MONTAUK SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER

WORKS CITED HELP
TOOLS FOR DOCUMENTING AND CITING YOUR RESOURCES

There are a few really important things to keep in mind as you do your research:

1) Use sources that provide accurate, relevant, and current information.
Accurate means it is correct.
Relevant means it matters.
Current means it is up-to-date.

2) You must give credit to the sources that you use. In fancy-dancy language we call this "documenting your sources." To do this, you include a special page at the end of your project called a "Works Cited" page. See below for help.

3) You may NOT take information from a source word for word. You must use your own words to explain what you learn from the sources that you use.  Taking information word for word and/or not giving credit to sources that you use is called PLAGIARISM and it is illegal.

ELEMENTARY RESEARCH WORKSHEET

MIDDLE SCHOOL RESEARCH WORKSHEET

HOW TO WRITE A WORKS CITED PAGE & SAMPLE WORKS CITED (2 pages)

This amazing website lets you plug in basic information about your source and then tells you how it should look for your Works Cited page!  Read the hints below to use this tool correctly:
  • For citations we use MLA style - you will see the choices when you go to the Citation Machine website. They are on the left side.
  • After you click on MLA you will choose from Print and Non-Print sources. Just below it says, "<see more>" - you need to click on that to see all the different types of sources.
  •  Figure out what kind of source you are trying to cite (book, article from a database, government publication, TV or radio program, etc.) and click on it in the list on the left.
  • Then carefully fill in the information as best you can. Sometimes you will not know all the information asked for. That is okay. Just put in whatever you have.
  • Click submit. The website will then give you the citation. All you need to do is copy/paste this into a Word document.
  • Once you paste it into Word you will need to put a proper heading on your document and put the words Works Cited centered above all your sources.
  • You will also need to make all your sources have a "hanging indent." To do this you: highlight the source, go to Format menu, select Paragraph, change the indent marked "special" from "none" to "hanging."
  • Don't forget that you must also alphabetize your list of sources by the first word. Ignore the word "the."
  • Also remember to put a period "." at the end of each source you list.
  • Still confused? No biggie - come see Ms. K and she will help you until it is perfect!
  • If you have suggestions of how to improve these instructions, let me know and I will try to make them better!
  • Happy Researching!  Feel free to email or IM Ms. K with questions anytime.
     



 

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