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It's not as bad as it seems. First, do you know which style you are using? If not, ask your instructor. Then, you can use either printed manuals and/or web resources to help you.
The library has several of these manuals (sometimes called "style guides") in our Reference Collection. In each, you will find examples of proper ways to cite various types of sources. Here are the most commonly used style guides and their call numbers:
| The Chicago Manual of Style | R 808.027 C532 1993 |
| MLA Style Manual | R 808.027 G437m 1998 |
| The Bedford Handbook | R 808.042 H118b 2002 |
| Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association | R 808.06615 P976 2001 |
| Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers |
R 808.0666 S416 2006 |
Each of these guides will assist you in citing electronic resources as well as traditional print sources.
EndNote Web is an easy-to-use web-based service for managing citations. You can import references from other databases, format them in the correct style, and then export them into your papers. Here is a page with some tips on Using EndNote Web.
There are also some great web sites designed by librarians (and other folks who know these things) that will help you cite your sources with relative ease. One of the best, and easiest to use, comes from the Duke University Libraries. This site covers all of the major styles in an easy-to-use format. It also has sections on choosing and refining a topic and evaluating resources. Highly recommended!
Another good site is a companion site to the print Bedford Handbook. This site covers MLA, APA, Chicago, and CBE styles.
A newer tool is the Landmarks Citation Machine, which is an interactice web tool that generates correct citations in APA and MLA format based on information you enter about the item. EasyBib is a similar tool.
For Harvard Style, there are several good web sites to help you out.
Here is a good overview of CBE (Council of Biology Editors) Style.
Here is a page from the American Anthropological Association on using AAA Style. It contains a link to a pdf file that gives more details about AAA Style. A quick reference to the AAA style is also available.
For help in citing electronic sources using a particular style, you can try the web site of the organization that created that style:
Finally, there are a couple of other books in our Reference Collection which focus on citing electronic sources:
| The Columbia Guide to Online Style | R 808.027 W181c 1998 |
| Electronic Style: A Handbook for
Citing Electronic Information | R
808.027 L693e |
| APA Style Guide to Electronic References |
R
808.06615 A639 2007 |
Related to the issue of documenting your sources is that of plagiarism. By carefully documenting your sources, you can avoid plagiarism. You can learn about other strategies at the following sites:
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