Related Links: Research Guides

Citation Guides and Tools

On this page:

• Why cite your sources
• Tools
• Commonly used styles

Why Cite Your Sources?

1. Professional honesty and courtesy: writers have an obligation to indicate when they have used someone else's ideas or words.
2. Citing sources strengthens the authority of your work. It demonstrates that you have considered others' opinions and ideas in forming your own.
3. Accurate citations help others locate the materials you used in your research.
4. To avoid being accused of plagiarism.
5. To uphold the University of Oregon's Student Conduct and Community Standards.

Citation Tools

A variety of tools are available to help you manage your citations and add footnotes and bibliographies to papers and reports.

These tools include:

• Endnote
• Mendeley

Commonly Used Style Guides & Manuals

The scholarly community has agreed on several standards – found in style manuals – to use when citing a reference or compiling a bibliography. Many different styles exist; the following list represents the most commonly used or prominent styles: