind and low-vision user. Technical Communication, 57, 323-335.

Begin the second line of your reference with a one-half inch indent from the left margin. Place the publication date of your source in parenthesis, followed by a period. Follow with the name of the article cited, followed by a period. Next, write the title of the publication where you found the source in italics, followed by a comma, followed by the issue number of the periodical or journal, also in italics. Place a comma after the issue number and list the pages where the article was found within the publication.

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Cite sources in text by using the name of the first author listed in the source, followed by the publication date in parenthesis. You may begin your citation by referencing your source in the sentence, with the publication date in parenthesis, followed by the page number in parenthesis at the end of the sentence. If you use the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters or longer within the title of a source.

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

Begin your reference page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper. Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.

Begin your citation with the author's last name. Spell out the author's first name and follow with additional authors, separated by commas. End author citations with a period. Follow with the article cited, placed in quotation marks, ending with a period. Italicize the publication name and follow with the date of publication and a colon followed by the pages cited. End the reference by listing the medium of publication. Remember to indent the second line of the citation one-half inch from the left margin.

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication.

Cite sources in text by placing the last name of the first author cited with the page number where the quote or information is found in the publication at the end of the sentence. Place the author name followed by the page number in parentheses.

• You need to follow different citation guidelines depending on what source materials you are citing -- such as a book, journal article, or online article -- so if you are unsure of the proper format, consult the appropriate style guide.
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• Giving Credit: Citing your Sources!

ENGR 231: Introduction to Technical Writing: Giving Credit: Citing your Sources!

Why is it so important to give credit to my sources.

• Giving credit to your sources is called Citing or Referencing a source. This is important so that someone who is reading your paper can go back and find the sources you have used in your research. They may want to verify that you reported the accurate information or data that was discussed in the article or they may want to read more about it.  
• Citations are an integral and vital part of the Scientific Research Publication Cycle . In other words, researchers or scientists base their work on what their colleagues have done. The ability to follow the trail to see what others are doing in their field is crucial to the advancement of the research, whether it be science, humanities research theory or social science theories.  
• Below is a list of the most commonly used citation styles used in Engineering fields and links to their Style Manual. A style manual will tell you exactly how to format your citations, whether it's a scholarly article, a magazine article, an online resource, or a YouTube video! Using the correct format ensures the citations are consistent across the literature so that anyone can follow someone else's research and advancing and developing the field.

What is APA Citation Style?

APA (American Psychological Association) Style is widely used in the social sciences, business, and some of the life sciences.

There are two parts to referencing: the citations within the text of your paper ("in-text citations") and the reference list at the end of your paper.

The APA referencing style is an "author-date" system, so the citation in the text consists of the author(s) and year of publication given wholly or partly in round brackets.

This guide gives example citations for the most common information formats used in APA Style, as well as links to all types of sources used in a Reference List and specific formatting examples . Examples are based on the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association .

For more examples of APA citations, check out the APA Example Citation Guide . 

For more APA formatting guidelines, check out the APA Formatting Guide . 

Online APA Resources & Examples

APA Style Guide Based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 6th ed. [BF76.7.P82 2010].

APA Style Guide to Electronic Resources Extensive guide to citing all types of electronic resources

APA Formatting and Style Guide  From the Purdue OWL, the Online Writing Lab

APA Style Blog  Official blog of the APA, with answers to tricky citation questions.

Scientific Research Publication Cycle

What is IEEE Citation Style?

The 2018 editorial style manual of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , a style commonly used in technical fields like computer science.

The complete IEEE Editorial Style Manual  (PDF) is free to download from IEEE and contains a formal set of editorial guidelines for IEEE Transactions, Journals, and Letters.

The IEEE Reference Guide  (PDF) is also free to download from IEE and outlines how to cite different types of references in IEEE style.   

More Citation Management Resources

The UW main Citation Styles and Tools Guide has links to more citation styles in addition to free software you can use to manage  your research citations.

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17 Giving credit and citing sources 101

Learn more about citations with our “What are citations” online tutorial . The UMN Center for Writing also has online help and consultations.

Do your best to avoid google stitching!

What is google stitching you ask? It is something your instructors all know about (and don’t really like). It is copying half of one sentence and pasting it with half of another sentence. Instead, in academic writing, you should try to quote, paraphrase, or summarize (from University of Connecticut). We recommend checking out our Academic Integrity Canvas page if you want to know more.

What about EasyBib? ‘Cause I love EasyBib! 

Tools like EasyBib are good but the UMN Libraries online databases (or tools like Google Scholar) will do it for you (#EvenEasier). After you find a source, look for quotes or a link that says “cite.” Here are a couple of screenshot examples:

• Example from Academic Search Premier article database

2. Example from Google Scholar

Got lots and lots of sources? 

If you have a research paper or assignment with 10+ sources you might want a fancier tool. We recommend Zotero or Mendeley. These free, online tools that you download will organize your PDFs, automatically insert the in-text citation with a plug-in with Word or Google Docs, and then create the bibliography in seconds in which ever citation style you need for your assignment.

What’s your style?

If you aren’t sure what “citation style” your instructor wants, check your assignment or ask. It could be APA or MLA or Chicago or Turabian or Science citation style or something else.

Choose an option to move forward.

Option 1: Wow! That was a load of info. To the end, please.

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Using Sources Correctly

53 Crediting and Citing Your Sources

• It adds to your own credibility as an author by showing you have done appropriate research on your topic and approached your work ethically.
• It gives credit to the original author and their work for the ideas you found to be useful, and in giving them credit it helps you avoid unintentionally plagiarizing their work.
• It gives your readers additional resources (already curated by you in your research process) that they can go to if they want to read further your topic.

Credit/Cite Your Sources

For academic work, this generally means two things: in-text (or parenthetical) citation PLUS a “Works Cited” or “References” page. These two things may look different for different types of classes. For example, it’s likely your writing class will use Modern Language Association (MLA) format, while a psychology class is more likely to use American Psychological Association (APA) format.

The specific details required and the order in which they appear changes between different formats, but practicing one of them will give you a general idea of what most of them are looking for and will get you accustomed to following a strict, detail-oriented procedure. All of the information we look at here is specific to MLA—the format you will use for your writing and some other humanities classes.

In-Text Citation/Parenthetical Citation

Both in-text and parenthetical citations include the author’s last name and the page number—or place in the source—the information came from (if applicable). Sometimes you can accomplish in-text citation by mentioning the author or title of a source inside the language of your sentence, but other times you’ll use a parenthetical citation. Parenthetical means that the citation appears in parentheses within your sentence or at the end of it, before the period.

• By most measurable standards, Expo markers are clearly the favored option (Smith 41).

However, you don’t always need both components (last name and page number) in the parenthetical citation.

• According to Lisa Smith, Expo markers are clearly the favored option by most measurable standards (41).

Three Ways to Cite or Identify Written Source Materials

1. introduce the author and/or the title of the source—framing.

By introducing the author or the material, you make it clear to the reader that what you’re talking about is from a source. Here’s an example of a quotation that is identified by introducing the author and the title of source (which are underlined and are the first parts of the sentences).

In the article, “Grooming Poodles for Fun and Profit,” Jonas Fogbottom explains , “Poodle grooming is a labour of love. It takes years of practice to be good at it, but once learned, it’s a fun and worthwhile career.”

Here’s an example of a paraphrase that is identified in the same way:

In the article, “Grooming Poodles for Fun and Profit,” Jonas Fogbottom says that although it takes a long time to become a skilled poodle groomer, it’s well worth the effort and leads to a good career.

Note that, in the example above, (1) if there are no page numbers to cite and (2) if the name of the author is signaled in the phrase that introduces the bit of source material, then there is no need for the parenthetical citation. This is an example of a situation where mentioning the author by name is the only in-text citation you’ll need. And sometimes, if the name of the author is unknown, then you might just mention the title of the article instead. It will be up to you, as a writer, to choose which method works best for your given situation.

The first time that you mention a source in your writing, you should always introduce the speaker and, if possible, the title of the source as well. Note that the speaker is the person responsible for stating the information that you’re citing and that this is not always the author of the text. For example, an author of an article might quote someone else, and you might quote or paraphrase that person.

Use the speaker’s full name (e.g., “According to Jonas Fogbottom . . .”) the first time you introduce them; if you mention them again in the paper, use their last name only (e.g., “Fogbottom goes on to discuss . . .”).

2. Use Linking or Attributive Language—Signal Phrases

Using linking language (sometimes called attributive language or signal phrases) simply means using words that show the reader you are still talking about a source that you just mentioned.

