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Library Skills Tutorial

Getting Started

Citations, aka, references give credit to others for their work and ideas and allow readers to track down the original work if they choose. You will find much more detailed instructions for formatting your references in the official guide (see below) for the style you are using. 

Whenever you use someone else's words or ideas in your paper or presentation, you must indicate that this information is borrowed by citing your source. This applies to written sources you've used, such as books, articles and web pages, as well as other formats, such as images, sounds, TV/film clips, and DVDs. Citation is an important responsibility in upholding academic integrity.

Citation managers are useful tools that can help with your citation. See the How to Cite guide (linked below) for specifics on tools.

For more information on when and why we cite, see the How to Cite guide and watch the short video below. For citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers, as well as information on citation practices among Indigenous researchers, see Xwi7xwa Library's Indigenous and First Nations guide - Citing.

 

More citation videos are available from the How to Cite Guide, under 'Video Recap', including Citing: Where and Why and Using Style Guides. 

 

Citation Style Quick Guides at UBC

UBC Library has helpful guides for all major citation styles. Before you cite, you will need to determine the style you will be using. Your professor may assign a style, or there may be a style commonly used in your discipline. Otherwise, you may choose a style, but be careful not to mix styles. If in doubt, ask your instructor.

The short video below gives an introduction to using style guides.

Read the transcript