Videos: Citations & Plagiarism
Citations are an integral part of writing a research paper, especially in college. No matter what your experience was in high school, your college professors will expect you to know how to format your papers and cite your sources correctly. It's definitely a good thing that you're getting into this habit now!
The first video below will introduce you to the idea of citations, why they are important, and why we use them for our college research papers. The second video describes what happens if we fail to properly cite our sources: the dreaded concept of plagiarism.
Please watch both videos (you may need to log in if you haven't already), then, read below to learn about specific ways the LAVC Library and our website can help you with your citations and MLA formatting.
NOTE: for a more detailed guide to MLA citations and formatting, please visit LAVC Library's MLA Guide.
One advantage of doing your research through the Library website is access to built-in citation tools. OneSearch has the ability to create full citations with the click of a button! To generate a citation for your article or ebook, simply click on the blue quotation mark symbol (") located to the right of the source's title (see picture below). OneSearch can generate citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian styles.
You can also generate a citation after clicking on an article's/ebook's title by clicking on the "CITATION" button under "Send to" (see below):
Heads up: almost every database, including those listed on the previous page of this guide, will give you the option to click on a "cite" button and generate an automatic citation. For example:
U.S. History in Context (near the top of the article): 
Be careful! Occasionally, OneSearch (and other databases) will generate an incorrect citation. Before you copy/paste any of these citations into your work, make sure to take the time to check them for accuracy. Common citation mistakes include: no hanging indent, incorrect use of italics, incorrect use of capital letters, improper inclusion of a URL.
Use the LAVC Library's Cite Sources Guide to make sure your MLA/APA citations are accurate!