For example, you might use linking language that looks something like this:

• The author also explains . . .
• Fogbottom continues . . .
• The article states next that . . .
• The data set also demonstrates . . .

By using this kind of language, you make it clear to the reader that you’re still talking about a source. And while you’ll use this type of language throughout any researched essay whether you’re also using parenthetical citations or not, as we mentioned above, sometimes this linking language will be all you need for in-text citation.

CAUTION: Make sure you use strong and respectful attributive language (signal phrases).

• What does Smith actually argue ? (Also, if it is a written source, “talk” is not accurate.)
• Johnson probably put a lot of thought into their material; they do not simply “mention” evidence.
• Sure, we can write “about” anything, but what are we arguing about the topic? If I say that I write “about” racial profiling, you still don’t know what I’m arguing about that.
• Unless you are writing a critique or response, and your point is that Lake truly does not actually achieve their purpose, don’t say that authors simply “try” to argue but do not accomplish it.
• DO USE strong, respectful language, such as in the four linking language examples above this textbox.

Let’s look back at the last Fogbottom example from above the textbox, and imagine you wanted to add two more sentences from the same source. The linking language is underlined:

In the article, “Grooming Poodles for Fun and Profit,” Jonas Fogbottom tells us that, although it takes a long time to become a skilled poodle groomer, it’s well worth the effort and leads to a good career. Fogbottom explains that one undergoes a great deal of training in the art of dog and poodle grooming. The article points out that   there are many resources for people who want to know more about a dog grooming career.

Using the linking language makes it absolutely clear to your reader that you are still talking about a source.

Whatever comes first in the Works Cited citation is what will go into the parentheses in a parenthetical citation. Most often that item is an author’s last name, but sometimes it’s a title or abbreviated title of an article or other type of text. This is another good reason for starting by creating a Works Cited entry the moment you begin working with a source.

3. Parenthetical Citations

The parenthetical citation includes the author’s name and, if there is one, a page number. To learn more about parenthetical citation and see some examples, see the Purdue OWL article “ MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics ” (available from owl.english.purdue.edu).

Here’s an example :

(Fogbottom 16)

If there are two authors , list both (with a page number, if available):

(Smith and Jones 24)

If there are three or more authors , list the first author only and add “et al.”* (with a page number, if available):

(Smith et al. 62)

* et al means “and others.” If a text or source has three or more authors, MLA style has us just list the first one with et al .

But my source doesn’t have page numbers!

If you are using an electronic source or another kind of source with no page numbers, just leave the page number out:

(Fogbottom)

If you’re quoting or paraphrasing someone who was cited by the author of one of your sources , then that’s handled a bit differently. For example, what if you quote Smith, but you found that quote in the article by Fogbottom. In this case, you should introduce the speaker (Smith) as described above, and then cite the source for the quote, like this:

(qtd. in Fogbottom)

But my source doesn’t have an author!

This happens sometimes. Many useful documents, like government publications, organizational reports, and surveys, don’t list their authors. On the other hand, sometimes no clearly listed author can be a red flag that a source is not entirely trustworthy or is not researched well enough to be a reliable source for you.

If you encounter a source with no author, do look for other indicators that it is a good (or poor) source—who published it, does it have an appropriate list of references, is it current information, is it unbiased?

If you determine that this source is an appropriate source to use, then, when you create your in-text citation for it, you will simply use the title of the source (article, chapter, graph, film, etc.) in the place where you would have used the author’s name. If the title is long, you should abbreviate by listing the first one or two words of it (with a page number, if available).

Let’s imagine you’re working with a newspaper article entitled, “What’s New in Technology,” enclosed in quotation marks to indicate that this is an article title, and with no known author . Here’s what that would look in a parenthetical citation:

(“What’s New” B6)

If there is no author and you’re working with an electronic article, use the first one or two words in your parenthetical citation, again, enclosed in quotation marks. Let’s imagine you’re working with a web article entitled, “Pie Baking for Fun and Profit” and with no author. Here’s what that would look in a parenthetical citation:

(“Pie Baking”)

The parenthetical citation should be added at the end of the sentence that contains the source material. Let’s go back to the Fogbottom example and see how a parenthetical citation would work:

“Poodle grooming is a labor of love. It takes years of practice to be good at it, but once learned, it’s a fun and worthwhile career” (Fogbottom).

Here’s what it would look like if we used it with a paraphrase instead of a quotation:

Although it takes a long time to become a skilled poodle groomer, it’s well worth the effort and leads to a good career (Fogbottom).

Note that the citation is placed at the end of the sentence; the period comes after the parentheses. Misplacing the period is one of the most common formatting errors made by students.

Using parenthetical citation makes it clear that a sentence comes from source material. This is the easiest way to cite or identify your source materials.

Good question! Only using parenthetical citations all the way through your writing would do the job of citing the material, but it wouldn’t read smoothly and would feel somewhat rough because every time a parenthetical citation popped up, the reader would be “stopped” in place for a moment. Using a combination of framing, signal phrases, and parenthetical citations makes the writing smoother and easier to read. It also integrates the source material with the writer’s ideas. We call this synthesis, and it’s part of the craft of writing.

Works Cited Entries

At the end of texts that have drawn from existing sources, you will find a Works Cited page, which gives more information than the parenthetical citations do about the sources referenced in the work. The entries all follow a specific and consistent format so that it is easy for readers to find the information they are looking for and so that the shape and type of that information is consistent no matter who is writing the entries.

Until recently, the MLA required a slightly different format for every type of source—an entry for a Youtube video required certain information that was different from an entry for a book that was different from an entry for an online article. The most recent version of MLA, though—MLA 8—has simplified this so there is just one format rather than many.

You can learn how to create works cited entries in MLA 8 format, and see an example, in the “ Creating a Works Cited Page ” appendix to this text.

Text Attributions

• This chapter was adapted from “ Crediting and Citing Your Sources ” in The Word on College Reading and Writing by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear, which is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence . Adapted by Allison Kilgannon.

Advanced English Copyright © 2021 by Allison Kilgannon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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30 Giving Credit Where It’s Due

Why and How to Cite Your Sources

Using outside sources in your paper is a great move. Doing outside research enriches the conversation in your paper, builds your fluency and confidence in the subject, and can bolster (or challenge) your own argument. As a writer, it’s important to give credit to the original author whenever you use outside words or ideas. This is true in every academic discipline, and it’s true in less formal contexts, as well.

Citation Is Good for Creators

Imagine that you’re scrolling through Instagram or TikTok (or whatever cool new social media platform has been invented since these words were written—the challenge of writing in such a fast-moving world!). If an influencer uses someone else’s audio clip or artwork, it’s considered basic internet courtesy to tag the original source to give them credit. In fact, if reposters don’t do this, the original creator might publicly complain and accuse the “borrower” of stealing their work.

Why do they care? Why does it matter to the creators or artists if someone reposts their artwork? Some people would argue that reposting helps spread the art around, so it’s actually good for the original artist. That makes sense, to a point—but how does that argument hold up if the original creator isn’t tagged or attributed in any way?

Your answers to those questions are probably similar to the reasons why citation matters in academia. Researchers and authors are generally glad for others to reference their work—after all, they published it rather than keeping it in a private diary—but they want credit for the work they’ve done. Using someone else’s words or ideas without citing them—or citing them incorrectly—can feel like stealing. The original author (or content creator) only benefits from the “repost” if you cite their work, leading others back to the original source. In that sense, citation is an ethical issue: giving credit where credit is due.

Citation Is Good for You Too

Don’t get me wrong though. Citation isn’t a purely selfless act. It also benefits you, the writer! Citing your sources builds your credibility as a speaker on the subject because it shows your audience that you have done your research. It gives your statements more weight by indicating that they came from a reliable source. (You should, of course, be using reliable sources; chapters 22 and 23 on evaluating sources can help you determine whether a source is trustworthy.)

For example, if you write that there will be 25 million centenarians (people who are 100 years old or more) in the year 2100, your reader will immediately want to know how you reached that conclusion. “Based on what?!” they’ll ask. If the statistic seems to come out of nowhere, your audience could be distracted by the statement. They might even wonder if your arguments or conclusions are well founded, since you seem to be pulling numbers from thin air.

However, if you cite your source—and it’s a reliable, reputable source—you will instantly build credibility with your audience. They will be more willing to accept the initial statistic and then listen to your argument on its own merits. You will show them that you have some knowledge on the topic and that your knowledge comes from authoritative sources.

Consider the following examples. Which is the most credible? The answer is clear: it’s the one with the specifics and the citation.

