Attributing—Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
Attributing is the process of identifying the sources of your information within the paper that you're writing.
Attributing is a two-step process:
Step 1: Note each source as you use it in the body of your paper.
Step 2: Provide a complete source citation for every source you use.
Begin your understanding of proper attributing by reading the following excerpt from an article about a U.S. Supreme Court case, written by staff writer Warren Richey, found in the June 25, 2002 issue of the Christian Science Monitor:
State judges may no longer make the key determination between life and death in capital-punishment cases without violating constitutional safeguards.
In the second major capital-punishment ruling in less than a week, the US Supreme Court has struck down the sentencing procedures used in Arizona death-penalty cases, saying it violates the Sixth Amendment guarantee of a trial by jury.
The court, in a 7-to-2 decision, drew a parallel between the sentencing system of Arizona (and by extension eight states with similar systems), and the sentence-enhancement system that the high court struck down two years ago in a landmark case called Apprendi v. New Jersey.
The bottom line: A much anticipated revolution in criminal sentencing just became a lot more revolutionary.
Sure, your professor may require you to include a bibliography or list of references at the end of your paper, or footnotes at the bottom of every page, or even both, but attributing properly requires you to identify your sources in the body of the paper as well.
The particular style manual that you're using will dictate what must appear as notice that an outside source is being used. The underlying principle is that the reader should be able to connect your source identification with a complete citation found at the appropriate place at the bottom of each page or at the end of your paper.
| Style Manual | How You Note Sources in the Body of the Paper |
| MLA |
- For conventional sources (with page numbers and authors), enclose the author's last name and the page number in parentheses.
- For electronic or other unconventional sources (which often do not have page numbers or authors), name or describe the source within the text of the paper in a way that makes it easy for the reader to identify the source in your footnotes or at the end of your paper.
|
| APA |
Typically, you will name the author and place the date of publication in parentheses for example, Smith (1981) writes. . . or both in parentheses One author (Smith 1981) writes...
- You can add a page number for indirect references to an author's work and must include the page number for direct quotations. (Smith 1981, p. 47)
|
| CMS |
Put a raised number immediately after any quotation or other use of an outside source.
Smith wrote that, "Nobody likes to be made or thought of as a fool."1 or Smith wrote about what it feels like to be thought of as a fool. 1
- If you're using "Endnotes", number each source consecutively throughout the body of the paper, starting with the number "1".
- If you're using "Footnotes", number each source consecutively throughout each page, beginning with a new "1" at the bottom of each page which contains references.
|
| CBE |
Put a raised number or a number in parentheses, immediately after any quotation or other use of an outside source, numbered sequentially throughout the body of the paper.
Smith wrote that, "Nobody likes to be made or thought of as a fool."1
or Smith wrote about what it feels like to be thought of as a fool. 1
- If you use more than one source to support an idea, use dashes for sources in sequence and commas for sources out of sequence.
Several poets have argued that no one like to be thought of as a fool.1-3
or Several poets have argued that no one likes to be thought of as a fool.1-2, 5
- If you repeat a source later in the paper, use the original number.
|
Identify a source at the place in your paper where you use the source. Assume that you're writing a paper about the current state of the law regarding capital punishment in the United States. Further, assume that you want to make your paper as up to date as possible by using information about the most recent Supreme Court case written about in this Christian Science Monitor article. At any point where you refer to the article, whether by quoting it, summarizing all or part of it, or paraphrasing parts of it, or just borrowing ideas from it, you must give credit to the source. The point is that you tell your reader where information you're giving them came from and that you make it easy for them to connect the source and the information by putting them close to one another in the text of your paper.
Incorrect Identification—the source is not identified in the body of the paper.
One reporter recently wrote that, "The court . . . drew a parallel between the sentencing system of Arizona . . . and the sentence-enhancement system that the high court struck down two years ago in . . . Apprendi v. New Jersey."
Correct Identification—the source is identified in the body of the paper.
Richey (2002) recently wrote that, "The court . . . drew a parallel between the sentencing system of Arizona . . . and the sentence-enhancement system that the high court struck down two years ago in . . . Apprendi v. New Jersey."
You will have to decide how much information to provide about a source in the body of your paper. Too much information about the source tends to clutter the point you're trying to make and to disrupt the flow of your prose. Too little information about the source may make your reader unsure of the quality of your research or fail to take advantage of the credibility that some sources will lend to the ideas you present in your paper.
Use Signal Phrases to Alert Your Reader to Your Use of Outside Sources.
One way to let your reader know that you're about to use an outside source is to use common phrases that readers expect to see before a quotation or other reference to the outside source. One author (Rasmussen 2003, p. 7) refers to these as signal phrases in the chart below and recommends that you carefully and accurately identify the intention of the source in your attribution.
| Verbs Used in Signal Phrases |
| The verb you choose for a signal phrase should accurately reflect the intention of the source.
|
| acknowledges |
concedes |
illustrates |
reports |
| admits |
concludes |
implies |
reveals |
| agrees |
declares |
insists |
says |
| argues |
denies |
maintains |
shows |
| believes |
endorses |
observes |
suggests |
| claims |
finds |
points out |
thinks |
| comments |
grants |
refutes |
writes |
Rasmussen, K. (2003). A writer's guide to research and documentation (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
STEP 2: Give a Complete Citation for Every Source You Use in Your Paper.
Later in this tutorial, we'll show you where to find illustrations for proper citation format for each of the major style manuals. Where you place the citation will depend on the style manual.
| Style Manual |
Where do the citations go? |
What are they called? |
| MLA |
Citations are alphabetically arranged on a separate page at the end of your paper. |
Works Cited |
| APA |
Citations are alphabetically arranged on a separate page at the end of your paper. |
References |
| CMS |
It depends.
- If you're using "Footnotes" each citation goes, in the order used, at the bottom of the page where the source is used.
- If you're using "Endnotes" each citation is listed, in the order used in the body of the paper, on a separate sheet of paper at the end of your paper.
|
Footnotes
Or
Endnotes |
| CBE |
Citations are arranged in the order in which they were used in the paper on a separate page at the end of your paper. |
References |
| COS |
Citations are alphabetically arranged on a separate page at the end of your paper. |
Works Cited for humanities papers
References for scientific papers |
Just remember that you want to make it clear to your audience when you're using an outside source and that you want to accurately reflect the strength of the original author's intent in your attribution.
