8th grade Genetics Research Project: Citing Your Work

Your bibliography, or Works Cited, ensures that readers and viewers of your research product (video, research paper, slide show, etc.) can look up the sources you have used to verify facts and even use them for their own research! Citing your sources is also important because it gives credit to the authors and researchers who have taken the time to research and write about your topic. Watch the videos below for more information about why citing is essential for student researchers.

• Keep track of your sources as you research! If you create a working bibliography while you are working, via Google Doc or another easy-to-access format, you'll only have to clean up and check your bibliography at the end.
• Check out the bibliographies at the end of your print or online sources! These will lead you to other, similar sources which may be helpful. 

• Be sure to use appropriate academic sources! You may have used a LibGuide to start your research, but you may have also explored other onlline sources as you went along. Your teacher will often look at your bibliography before reading your paper to form an opinion about the quality of the research you have done. 

• Include all the information required by MLA style. It is very possible that your teacher will need this information to look up and verify your sources. 

• Don't just add sources to make a long bibliography. Only include sources you have actually used and found helpful!

Use Citation Machine to search, find, and create citations for sources that can't be easily cited from a database.  Follow the prompts, look carefully at your source to make sure you enter the correct information, and voila!  Citations done for you!

The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) is a warehouse of information for EVERY kind of citation you may need to create!  You can find samples of citations for different sources, and you can also link directly to Citation Machine from here.

AN ENTIRE WEBSITE:

Name of website, date published/created, URL, date of access.

Miller Center, University of Virginia, 2022. www.millercenter.org/. Accessed 20 March 2022.

AN ARTICLE OR VIDEO FROM A WEBSITE:

Last name, First name of author (if available). “Title of article or video.” Name of website, creator/sponsor, date published/created, URL, date of access.

Strong, Robert. “Jimmy Carter: Domestic Affairs.” Miller Center, University of Virginia,  2022.  www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and- treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview. Accessed 20 March 2022.

A YOUTUBE VIDEO:

Last name, First name of author (if available). “Title of Video.”  YouTube, uploaded by name of uploader, date of upload, URL, date of access.

McGonigal, Jane. “Gaming and Productivity.” YouTube, uploaded by Big Think, 3 July 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdzy9bWW3E. Accessed 20 March 2022.

Book:
Author's last name, Author's first name. Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Print. 

EBook:
Author's last name, Author's first name. Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Database Title. Format. Date of access.