Most research assignments require that you prepare a bibliography of the sources you have consulted in order to give credit for any quotations or ideas you have used from other people's work. If you are writing a paper, you generally also must use footnotes or endnotes to identify the material you have used within the body of your paper. When you cite sources appropriately, others interested in your research are able to retrieve the information you used.

There are several different "styles" you may choose from when citing sources. Your professor will probably tell you which "style" is preferred for your class. MLA (Modern Language Association), Turabian (similar to Chicago), and APA (American Psychological Association) are the three which are used most often by students at The Claremont Colleges. Style manuals for each of these provide detailed explanations and examples of bibliographies, footnotes, and endnotes. Recent editions of these style manuals are available at the Reference Desk in Honnold/Mudd Library.

If your sources include electronic documents such as web pages or articles from electronic journals, the format you should use to cite the source is slightly different from that for traditional paper documents. Be sure to follow appropriate guidelines, whether you use the style manuals in the Libraries or web guides for citing electronic documents. Citation format for web pages generally requires that you include the date on which you accessed the material, and the URL of the document, so be sure to record those as you are doing your research.

When you need help on your research project, talk to your professor, stop by the Reference Desk at one of the Libraries, make an appointment to talk with a Reference Librarian, or talk with someone in the Writing Resource Center on your campus.