There will be even more elderly people in the future. There will be more than 25 million centenarians in the year 2100. Although the United Nations predicts that there will be 25 million centenarians by 2100, other demographers have found that population transitions and global events make it harder to pinpoint. A truer estimate is somewhere between 13 and 50 million (Robine and Cubaynes 60).

As you can see, citing your sources also pushes you to be more specific. In this case, I saw the “25 million” statistic in the article’s abstract, but on closer reading, I found that the authors’ research actually suggested a range. I had to read the article carefully to understand that point though—another key part of building your knowledge, fluency, and credibility.

Now, depending on your purposes, you may wish for a simpler version of the information. In many cases though, the more complex (and research-supported) version works better—it’s potentially more accurate and, honestly, more interesting.

What to Cite

In every discipline, you need to cite outside words and ideas. If you’re not sure whether to cite something or not, err on the side of caution and cite it! It’s better to overcite than undercite. For example, you should always cite the following:

• Paraphrases
• Charts or other graphics
• Arguments or ideas
• Original phrases

Depending on your discipline, you might use some of these examples more than others. In the humanities, for example, quotes are an important form of evidence: how someone says something can be just as important as what they say. For that reason, quoting the original source is common in literature, history, and philosophy classes.

In other fields, the data are the most important point. In your science and social science classes, then, you will probably rely mostly on statistics and paraphrases as supporting evidence. It’s rare to see a direct quote in an engineering paper.

Knowing what kinds of sources to use—and how to use them—is part of the learning you will do in your discipline. You can read example papers and articles in a particular field or ask your instructor for guidance.

What’s consistent across all of these disciplines, though, is the need to cite the information. If you are using outside words or ideas, you need to essentially tell your audience, “Hey! This information came from another source. Here’s how you can find it.” You will do this by including two forms of citation for every outside source: (1) an in-text citation and (2) an end citation.

How to Cite

In-text citation.

The details of how to create citations will vary depending on what kind of class you’re taking. In writing and other humanities courses, we often use MLA citation (which stands for Modern Language Association); psychology and other social sciences often use APA citation (American Psychological Association). Other citation styles include IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), CSE (Council of Science Editors), CMS ( Chicago Manual of Style ), and more. Ask your instructor which citation style you should use for each class.

In all cases, though, you need to include an in-text citation (which will match up with an end citation—more on those in a minute). An in-text citation is like a signpost that says, “This! This right here! I didn’t make this up—it’s from an outside, credible source.”

In MLA, this in-text citation is a parenthetical citation after the quote or paraphrase, like this: (Robine and Cubaynes 62). It typically includes the author’s name and the page number that the information came from (if there is one). APA is similar but includes the author’s last name and the year of publication, like this: (Garcia, 2008). In both cases, the reader will easily find more information on the alphabetized works cited or references page by looking in the G section for Garcia.

Other citation styles may use a number enclosed in brackets [1] or a superscript number1 to indicate that this information is from an outside source. In those cases, the number 1 will lead the reader to the first entry on the references list, where they will find a full citation.

What if there’s no author listed? What if there are seventeen authors listed? The answer varies depending on your citation style—so you will have to do your own footwork to find the answer. The OWL at Purdue is an excellent resource for citation questions, whether you’re working with MLA, APA, IEEE, or something else.

End Citations

Similar to in-text citations, end citations vary quite a bit. In fact, even the name of the citations section varies: in MLA, we call this the “works cited,” while in other disciplines, you may see it being called “references” or “bibliography.” In all cases, though, the end citations provide significant details about the sources you cited in the text.

As a general rule, your in-text citations and end citations should match up. If you have six sources listed on your works cited page but only one cited in the body of your paper, there’s a problem. In this example, your reader will get the sense that you did some research—but they won’t be able to tell which information came from which source or even which ideas were yours and which belong to someone else. To avoid this problem, cite as you go—don’t wait until the end and try to insert citations throughout the paper. That’s a recipe for disaster.

While the specifics about formatting may vary, most end citations will include some or all of the following things in the order required by the style guide:

• Title of the article
• Title of the source it came from (e.g., the journal, newspaper, or website title)
• Date of publication
• Volume and issue number (for journals)
• DOI or URL (for digital sources)

Again, though, there will be variation across citation styles. Some elements may be italicized or in quote marks, for example, or the authors’ names may use only first initials.

While these differences and details may seem arbitrary, they’re important because they tell careful readers what they’re looking at. In MLA, the article title is in quotes and the journal title is italicized; if these markers are reversed, it’s a little harder to figure out what we’re looking at. Attention to detail here can also add to the professionalism and credibility of your paper as a whole.

Here’s the good news: you never have to memorize how to create perfect MLA or APA citations. What you do need to know, though, is that your sources have to be cited—and that you can find and apply the appropriate rules for your project whether it’s in communications, psychology, or civil engineering.

A Word about Citation Tools

Real talk: how do you actually create citations for your papers? Chances are, you use a citation maker of some kind—either online, in the research database you are using, or embedded in Word or Google Docs. Instructors have different opinions about these, but I would argue that they’re a valuable tool. Use what you have!

A warning, though: citation tools are a useful starting point, but they’re not perfect. The free online versions are especially prone to missing style updates or incorrect formatting. The database and word processor versions (as well as citation managers like Zotero and EndNote) tend to be better, but again—not perfect. They’re only as good as the information they pick up from the source (or that you input, depending on the tool).

For that reason, you should consider the citations that are churned out by these tools to be a rough draft. You will need to check them to ensure that they are accurate and consistent.

Discussion Questions

• Why is attribution important to online content creators? Do you know of any examples where a creator was not given appropriate credit? How did it impact them?
• Do you think that attribution/citation norms are shifting and changing in the digital world? Do you see a generational divide, or does it seem more important to some people than others? Why do you think that is?
• A source with five authors
• A quote from one source that you found in another source (i.e., your article is referencing another article)
• A source with no author listed
• Create one end citation the old-fashioned way: look it up on the OWL at Purdue, find each required piece of information, and use the citation style required in your class to write a full end citation for a source of your choice. Talk through it as a class. Which pieces of information were hard to find? Where are there points of confusion? How did this process help you better understand the citation requirements? How might this help you in the future, even if you continue to use citation tools?
• Use a citation maker of your choice to create an end citation for a source. Then compare that citation to the guidance on the OWL at Purdue. Is everything correct? What’s missing or incorrect?

Additional Resources

• For more on citation tools and citation managers: Oregon State University Libraries: Citations 101 .
• For all of the details about how to cite very specific source types, both in text and on the references page: The OWL at Purdue: Research and Citation Resources .

Works Cited

Robine, Jean-Marie, and Sarah Cubaynes. “Worldwide Demography of Centenarians.” Mechanisms of Ageing and Development , vol. 165, 16 Mar. 2017, pp. 59–67. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mad.2017.03.004.

Giving Credit Where It's Due Copyright © 2022 by Liz Delf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

APA In-Text Citations and Sample Essay 7th Edition

This handout focuses on how to format in-text citations in APA.

Proper citation of sources is a two-part process . You must first cite each source in the body of your essay; these citations within the essay are called in-text citations . You MUST cite all quoted, paraphrased, or summarized words, ideas, and facts from sources. Without in-text citations, you are technically in danger of plagiarism, even if you have listed your sources at the end of the essay.

In-text citations point the reader to the sources’ information on the references page. The in-text citation typically includes the author's last name and the year of publication. If you use a direct quote, the page number is also provided.

More information can be found on p. 253 of the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Citation Rules

Direct quotation with the author named in the text.

Heinze and Lu (2017) stated, “The NFL shifted its responses to institutional change around concussions significantly as the field itself evolved” (p. 509).

Note: The year of publication is listed in parenthesis after the names of the authors, and the page number is listed in parenthesis at the end of the quote.

Direct Quotation without the Author Named in the Text

As the NFL developed as an organization, it “shifted its responses to institutional change around concussions significantly” (Heinze & Lu, 2017, p. 509).

Note: At the end of the quote, the names of the authors, year of publication, and page number are listed in parenthesis.

Paraphrase with 1-2 Authors

As the NFL developed as an organization, its reactions toward concussions also transformed (Heinze & Lu, 2017).

Note: For paraphrases, page numbers are encouraged but not required.

Paraphrase with 3 or More Authors

To work toward solving the issue of violence in prisons begins with determining aspects that might connect with prisoners' violent conduct (Thomson et al., 2019).

Direct Quotation without an Author

The findings were astonishing "in a recent study of parent and adult child relationships" ("Parents and Their Children," 2007, p. 2).

