HIST350: Early Modern Microhistories

• Computer-generated citations always need to be checked for accuracy. If you use "cite this" within a database, or if you use citation software like Zotero, you need to check each footnote, and your bibliography, to make sure they are complete and correct. 
   
• Links: a link alone is never enough for citation, because most online links are not permanent. To help your reader find the source you used, always use complete citation information.
   
• The purpose of citation is to help the reader identify and locate the source you used. If you cannot find an exact matching citation example, use the closest you can find and adapt it, keeping this purpose in mind.
   

• Online style guides provide examples for Chicago Style citations and other formatting questions. To find these, search online for 
                 Chicago Style Guide + item you're trying to format or cite
  Example Search: Chicago Style Guide Long Quotations

• Long quotations (5 or more lines, or 2 or more paragraphs) are also known as "Block Quotes". They should be presented as follows: no quotation marks, single spaced, and the entire quote indented by 0.5"

• First line vs. hanging indents: footnotes use first-line indentation; bibliography entries use hanging indents. For an example of indentation, look at the CMOS sample paper from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).
   
• Images: images do not need to be included in your bibliography, but you do need to include a caption with each image. See this section on how to caption images in Chicago style.

CITE THE INFORMATION IF:

• You use or describe specific information you have taken from a source, or
• You refer to a theory or idea from a source, or
• You  include any image (picture, table, graph) from a source.

YOU DON'T NEED TO CITE IF:

• The information you use is common knowledge, or 
• The information you use is a fact that can be easily found in multiple sources and verified by most people.

WHAT SHOULD YOU CITE?

• Books, journals, magazines, newspapers, diaries, letters: anything printed.
• Websites, blogs, online journals, emails, videos: anything online.
• TV, plays, lectures (including your professors' lectures), speeches, songs.

WHEN SHOULD YOU CITE?

• When you're quoting something directly.
• When you're paraphrasing, summarizing, or adapting text.
• When you're using an interpretation or explanation that isn't your own idea.

If you are uncertain about whether to cite information or not, it's OK to ask your professor or a librarian for help.

Paraphrasing means restating ideas you have read, but writing them in your own words. 

Check out this page explaining paraphrasing with examples. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

See more examples here. (Las Positas College)

Paraphrasing correctly helps you to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is copying someone else 's words, without giving them credit for their ideas. Plagiarism is considered an Honor Code violation at Hollins University.

source: Walden University Writing Center

source: Walden University Writing Center