When to cite

Whenever you directly copy the words of another author (quoting) or put their ideas into your own words (paraphrasing) you must acknowledge that you have done so, or you are plagiarising their work. You must reference another author's ideas, factual material, graphs or tables of data and pictures and diagrams, software programs and music or any other form of intellectual property.

How you acknowledge their work depends on which style you are following. Take care to do all your citing in the same style.

In the author-date method you put the name of the author, the year the information was published and the page it was on in brackets after the quote or paraphrase. At the end of your essay you make a reference list (or bibliography) of your sources.

In the numeric (footnote/endnote) method you number each quote or paraphrase, then give the details of where to find it either at the bottom of each page (footnoting), or in a reference list (or bibliography) at the end of your essay (endnoting).

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