Note: Since the author of the text is not stated, a shortened version of the title is used instead.

Secondary Sources

When using secondary sources, use the phrase "as cited in" and cite the secondary source on the References page.

In 1936, Keynes said, “governments should run deficits when the economy is slow to avoid unemployment” (as cited in Richardson, 2008, p. 257).

Long (Block) Quotations

When using direct quotations of 40 or more words, indent five spaces from the left margin without using quotation marks. The final period should come before the parenthetical citation.

At Meramec, an English department policy states:

To honor and protect their own work and that of others, all students must give credit to proprietary sources that are used for course work. It is assumed that any information that is not documented is either common knowledge in that field or the original work of that student. (St. Louis Community College, 2001, p. 1)

Website Citations

If citing a specific web document without a page number, include the name of the author, date, title of the section, and paragraph number in parentheses:

In America, “Two out of five deaths among U.S. teens are the result of a motor vehicle crash” (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2004, Overview section, para. 1).

Here is a print-friendly version of this content.

Learn more about the APA References page by reviewing this handout .

For information on STLCC's academic integrity policy, check out this webpage .

For additional information on APA, check out STLCC's LibGuide on APA .

Sample Essay

A sample APA essay is available at this link .

Copyright and Fair Use

• Copyright Resources
• Copyright Status
• Fair Use Assessment
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• Reference Examples for Crediting Sources

References & Citations

Often a publisher, copyright holder, permission grantor(s), or license for use of an image, figure, table, scales/questionnaires etc., will specify the wording that you must use for the copyright attribution. This can also include specifying the placement of such credit within an illustration or table. This exact wording specified in the license is required and supersedes any of the wording found in style guides such as APA, MLA, etc. 

Reminder: Attribution does not equate to permission. In addition to using citations, make sure you obtain permissions for any work which requires them for use. 

A copyright attribution in APA style should indicate if the material is reprinted (“from”) or adapted (“adapted from”), list the author, year of publication, and source; identify the material’s copyright, and include a permission statement if permission was obtained (“adapted with permission”). 

Here is a general format example:

From Title of Webpage or Publication , by A.A. Author, year, Site Name (DOI or URL). Copyright [year] by Name, OR In the public domain., OR Creative Commons license such as CC BY-NC. Reprinted with permission. OR Adapted with permission.

Here is an example using that format:

Adapted from the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed., p. 390), by the American Psychological Association, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000). Copyright 2020 by the American Psychological Association.)

The last statement, reprinted or adapted etc. is included only if permission has been sought and obtained.

• APA Style Help Guide A guide showing how to use the APA Style and examples of in-text citations and references for a variety of different sources.

Chicago Manual of Style

In addition to author, title, publication details, and (occasionally) copyright date, the credit line should include any page or figure number, If the work being credited is listed in the bibliography or reference list, only a shortened form need appear in the credit line.

Reproduced by permission from Mark Girouard, Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1978), 162.

Reproduced by permission from George B. Schaller et al., The Giant Pandas of Wolong (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), 52. © 1985 by the University of Chicago.

Reprinted by permission from Duncan (1999, fig. 2).

• Chicago Style Help Guide A guide showing how to use the Chicago Style and examples of note and in-text citations and references for a variety of different sources.

For permissions granted under copyright restrictions, include author, title, then page number, plate number, or figure number, copyright date, and copyright owner. Use the full bibliographic reference, followed by a standard credit line (e.g., “Reprinted by permission of . . .”), or wording stipulated by the copyright holder in the permission letter or license, if it differs. 

Reprinted, by permission, from John Rewald, Post-Impressionism: From van Gogh to Gauguin, p. 443. © 1978 by The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

• MLA Style Help Guide A guide showing how to use the MLA Style and examples of in-text citations and references for a variety of different sources.

Need General Citation Help?

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• How to Cite a Website | MLA, APA & Chicago Examples

How to Cite a Website | MLA, APA & Chicago Examples

Published on March 5, 2021 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on January 17, 2024.

To cite a page from a website, you need a short in-text citation and a corresponding reference stating the author’s name, the date of publication, the title of the page, the website name, and the URL.

This information is presented differently in different citation styles. APA , MLA , and Chicago are the most commonly used styles.

Use the interactive example generator below to explore APA and MLA website citations.

Note that the format is slightly different for citing YouTube and other online video platforms, or for citing an image .

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Table of contents

Citing a website in mla style, citing a website in apa style, citing a website in chicago style, frequently asked questions about citations.

An MLA Works Cited entry for a webpage lists the author’s name , the title of the page (in quotation marks), the name of the site (in italics), the date of publication, and the URL.

The in-text citation usually just lists the author’s name. For a long page, you may specify a (shortened) section heading to locate the specific passage. Don’t use paragraph numbers unless they’re specifically numbered on the page.

The same format is used for blog posts and online articles from newspapers and magazines.

You can also use our free MLA Citation Generator to generate your website citations.

Generate accurate MLA citations with Scribbr

Citing a whole website.

When you cite an entire website rather than a specific page, include the author if one can be identified for the whole site (e.g. for a single-authored blog). Otherwise, just start with the site name.

List the copyright date displayed on the site; if there isn’t one, provide an access date after the URL.

Webpages with no author or date

When no author is listed, cite the organization as author only if it differs from the website name.

If the organization name is also the website name, start the Works Cited entry with the title instead, and use a shortened version of the title in the in-text citation.

When no publication date is listed, leave it out and include an access date at the end instead.

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

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An APA reference for a webpage lists the author’s last name and initials, the full date of publication, the title of the page (in italics), the website name (in plain text), and the URL.

The in-text citation lists the author’s last name and the year. If it’s a long page, you may include a locator to identify the quote or paraphrase (e.g. a paragraph number and/or section title).

Note that a general reference to an entire website doesn’t require a citation in APA Style; just include the URL in parentheses after you mention the site.

You can also use our free APA Citation Generator to create your webpage citations. Search for a URL to retrieve the details.

Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr

Blog posts and online articles.

Blog posts follow a slightly different format: the title of the post is not italicized, and the name of the blog is.

The same format is used for online newspaper and magazine articles—but not for articles from news sites like Reuters and BBC News (see the previous example).

When a page has no author specified, list the name of the organization that created it instead (and omit it later if it’s the same as the website name).

When it doesn’t list a date of publication, use “n.d.” in place of the date. You can also include an access date if the page seems likely to change over time.

In Chicago notes and bibliography style, footnotes are used to cite sources. They refer to a bibliography at the end that lists all your sources in full.

A Chicago bibliography entry for a website lists the author’s name, the page title (in quotation marks), the website name, the publication date, and the URL.

Chicago also has an alternative author-date citation style . Examples of website citations in this style can be found here .

For blog posts and online articles from newspapers, the name of the publication is italicized. For a blog post, you should also add the word “blog” in parentheses, unless it’s already part of the blog’s name.

When a web source doesn’t list an author , you can usually begin your bibliography entry and short note with the name of the organization responsible. Don’t repeat it later if it’s also the name of the website. A full note should begin with the title instead.

When no publication or revision date is shown, include an access date instead in your bibliography entry.

The main elements included in website citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the author, the date of publication, the page title, the website name, and the URL. The information is presented differently in each style.

In APA , MLA , and Chicago style citations for sources that don’t list a specific author (e.g. many websites ), you can usually list the organization responsible for the source as the author.

If the organization is the same as the website or publisher, you shouldn’t repeat it twice in your reference:

• In APA and Chicago, omit the website or publisher name later in the reference.
• In MLA, omit the author element at the start of the reference, and cite the source title instead.

If there’s no appropriate organization to list as author, you will usually have to begin the citation and reference entry with the title of the source instead.

When you want to cite a specific passage in a source without page numbers (e.g. an e-book or website ), all the main citation styles recommend using an alternate locator in your in-text citation . You might use a heading or chapter number, e.g. (Smith, 2016, ch. 1)

In APA Style , you can count the paragraph numbers in a text to identify a location by paragraph number. MLA and Chicago recommend that you only use paragraph numbers if they’re explicitly marked in the text.

For audiovisual sources (e.g. videos ), all styles recommend using a timestamp to show a specific point in the video when relevant.

Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.

• APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
• MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
• Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.

Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.

The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2024, January 17). How to Cite a Website | MLA, APA & Chicago Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved June 24, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/cite-a-website/

Is this article helpful?

Jack Caulfield

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Home » Giving Credit Where Credit is Due » Where You Give Credit

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Where You Give Credit

Bibliographies, footnotes and parentheticals.

You give credit in two ways: within the paper in footnotes or parentheticals and at the end of a paper in the bibliography.

