Need Help?
Why Cite?
The safest way to avoid plagiarism is to write your own speech, and when you use ideas from the works of other authors, be sure to cite your sources. Citing sources involves giving information that explains who is responsible for the original content and how to locate that content.
Citing sources has two purposes:
- Giving credit to the original author or creator (which avoids plagiarism).
- Enabling the reader of your work to retrace the steps of your research.
General Rules of Citation
- Cite any time you incorporate the ideas of others into your speech.
- Cite any material you quote exactly.
- Cite any material you summarize or paraphrase.
- Follow the rules of a specific citation style recommended by your professor.
Citation Generators
Citation generators help you create citations by providing fields that you fill in, and then generating the citation for you. However, many of these sites have serious limitations, and will not always generate a correct citation. Be sure you are familiar with how your citation style should look, and make sure you always double-check your spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Here are a few citation generators you can use:
- KnightCiteMLA, APA, Chicago (Notes & Bibliography)
- Citation Builder (NCSU)APA, MLA, Chicago (Author Date), CSE
APA
The APA citation style is primarily used by disciplines in the business, social sciences, health, and education fields.
Official Guides
Publication Manual of the American Psychological AssociationCall Number: BF76.7 .P83 2020The official handbook for APA style.
Tyree Library APA Guide
The Santa Fe College Tyree Library APA Citation Guide covers setting up an APA paper, the components of citations, extensive examples, and video tutorials.
MLA
The MLA citation style is primarily used by disciplines in the arts, humanities, and literature.
Official Guides
- The MLA Style CenterThe official website for MLA style, with more examples, guidelines, and a place to ask questions.
Tyree Library MLA Guide
The Santa Fe College Tyree Library MLA Citation Guide covers setting up an MLA paper, the components of citations, extensive examples, and video tutorials.
Oral Citations
When giving a speech or oral presentation, it can be difficult to cite your sources. A good speech should be well-researched, and many times you will be using facts, statistics, quotes, or opinions from others throughout. If you do not cite your sources orally, this can be considered plagiarism and is unethical. This applies to direct quotations, paraphrasing, and summarizing. You must orally cite, even if you will be providing a bibliography or works cited list to your instructor. Citations also give you credibility as a speaker.
To orally cite something, you will need to give sufficient information about the source to your audience. Typically, this is the author, title, and date of a source. By including this information, you allow your listeners to find your original sources, as well as allow them to hear that your sources are recent and are credible.
Provide the author, title, and date of the book.
Colonel Charles Hoge in his 2010 book Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior coins the term 'rageaholism,' which refers to "persistent rage and hostility."
Provide the author, publication name, and date.
The recent 2013 Law & Human Behavior article by Kahn, Byrd, and Pardini, shows that young men who have high callous-unemotional traits, such as a lack of empathy, are more likely to be arrested for serious crimes.
Provide the website title and date.
In a March 2014 piece on the Blue Review website, anthropologist John Ziker found that college professors spend 17% of their day in meetings.
Provide the name of the interviewer (if not you), the name and credentials of the interviewee, and the date.
In an February 25 interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, Michio Kaku notes that memories can currently be uploaded into mice, and eventually this could be used to help sufferers of Alzheimer's disease.