The first step to correctly citing sources for a college paper takes place before you write the first sentence of your essay. Choose your sources carefully. Professors can give as much consideration to the sources listed as they do to the paper itself. Anonymous online sources or popular magazines are not academically legitimate sources. Whenever possible, aim to find at least one printed source of information, such as a book or scholarly journal. Avoid using only online sources. When you do use online sources, websites run by universities--identifiable by ".edu"--or by the government--recognizable by ".gov"--are preferable. Always check that the author(s) offer verifiable credentials, whether the source is printed or online.
Take thorough and legible notes of the titles, authors' names and dates published for all sources you consult during your research, so that you have all the necessary information ready when you write your paper.
Use the American Psychological Association or APA format for papers written for classes in the social sciences (unless otherwise instructed by your professor). APA format requires in-text citations. If you are referring to an idea from a work but not directly quoting the material, enclose the author's last name and the year the work was published in parentheses following the referenced material. For example: (Harrison, 1997). If you are directly quoting from a work, include the author's name, year of publication and the page on which the quote appears preceded by "p." For example: (Harrison, 1997, p. 31). If the citation is at the end of the sentence, place punctuation outside of the parentheses. You may also use a signal phrase within your sentence to reference the author's name, for example: "according to Harrison." In this case, you need not repeat the author's last name in the parenthetical citation.
The APA format requires a reference list at the end of the college paper. Include each source you cite in your reference list. Type the title "References" and center it at the top of the page. Do not bold, italicize or underline the title or use quotation marks. Indent all lines after the first line of each entry by one-half of an inch from the left margin. Invert the names of the authors (last name first). Italicize book and journal titles. Capitalize each major word in a journal title. For any work that is not a journal, capitalize only the first word of the title or subtitle, the first word following a colon or dash, and all proper nouns. Alphabetize all sources in the reference list by the last name of the author.
Use the Modern Language Association or MLA format for papers in literature and humanities classes (unless otherwise instructed by your professor). MLA style requires in-text citations for both direct quotations and paraphrases. Use the author-page citation method for MLA papers. Enclose the author's last name and the page number on which the material cited appears within parentheses. For example: (Orwell, 81). You may reference the author's name in the body of your sentence instead of within parentheses, but you must always parenthesize the page number.
Include a works cited page at the end of every MLA style paper. Include each of the sources cited in your paper in the works cited page. Center the words "Works Cited" at the top of the page. Do not bold, italicize or underline the words or enclose them in quotation marks. Indent the second and subsequent lines of each entry by five spaces. List page numbers of sources. Capitalize each word of all titles except for short prepositions and words like "the" or "an." Italicize titles for books and journals. Use quotation marks for the titles of shorter works such as poetry and articles.