Bibliography

It is composed of a list of citations. Citations include the author, when listed on the work, the title, and the publication information of a work. The bibliography usually appears at the end of a research paper. Depending on the style used, it may be called bibliography, references, works cited, or other terms.

WANT TO SEE some citations ? > Unit 4 > A Primer on Databases and Catalogs > Unit 5 > The Great GALILEO

Footnotes and parentheticals

Most styles use either footnotes, endnotes, or parentheticals. Footnotes are placed at the bottom of a page, and endnotes are placed on a separate page at the end of the paper. Most word processors will do these for you automatically.

A parenthetical is a brief reference in parentheses at the end of a sentence referring the reader to a full citation in the bibliography. The name 'parentheticals' comes from the fact that this type of citation is enclosed in brackets — which is another word for 'parentheses'.

Both footnotes and parenthicals are ways in which the researcher gives credit within a research paper. For more information on footnotes and parentheticals, refer to a style manual.

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• Image Credits and Captions

Elements of an Image Caption

Captioning creative commons media, find the original image, resources for learning more about image captions.

• Informal Attribution

The purposes of an image caption are to:

• Give credit to the creator
• Provide basic identification or description of the image
• Clarify the permissions or rights under which you are using the image

Due diligence

Before you decide to use the image, make sure you have done the following:

• Know who the creator is. Because other people have not captioned their images well does not give you license to do so as well. Dig to find who created the image.
• Dig to find the original. It is easy to discover images on social media, but usually those images were originally posted elsewhere. Do not settle for the most convenient location. Look for the most stable and authoritative original version. See the resources on this page for help.
• Determine whether you have the right to redistribute the image in this way. Remember that fair use does not extend to redistribution outside the classroom. If the image is copyrighted, ask for permission. If the image is license free, make sure. If the image is yours, say so. If the image is CC-licensed, you have less to worry about. 

Provide the following elements in this order:

• The phrase "Image source" or "Source"
• Author/Creator
• URL where accessed
• "Used with permission" - in the case of a copyrighted image where you have contacted the creator
• Text of the Creative Commons license - copy the language directly (ex. CC BY-SA, or CC BY 4.0 DEED Attribution 4.0 International, etc.)
• "Public domain" - when you have determined the image is not under copyright or licensed
• "Original photo" or "Author photo" - when you are the creator of the image
• **If the image is Copyrighted or Licensed, you can't reuse it on a public website or document without author permission.

The adorable face of a hedgehog. Image source: Mark Fletcher, "Hedgehog," 2009. Accessed via https://www.flickr.com/photos/fletchthemonkey/3807893972. CC BY-NC 2.0.

Remember...

The practice of image caption formatting changes depending on context. Different kinds of publications require more and less documentation. Different disciplines also vary. The elements listed above are suggestions based on the most common elements necessary to describe an image, make it possible to find again, and clarify why you get to share it. Take additional cues from good examples in the context where you are publishing. Finally, be responsible. Someone put work into the production of this image and they deserve credit. 

• Chicago Manual of Style: Caption formatting. 3.30: Placement of credit lines. How to format a caption that has content and a citation in it.
• Captioning Creative Commons Images and Media When you caption Creative Commons media (including images), you should include 4 major parts (TASL). You may need to modify the order or add more information based on the citation style you are using. Title : What is the name of the work? Author : Who allows you to use the work? Source : Where can people find the work? License : How can you use the work?

"Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco" by  Timothy Vollmer  is licensed under  CC BY 4.0

• TinEye Reverse Image Search Find all the other places online where this image has been posted. Great way to find the original source.
• Jeffrey Friedl's Image Metadata Viewer This tool shows you all the metadata hidden in an image file, which might help you determine date of creation as well as basic attributes.
• Google Images - Search by Image Click the camera icon in the search box and search by the image you have in hand (either by URL or by dragging in). Like TinEye, it finds other places online where the image has been posted.

Check the source's "Terms of Use," Image Credits," or "Image Permissions" section to make sure you know whether the image is under license or copyright or other terms of use.

• Adding Photo Credits to Talk Slides (blog post) A helpful overview of writing image captions for presentations with many good tips. By Colin Purrington, photographer and former professor at Swarthmore.
• Harder to Find Than Nemo: The Elusive Image Citation Standard (journal article) An article about the inconsistencies in the current standards for citing and captioning images. By Jennifer Yao Weinraub.
• << Previous: Citing Archival Material
• Next: Informal Attribution >>
• Last Updated: Apr 9, 2024 2:01 PM
• URL: https://gouldguides.carleton.edu/citation

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Content, Attribution, and Plagiarism: How to Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

October 24, 2018

By Joe Gillespie

In 2018, after about a quarter-century of easily accessible internet, the question must be asked: Is there anything truly original on the web?

Think about it. Wikipedia became the go-to source to learn about almost everything, but it requires (well, strongly recommends) citations to back up the information. More officially, news organizations and bloggers write articles, which are linked to, expanded upon by others, analyzed, and debated. Content inspires other content, but finding a topic’s starting point can be challenge.

Original ideas are out there, and even in originality’s absence, marketers can get creative in putting a new spin on something. Yet, in 2018, marketers writing content—really, anybody writing anything—need to beware of an unfortunate side effect of the internet age: borrowing content too frequently.

Properly attributing sources for your inbound content not only is good marketing strategy, but also is ethical and builds your brand’s reputation. The practice seems simple enough, but many people erroneously believe that just because something is online, it’s fair game to use in any way they want. Here’s a guide for producing inbound blogs, e-books , and other content that correctly cites sources, properly credits the work of others, and doesn’t plagiarize.

Don’t Believe Everything on the Internet

Facts and figures on the web are used, reused, cited, and casually tossed around so much that determining the original source can be difficult—if those statistics are even accurate in the first place.

A classic example of this is the talking point that 90 percent of new restaurants fail in the first year. This stat has been around for years and regularly pops up in internet articles … but it has been thoroughly debunked, including in this smackdown from Forbes . Yet, writers still see the figure online and assume that, because it’s online and perhaps even linked, it must be true.

If you do see a fact or statistic that speaks to the subject of your content, strive to find its original source. Often, you’ll find something cited that is linked to another website, which linked it from somewhere else, which linked it from somewhere else … and so on. Or the link takes you to a website that cited the fact without any attribution, and you hit a dead end.

Cite Others’ Work Properly

You have found facts or opinions that perfectly support the message of your content. That’s great, but you must be sure to correctly attribute the source of what you want to use. Some best practices in this effort:

• If you’re taking text directly from another source, without any paraphrasing or rewording, place in quotes, name the source, and link to its website.
• If you’re rewording—and sometimes you do this to achieve brevity and clarity out of context of the original source—name the source and link.
• If you’re highlighting something small or simply want readers to visit the external website to learn more, at least link to that source (but preferably, you want to include the name of the source).
• Unless you’re writing highly technical/scientific content with dozens of sources, you don’t have to get too deep into naming the source for your blog posts (i.e., cite the publication but not necessarily the author unless there is a compelling reason to do so).

Here are a couple examples of good sourcing, from the same source:

• You’re citing a statistic but not exactly quoting it: “ According to HubSpot in its State of Inbound 2018 Global Report , 54 percent of respondents say blog content creation is a top priority for inbound marketing.” The report is 72 slides long (and great reading for inbound marketers!), but you don’t necessarily need to point out precisely where the stat is at—this isn’t formal footnoting, but rather, just a link that attributes and acknowledges the info you are using.
• You are quoting another source: “ According to HubSpot in its State of Inbound 2018 Global Report , 'Marketers today are investing more in video channels, social networks such as Instagram, and messaging applications such as Facebook Messenger, in a bid the reach customers and prospects where they prefer to be online.’ ” Here, you are using someone’s words verbatim, and the quotation marks and leave no room for doubt that this is another’s creativity that you’re citing.

Another consideration: When is something truly someone else’s work and when it is so common that you don’t have to cite a source? Use your best judgment. To say “The sky is blue” is obvious, is factually scientific, and won’t need to be attributed. Saying “The sky is blue, and, according to one scientist, is getting bluer every day,” needs a link to the what the scientist is saying. When in doubt (and consider your industry and your thought leadership when making a decision), err on the side of attribution.

Professional writers take plagiarism seriously—their reputations depend on creating original content and respecting the work of other writers. Marketers should pursue the same diligence with inbound content . However, many marketers don’t know where the line is drawn on plagiarism. Copying and pasting large sections of copy and passing them off as your own is obviously bad, but taking existing content and simply rewriting it—without bringing anything original to the table—also meanders into unethical.

