The Importance of Academic Honesty and Citing Sources
Plagiarism is using another person's idea and pretending it is your own. It is more serious than borrowing; plagiarism is actually stealing and it's against the law. Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional.
Preventing Plagiarism by Citing Sources
When writing an essay, research paper or report, you must document or reference the source of all the ideas which you have borrowed from another person's work, otherwise you are guilty of plagiarism or academic dishonesty.
What is a Works Cited or References List?
The Works Cited or References list is a list of all the information sources which you used to write your essay, research paper or report. It is located at the end of your essay on its own separate and numbered page. Each information source has an entry on the list. The format for each entry will vary according to the type of source.
MLA or APA Format?
There are different rule systems for documenting sources, depending on the subject area. All rule systems require basically the same information but the formatting of the information varies slightly.
(Ontario Library Association's Together for Learning: School Libraries and the Emergence of the Learning Commons: A Vision for the 21st Century, 2010)