Skip to Main Content

Citing Sources

Citation styles and tools for citing sources/managing citations

Citing and Attributing Images in Presentations, etc.

A photo of someone holding a sign that says "Give Thanks".

Photo by Simon Maage on Unsplash

Attribution statements give credit to the original creator(s) whenever you reuse or re-purpose their content. If someone reused your creative works would you want them to give you attribution?

What's the standard we use to give attribution?
As recommended by Creative Commons, this is an ideal attribution:

Cupcakes on a glass platter on a green table

“Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco” by tvol is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Because:
  1. What is the title? “Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco”
  2. Who is the creator/author? “tvol” – linked to their profile page
  3. What's the source? “Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco” – linked to original Flickr page
  4. What license is used?? “CC BY 2.0” – linked to license deed

Citations vs. Attribution

The following table summarizes the differences between citations and attributions.

What's the difference between attribution and a citation?

Citation

Attribution

Academic and legal purposes (plagiarism and copyright infringement).

Legal purposes (e.g., rules of Creative Commons licenses).

The rights of the copy (meaning copyright) are NOT shared with the general public by the copyright holder.

Copyright IS shared with the general public by the copyright holder by marking the work with an open-copyright license.

Protects an author who wants to refer to a restricted work by another author.

Author of an open work has given advanced permissions to use their work.

Used to quote or paraphrase a limited portion of a restricted work.

Used to quote (or paraphrase) all or a portion of an openly licensed work.

Can paraphrase, but cannot change work without permission.

Author has give advanced permission to change work.

Many citation styles are available: APA, Chicago, MLA.

Attribution statement styles are still emerging, but there are some defined best practices.

A reference list of cited resources are typically placed at the end of the book.

Attribution statements are found on the same page as the resource.