And then, some plagiarism is accidental, such as forgetting to attribute a source or pulling in text just as a reference that somehow gets into the finished copy (which is why copying and pasting from another document just to have on your screen is usually never a good idea, even without malicious intent). The Visual Communication Guy put together an impressive “Did I Plagiarize?” flow chart to help writers determine if they’ve run afoul of plagiarism best practices. Although the chart is more geared toward professional and academic writing, it still gives marketers a good frame of reference when developing inbound content.

The Benefits of Originality

Besides maintaining your—and your organization’s—reputation, guaranteeing inbound content is original and correctly attributes sources offers many advantages, including:

• Thought leadership: For many businesses, the inbound content you create will highlight and promote your organization’s thought leadership. When that thought leadership is unique—no matter how common in your industry—the content impresses prospects even more. (And if you can’t find stats or data to support your thought leadership, develop and conduct your own research! In this way, you become the source others turn to for insight and guidance.)
• Google prefers originality: Search engines can penalize websites that contain content that is similar to other pages. Staying original gives Google’s algorithms reason to rank your content higher—and your inbound efforts can do the rest.
• Not plagiarizing yourself: The idea that you can plagiarize yourself might seem absurd on the surface, but reusing content verbatim, although perhaps not unethical from a marketing standpoint, does throw the same copy at prospects without bringing anything new to the table (plus, again, Google doesn’t like it). Some of your marketing messaging will (and should) remain consistent, but resist the urge to copy and paste everything when repurposing or reimagining content.
• Expanding on others’ content: If you are properly attributing sources, you can expand on those ideas with fresh content of your own. This HubSpot blog post explores ways to innovate others’ content into new, non-plagiarized offerings. For example, another company’s “5 Things to Avoid in Widget Production” can be reimagined into “5 Ways to Maximize Widget Production.” Creativity is at the heart of being original, so if you see content you wish you could have written first, don’t copy it—improve upon it.

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About the author

Joe Gillespie is Director of Inbound Copy for SmartBug Media. He graduated from Marquette University with a B.A. in journalism and, before coming to SmartBug, was a two-decade veteran of the newspaper industry. Read more articles by Joe Gillespie .

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Giving Credit in Essay Work

• Views 10667
• Author Sandra W.

How to Give Credit For Ones Work In Essays

When giving credit to essay work, what is being considered much is how well one has made citation of the material used. Identify clearly the sources of your information within the paper you are writing.  Whether you are writing a personal or school type of essay give reference of your research sources, depending with the type of essay, certain rules of citation should be observed. For example for business essay, the APA style should be used. There is usually three ways of using sources in your research paper; that is making quotation, paraphrasing or you can make a summary. When using of these one is required to make an in-text citation also known as parenthetical.

Instructions to follow when giving credit for ones work in essays

• Make intext citation in your essay without forgetting to credit the author of your source material and the year publication was done.
• When you are referencing facts within parentheses make sure that the author last name and the publication year is enclosed. For example a journal written by Paul Newton in 1994 is credited as "[Newton, 1994]”.
• When you are quoting someone directly, cite it with in-text citations referencing the specific page number on which the same quote is appearing. You should make the citation after publication year date and the two should be separated with a comma. For example, "[Newton, 1994,p.87]”
• Incase you want to reference material which have more than one author use their last names on alphabetical order. An ampersand is used to connect the names using parenthetical citation. For example "[Newton &smith, 1994]”
• When citing resources attributed to a group rather than individual author, the entre name is written parenthesis. You should start with organization name then comma and the year of publication. For example;” [The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1994]”.
• When working with resource with no published author one should leave the authors name from parenthetical citations. However the title should cited within quotation marks, or italicize the name if you are working with a book or periodical.
• Finally at the end of your article all the sources used should be credited.

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More From Forbes

College essays that worked and how yours can too.

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CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - JULY 08: A view of Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University on ... [+] July 08, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have sued the Trump administration for its decision to strip international college students of their visas if all of their courses are held online. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The college essay is a pivotal piece of the college application showcasing your individuality and differentiated outlook to admissions officers. What makes an essay truly shine? Let’s dive into the words behind three standout essays highlighted by university websites and a school newspaper's brand studio so you can get into the right mindset for crafting your own narrative.

Embracing Differences: Finding Strength In Uniqueness

Essay Excerpt: ‘Bra Shopping ’ (Harvard)

Featured by the Harvard Crimson Brand Studio , Orlee's essay recounts a student's humorous and insightful experience of bra shopping with her grandmother, weaving in her unique family dynamics and challenges at her prestigious school.

What Works:

• Humor and Honesty: The student's humor makes the essay enjoyable to read, while her honesty about her challenges adds depth.
• Self-Awareness: She demonstrates a strong sense of self-awareness, embracing her uniqueness rather than trying to fit in.
• Resilience: Her narrative highlights resilience and the ability to find strength in differences.

For Your Essay : To write an essay that embraces your uniqueness, start by identifying a quirky or challenging experience that reflects who a key insight into your experience. Think about how this experience has shaped your perspective and character. Use humor and honesty to bring your story to life, and focus on how you have embraced your differences to become stronger and more resilient.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, finding connections: humor and self-reflection.

Essay: ‘Brood X Cicadas ’ (Hamilton College)

As an example on Hamilton's admissions website, Nicholas writes about the cicadas swarming his hometown every 17 years and draws a parallel between their emergence and his own transition to college life. He uses humor and self-reflection to create a relatable and engaging narrative.

• Humor: Nicholas uses humor to make his essay entertaining and memorable. His witty comparisons between himself and cicadas add a unique twist.
• Self-Reflection: By comparing his life to the cicadas’, he reflects on his own growth and readiness for change.
• Relatability: His narrative about facing new experiences and challenges resonates with readers who have undergone similar transitions.

For Your Essay: To infuse humor and self-reflection into your essay, start by identifying an ordinary experience or object and think about how it relates to your life. Write down funny or insightful observations about this connection. Use humor to make your essay more engaging, but ensure it still conveys meaningful self-reflection. This balance can make your essay both entertaining and profound.

Persistence and Multicultural Identity: Life Lessons From Tortilla Making

Essay: ‘ Facing The Hot Griddle ’ (Johns Hopkins University)

In this essay published by Hopkins Insider, Rocio uses the process of making tortillas to explore her multicultural identity and the challenges she has faced. Her story beautifully weaves together her Guatemalan heritage and her experiences growing up in the United States.

• Metaphor and Symbolism: The process of making tortillas becomes a powerful metaphor for the student’s journey and struggles. The symbolism of the masa harina and water mixing parallels her blending of cultural identities.
• Personal Growth: The essay highlights her perseverance and adaptability, qualities that are crucial for success in college.
• Cultural Insight: She provides a rich, personal insight into her multicultural background, making her story unique and compelling.

For Your Essay: To write an essay that explores your identity through a metaphor, start by thinking about an activity or tradition that holds significant meaning for you. Consider how this activity relates to your life experiences and personal growth. Use detailed descriptions to bring the activity to life and draw connections between the process and your own journey. Reflect on the lessons you've learned and how they've shaped your identity.

A winning college essay isn’t simply about parading your best accomplishment or dramatizing your challenges. It’s not a contest for which student is the most original or entertaining. Rather, the essay is a chance for you to showcase your authenticity, passion, resilience, social awareness, and intellectual vitality . By sharing genuine stories and insights, you can create an essay that resonates with admissions committees and highlights your unique qualities.

For you to have the best possible essay, mindset is key. Here’s how to get into the zone:

• Reflect Deeply: Spend time thinking about your experiences, challenges, and passions. Journaling can help you uncover deep insights.
• Discuss and Share: Talking about your stories with friends, family, or mentors can provide new perspectives and emotional clarity.
• Immerse Yourself: Engage in activities that you are passionate about to reignite the feelings and memories associated with them.
• Draft Freely: Don’t worry about perfection on the first try. Write freely and honestly, then refine your narrative.

The secret to a standout college essay lies in its authenticity, depth, and emotional resonance. By learning from these successful examples and getting into the right mindset, you can craft an essay that not only stands out but also provides a meaningful insight into who you are. Remember, your essay is your story—make it a piece of writing that you will always be proud of.

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Online Guide to Writing and Research

Academic integrity and documentation, explore more of umgc.

• Online Guide to Writing

Giving Credit to Sources

Documentation

What is documentation?

Documentation , sometimes called  citing , is the process by which you acknowledge the use of another person’s words, ideas, conclusions, information, data, graphics, and products. It involves keeping careful records of your sources and using a format specified in a  style guide .  Students, writers, researchers, and other professionals are all expected to use proper documentation to acknowledge the use of and give credit to the work of others. 

