Citing Sources in Research Projects

When you write a research project, you read facts from many places: books, websites, and magazines. Citing sources means writing down exactly where each fact came from. This lesson builds on Research Recording Information Sources by showing you how to cite several sources at once and how to put facts into your own words.

A citation is a short note that tells your reader where you found a fact. It usually names the author, the title, and sometimes the page number. When you cite a source, you are pointing to the exact place a fact came from.

Citing sources is different from just remembering a source. Recording a source means writing it down somewhere so you do not forget it. Citing a source means placing that information right next to the fact, so anyone reading your project can see where each idea came from.

Most research projects use more than one source. You might read a book about whales, a website about the ocean, and a magazine article about sea animals, all for the same project. Each fact needs its own citation so you know which source it came from.

A good way to keep sources straight is to give each source a short label, like Source A, Source B, and Source C. Then, next to every fact you write, add the matching label. This way, even with three or four sources open at once, you never lose track of which fact belongs to which source.

Citing a source tells people where a fact came from, but you still need to write the fact in your own words. This is called paraphrasing. Paraphrasing means you read a sentence, understand it, and then write it a new way using your own words.

For example, a book might say, "Elephants use their trunks to pick up food and water." You could paraphrase this as: An elephant's trunk helps it grab food and drink water. The idea stays the same, but the words are yours. You still cite the source, because the fact came from that book, even though you changed the wording.

Copying the exact words from a source without quotation marks is not allowed, even if you cite it. If you want to use the exact words, put them in quotation marks and still add the citation. Organizing Research Notes and Sources can help you keep your paraphrased facts and citations sorted as you work.

Citing your sources shows honesty. It proves the facts in your project are real and did not come from your imagination. It also gives credit to the author who did the work of writing or researching that information first.

When you cite several sources clearly, your project also becomes easier to check. A teacher or a friend can look at your citations and find the same book or website to learn more, or to check that a fact is correct.

Citation: A short note that names the source of a fact, such as the author and title.

Source: A place you get information from, such as a book, website, or magazine.

Paraphrase: Writing a fact in your own words instead of copying the exact words.

Direct quote: Using someone's exact words, placed inside quotation marks.

Bibliography: A list at the end of your project that shows every source you used.

Author: The person who wrote the book, article, or website you used.

Try reading three short articles about the same topic. Give each one a label, like Source A, B, and C. Write down one fact from each source in your own words, and add the matching label next to it. Then check that every fact in your notes has a label pointing back to its source.

Related lessons

• Research Recording Information Sources