Research Guides: US Latinx History Research Guide: 5. Organize, Write & Cite

Step 5 - Organize, Write & Cite

Organizing your research can help make the writing and citing process easier. Use tips from this page to guide you in this step.

Why do we cite? Several reasons!

It makes us look good. Seriously, it's ethical and responsible to help readers differentiate our ideas from those we are using from others.
It helps us point our readers to our sources where they can more deeply engage with the scholarly conversation.
It helps us to learn how to communicate formally within our discipline/major.

Organizing Your Research - Avoiding Plagiarism (Infographic)

Long description of "Organizing your research" for web accessibility

Major Citation Styles - Official and Credible Guidance

Official Style Manuals

There are many different types of academic and professional writing styles. The four guidebooks below represent some of the major ones. Use these guides to learn how professional researchers and writers prepare their manuscripts for publication or sharing.

Major Style Guides by Fields that Use Them -- Click the image to be taken to the book or eBook in our library collection.
Humanities	Social Sciences	Humanities & Social Sciences	Some Sciences
MLA Handbook	APA Manual	Chicago Manual	CSE Manual

Online Style Resources

Although these resources are not official, they are still credible and very useful! If one of these websites doesn't answer your question, check out the official style guide or contact a librarian for help!

Excelsior OWL: Citation & Documentation
APA, MLA, and Chicago styles and more!
Tips & Tools from The Writing Center (UNC-Chapel Hill)

UO Research Guides

These helpful guided from UO Libraries provide information on various citation styles.

Citation and Plagiarism
by Chloe Barnett Last Updated Aug 12, 2024 5928 views this year
Introductory How-To Tutorials for MLA and APA Styles from UO Libraries
by Chloe Barnett Last Updated Aug 12, 2024 191 views this year

Avoiding Plagiarism: What Do I Need to Cite? (Video Tutorial)

Check out this video from Kevin deLaplante to learn about plagiarism and borrowing both quotes and ideas (paraphrasing).

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:

What is the title? “Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco”
Who is the creator/author? “tvol” – linked to their profile page
What's the source? “Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco” – linked to original Flickr page
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.

Citation vs. Attribution by BCcampus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Step 5: Pause to Reflect on Your Process

Pause to Reflect

First of all, congratulations on making it this far! You may still have some loose ends to tie up, and that is OK. Take a moment to think back through your research process. Did you learn any helpful tips along the way? Are there new strategies that you can use for future projects or papers?

Do you still need more information? You can go back to previous steps at any time to revisit your research question or look for more or different sources of information.

If you think you missed something, please feel free to reach out to a Subject Librarian:

Subject and Area Librarians

Need Help?

Writing Support on Campus

Photo Credit: UO Libraries

Note: Please check the websites below for availability of online or remote services:

TAEC's Drop-in Writing Tutoring The Tutoring and Academic Engagement Center offers drop-in writing help in Knight Library, including for some modern languages!
TAEC's Online Writing Lab (OWL) The OWL is the Tutoring and Academic Engagement Center's Online Writing Lab. It is an asynchronous service; you will receive feedback after you send TAEC your work.
Writing Associates Program Writing Associates appointments are for English, Honors College, Writing, and AEIS students taking 100 or 200-level classes. 50-minute appointment-based, one-on-one tutoring on any stage of the writing process.
Writing Lab Service
Customized academic assistance for all international students

Tutorials

Help with writing & editing your paper

Writing Resources (Harvard College Writing Center)
Strategies for Essay Writing
Brief Guides to Writing in the Disciplines
Disciplinary Writing Guides

The Elements of Style by William Strunk; E. B. White You know the authors' names. You recognize the title. You've probably used this book yourself. This is The Elements of Style, the classic style manual, now in a fourth edition. A new Foreword by Roger Angell reminds readers that the advice of Strunk & White is as valuable today as when it was first offered.This book's unique tone, wit and charm have conveyed the principles of English style to millions of readers. Use the fourth edition of "the little book" to make a big impact with writing.
Call Number: Knight Library Reference (PE1408 .S772 2000)
Publication Date: 1999
Writing in the Sciences: Exploring Conventions of Scientific Discourse by Ann M. Penrose; Steven B. Katz A rhetorical, multi-disciplinary guide, Writing in the Sciences discusses the major genres of science writing including research reports, grant proposals, conference presentations, and a variety of forms of public communication. Multiple samples from real research cases illustrate a range of scientific disciplines and audiences for scientific research along with the corresponding differences in focus, arrangement, style, and other rhetorical dimensions. Comparisons among disciplines provide the opportunity for students to identify common conventions in science and investigate variation across fields.
Call Number: Price Science Commons and Research Library Collection (T11 .P393 2010)
Publication Date: 2009

US Latinx History Research Guide