Documentation is important because it

Is a vital component of practicing academic integrity 

Adheres to copyright law

Creates a path, helping readers see your ideas and conclusions

Avoids confusion about which ideas are yours and which ideas you are using as supporting evidence from a source

Key Takeaway

Writers must learn how to properly document the sources they use in order to give credit to the creator of the original material.  

Mailing Address: 3501 University Blvd. East, Adelphi, MD 20783 This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . © 2022 UMGC. All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of information located at external sites.

Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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Fact-checking Biden and Trump's claims at the first debate

Forget alternative facts and political spin: Thursday's presidential debate was more like a tsunami of falsity.

Former President Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of misinformation on topics from terrorism to taxes during the first debate of the 2024 general election, while President Joe Biden flubbed figures and facts about military deaths and insulin prices.

More than a dozen NBC News reporters, editors and correspondents fact-checked the key claims the presidential candidates made Thursday night. Here they are by topic:

Economy, trade and health care

Fact check: did biden inherit 9% inflation.

“He also said he inherited 9% inflation. Now, he inherited almost no inflation, and it stayed that way for 14 months, and then it blew up under his leadership,” Trump said about Biden.

This is false.

The inflation rate when Biden took office in January 2021 wasn’t 9%. It was 1.4%. It has risen on his watch, peaking at about 9.1% in June 2022, but by last month it had come down to 3.3%. Pandemic-related stimulus policies put in place by both Trump and Biden were blamed, in part, for the rise in the inflation rate.

Fact check: Did Biden lower the cost of insulin to $15 a shot?

“We brought down the price of prescription drugs, which is a major issue for many people, to $15 for an insulin shot — as opposed to $400,” Biden said.

Biden capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month under Medicare, not $15 a shot, and some drug companies have matched that cap. The price cap doesn’t apply to everyone , however. 

What’s more, Biden’s also significantly overstating how much insulin cost before the change. A 2022 report by the Department of Health and Human Services found that patients using insulin spent an average of $434 annually on insulin in 2019 — not $400 a shot.

Fact check: Did Trump lower the cost of insulin?

Trump claimed credit for lowering the cost of insulin for seniors, saying, “I am the one who got the insulin down for the seniors.”

That is mostly false.

In 2020, Trump created a voluntary program under Medicare Part D. The program allowed Medicare Part D plans to offer some insulin products for no more than $35 per month. It was active from 2021 to 2023, with fewer than half of the plans participating each year. 

In 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which included a provision that lowered the out-of-pocket cost for people on Medicare to $35 a month and covered all insulin products. The cap didn’t apply to those with private insurance. However, after the law was implemented, insulin manufacturers voluntarily lowered the out-of-pocket cost to $35 a month for people with private insurance.

Fact check: Does Biden want to raise ‘everybody’s taxes’ by four times?

“Nobody ever cut taxes like us. He wants to raise your taxes by four times. He wants to raise everybody’s taxes by four times,” Trump claimed. “He wants the Trump tax cuts to expire.”

Biden’s tax plan “holds harmless for 98% of households,” said Kyle Pomerleau, senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. And Biden wants to extend the majority of the Trump tax cuts, too, though he has advocated for hiking taxes on very high earners.

Fact check: Biden said the U.S. trade deficit with China is at its lowest since 2010

“We are at the lowest trade deficit with China since 2010,” Biden said.

This is true.

The U.S. had $279 billion more in imports than exports to China last year, the lowest trade deficit with the world’s second-largest economy since 2010. The highest deficit in recent years was $418 billion, in 2018, when Trump began a trade war with China. 

The decline has been driven largely by tariffs that Trump imposed in office and that Biden has maintained and in some cases expanded.

Fact check: Are immigrants taking ‘Black jobs’?

Asked about Black voters who are disappointed with their economic progress, Trump claimed Black Americans are losing their jobs because of illegal border crossings under Biden’s administration.

“The fact is that his big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that he’s allowed to come through the border. They’re taking Black jobs now,” Trump said.

There’s no evidence that undocumented immigrants are taking jobs away from Black Americans. In fact, according  to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the Black unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in April 2023 — an all-time low. Before that, the Black unemployment rate was as high as 10.2% in April 2021.

Immigration

Fact check: did trump end catch and release.

“We ended ‘catch and release,’” Trump said.

Trump did not end “catch and release,” a term used to describe the practice of releasing migrants into the country with court dates while they await court hearings. The U.S. doesn’t have enough facilities to detain every migrant who crosses the border until they can see judges, no matter who is president, so Trump — like Barack Obama before him and Biden after him — released many migrants back into the U.S.

Fact check: Did the Border Patrol union endorse Biden?

“By the way, the Border Patrol endorsed me, endorsed my position,” Biden said.

The National Border Patrol Council, the labor union for U.S. Border Patrol agents and staff members, has endorsed Trump. 

“The National Border Patrol Council has proudly endorsed Donald J. Trump for President of the United States,” the group’s vice president, Hector Garza, said in a statement shared exclusively with NBC News. 

The union posted on X , “to be clear, we never have and never will endorse Biden.”

Biden may have been referring to a Senate immigration bill that he backed, which earned the union’s endorsement .

Fact check: Did Trump have ‘the safest border in the history of our country’?

“We had the safest border in the history of our country,” Trump said.

It’s a clear exaggeration. In 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic brought down border crossings, there were roughly 860,000 illegal border crossings, far more than in any year during the Obama administration.

Fact check: Trump says Biden is allowing ‘millions’ of criminals to enter U.S.

“I’d love to ask him … why he’s allowed millions of people to come in from prisons, jails and mental institutions to come into our country and destroy our country,” Trump said.

There is no evidence of this.

Venezuela doesn’t share law enforcement information with U.S. authorities, making it very hard to verify criminal histories of immigrants coming to the U.S. But there’s no evidence that Venezuela is purposefully sending “millions” of people from mental institutions and prisons to the U.S.

Fact check: Did Virginia’s former governor support infanticide?

“They will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month and even after birth. After birth. If you look at the former governor of Virginia, he was willing to do so, and we’ll determine what we do with the baby. Meaning we’ll kill the baby. ... So that means he can take the life of the baby in the ninth month and even after birth. Because some states, Democrat-run, take it after birth. Again, the governor, the former Virginia governor, put the baby down so that we decide what to do with it. He’s willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby. Nobody wants that to happen, Democrat or Republican; nobody wants it to happen,” Trump said.

While some Democrats support broad access to abortion regardless of gestation age, infanticide is illegal, and no Democrats advocate for it. Just 1% of abortions are performed after 21 weeks’ gestation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Trump first made the claim in 2019, after Virginia’s governor at the time, Ralph Northam, made controversial remarks in discussing an abortion bill. NBC News debunked the claim then, reporting that Northam’s remarks were about resuscitating infants with severe deformities or nonviable pregnancies. 

Asked on a radio program what happens when a woman who is going into labor desires a third-trimester abortion, Northam noted that such procedures occur only in cases of severe deformities or nonviable pregnancies. He said that in those scenarios, “the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

Terrorism, foreign policy and the military

Fact check: trump said there was ‘no terror’ during his tenure.

“That’s why you had no terror, at all, during my administration. This place, the whole world, is blowing up under him,” Trump said.

There were two ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks while Trump was president. The first occurred in October 2017, when Sayfullo Saipov killed eight people and injured a dozen more in a vehicle ramming attack on the West Side Highway bike path in New York City. The second occurred in December 2017, when Akayed Ullah injured four people when he set off a bomb strapped to himself.

Fact check: Biden suggests no troops died under his watch

“The truth is I’m the only president this century that doesn’t have any this decade and any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did,” Biden said.

The Defense Department confirmed that 13 U.S. service members were killed in a suicide bombing attack at Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport by a member of ISIS-K as the U.S. was leaving Afghanistan. 

Environment

Fact check: did trump have the ‘best environmental numbers ever’.

“During my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever, and my top environmental people gave me that statistic just before I walked on the stage, actually,” Trump said.

The figure Trump is referring to is the fact that carbon emissions fell during his administration. He posted the talking points his former Environmental Protection Agency chief emailed him on social media before the debate.

And it’s true that carbon emissions are falling — they have been dropping for years. Emissions particularly plunged in 2020, dropping to levels around those in 1983 and 1984. That drop was in large part thanks to Covid lockdowns, and emissions rose again when air travel and in-person working resumed. 

Still, climate activists and experts are quick to note that those drops are nowhere near enough to head off predicted catastrophic effects of global warming. Other major countries cut their emissions at a much faster rate during the Trump administration.

Fact check: The Jan. 6 crowd was not ‘ushered in’ by the police

“If you would see my statements that I made on Twitter at the time and also my statement that I made in the Rose Garden, you would say it’s one of the strongest statements you’ve ever seen. In addition to the speech I made in front of, I believe, the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to, and I will tell you, nobody ever talks about that. They talk about a relatively small number of people that went to the Capitol and, in many cases, were ushered in by the police. And as Nancy Pelosi said, it was her responsibility, not mine. She said that loud and clear,” Trump said.

During a lengthy answer to a question about whether he would accept the result of the 2024 election and say all political violence is unacceptable, Trump made several false statements, including the claim that police “ushered” rioters into the U.S. Capitol and that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it was her responsibility to keep the chamber safe. 

Video and news reports of the Jan. 6 riots clearly captured the U.S. Capitol under attack by pro-Trump crowds who overran the law enforcement presence around and inside the complex. 

On Pelosi, Trump was most likely referring to video shot by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra for an HBO documentary that showed her during the events of Jan. 6, 2021, tensely wondering how the Capitol was allowed to be stormed.

“We have responsibility, Terri,” Pelosi tells her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, as they leave the Capitol in a vehicle. “We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous.”

“You’re going to ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, ‘Should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean the National Guard. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?” Pelosi says in the video. 

“They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more,” she says. 

Many allies of Trump have tried for the more than three years since the riots to paint Pelosi as somehow being responsible for the violence. Some Trump-backing Republicans have, for example, falsely claimed that she blocked the National Guard from going to the Capitol during the riots.

And everything else ...

Fact check: trump skipped world war i cemetery visit because the soldiers who died were ‘losers’.

Biden said that Trump “refused to go to” a World War I cemetery and that “he was standing with his four-star general” who said Trump said, “I don’t want to go in there, because they’re a bunch of losers and suckers.”

In 2018, during a trip to France, Trump canceled a visit to an American cemetery near Paris, blaming weather for the decision. 

But in September 2020, The Atlantic reported that Trump had axed the visit because he felt that those who’d lost their lives and been buried there were “losers.” The magazine cited “four people with firsthand knowledge of those discussions.”

According to The Atlantic, Trump said: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In another conversation, The Atlantic reported, Trump said the 1,800 American Marines who died were “suckers.” 

Several media outlets confirmed the remarks, and Trump’s former White House chief of staff John Kelly also said those specific comments were true.

Fact check: Trump says Biden didn’t run for president due to 2017 Charlottesville rally

“He made up the Charlottesville story, and you’ll see it’s debunked all over the place. Every anchor has — every reasonable anchor has debunked it, and just the other day it came out where it was fully debunked. It’s a nonsense story. He knows that, and he didn’t run because of Charlottesville. He used that as an excuse to run,” Trump said about Biden.

The “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 featured torch-bearing white supremacists marching to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue and chanting racist slogans like “You will not replace us.” It turned deadly when a car plowed into a crowd .

In recent months, Trump has downplayed the violence, saying it was “nothing” compared to recent pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses.

Meanwhile, Biden has always pointed to Trump’s 2017 comments as the primary reason he decided to seek the presidency in 2020, including in his campaign announcement video back in April 2019 .

Jane C. Timm is a senior reporter for NBC News.

Julia Ainsley is the homeland security correspondent for NBC News and covers the Department of Homeland Security for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Adam Edelman is a political reporter for NBC News.

Tom Winter is a New York-based correspondent covering crime, courts, terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Transforming your Bedroom into a Personal Sanctuary: Tips & Ideas

This essay is about redecorating your bedroom to transform it into a personal sanctuary. It emphasizes the importance of choosing a suitable color palette to influence mood, utilizing natural and artificial lighting effectively, and selecting furniture that balances functionality and aesthetics. The essay highlights the role of textiles and accessories in adding comfort and personality, the benefits of decluttering for a more serene environment, and the value of incorporating personal interests into the decor. It encourages a gradual, evolving approach to redecorating, focusing on creating a space that promotes comfort, happiness, and well-being.

How it works

Whether you are hoping to create a peaceful haven, a bright and energetic atmosphere, or a cozy alcove, careful planning and creativity are essential. Here are some professional tips and ideas to help you give your bedroom a makeover. Redecorating your bedroom can be a very fulfilling experience, converting a practical space into a personal sanctuary that reflects your taste and personality.

The color palette is one of the first things to think about when redecorating a bedroom because colors have a big effect on our emotions and general well-being.

If you want to create a calm atmosphere, go for gentle, subdued tones like pastel blues, greens, or neutral shades. These colors can help you feel peaceful and at ease. If you want your bedroom to feel lively and energetic, go for bold hues like vibrant yellows, deep reds, or rich purples. The important thing is to select colors that speak to you and complement the atmosphere you want to create.

Another important component of bedroom decor is lighting. Natural light can make a room feel open and airy, so try to maximize the amount of daylight that enters the space. Use sheer curtains to let sunlight in while keeping privacy. When it comes to artificial lighting, think about using a layered approach. Ambient lighting provides general illumination, task lighting is useful for certain activities like reading or working, accent lighting can add a decorative touch by highlighting architectural features or artwork, and dimmable lights are especially versatile because you can adjust the brightness to suit your needs and mood.

Bed furniture is essential to the practicality and design of your space. As the focal point of the room, let us start with the bed. Invest in a premium mattress and pick a bed frame that matches your decor, whether it is an elaborate, classic design or a sleek, modern platform bed. Wardrobes, dressers, and nightstands should provide enough storage without taking up too much room. Consider multipurpose furniture, such as floor-saving floating shelves or a bench with storage at the foot of the bed. Creating a plan that is harmonic and balanced while allowing for easy mobility and upholding order is the aim.

Your bedroom can benefit from layers of comfort and individuality added by accessories and textiles. Throw pillows, carpets, curtains, and bedding are all great places to add patterns, textures, and hues. Combine various materials, like cotton, wool, and linen, to create a cozy and opulent space. Custom elements, such as cherished souvenirs, artwork, or family photos, can give the area a truly personalized feel. Another great addition that enhances air quality and brings a bit of nature inside is a plant.

A crucial first step in decorating that can significantly alter the atmosphere of your bedroom is decluttering. While a neat, orderly area encourages relaxation and tranquility, a cluttered one can breed stress and disorder. Sort through your possessions and retain those items that are essential and significant. To keep everything organized, use storage options like closet organizers, baskets, and under-bed boxes. An atmosphere that is more calm and concentrated can frequently be achieved through minimalism.

Your bedroom can be more pleasurable and a better reflection of your lifestyle if you incorporate your interests and hobbies into the design. If you enjoy reading, set up a comfy reading area with a small bookcase, nice lighting, and a chair. If you are an art enthusiast, make a gallery-style display or dedicate a wall to your best pieces. A well-curated sound system or a tiny space set aside for their instruments may bring delight to music lovers.

Last but not least, keep in mind that remodeling your bedroom is a process that might change with time. It is acceptable to begin with a few tweaks and add components bit by bit as you figure out what suits you the best. Establishing a place where you feel at ease, content, and at peace is crucial. Redecorating is about creating an environment that improves your everyday life and overall well-being, not just about looks. Through careful consideration of color, lighting, furnishings, textiles, and individual accents, you can turn your bedroom into a haven that genuinely feels like home.

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Transforming Your Bedroom into a Personal Sanctuary: Tips & Ideas. (2024, Jun 28). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/transforming-your-bedroom-into-a-personal-sanctuary-tips-ideas/

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PapersOwl.com. (2024). Transforming Your Bedroom into a Personal Sanctuary: Tips & Ideas . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/transforming-your-bedroom-into-a-personal-sanctuary-tips-ideas/ [Accessed: 1 Jul. 2024]

"Transforming Your Bedroom into a Personal Sanctuary: Tips & Ideas." PapersOwl.com, Jun 28, 2024. Accessed July 1, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/transforming-your-bedroom-into-a-personal-sanctuary-tips-ideas/

"Transforming Your Bedroom into a Personal Sanctuary: Tips & Ideas," PapersOwl.com , 28-Jun-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/transforming-your-bedroom-into-a-personal-sanctuary-tips-ideas/. [Accessed: 1-Jul-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Transforming Your Bedroom into a Personal Sanctuary: Tips & Ideas . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/transforming-your-bedroom-into-a-personal-sanctuary-tips-ideas/ [Accessed: 1-Jul-2024]

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