Work Cited
Why Bother:
Throughout your paper you cite your sources parenthetically or using author tags. These bits of information are like breadcrumbs. They take us to the work cited page where you list an in-depth citation for the source you used. This is another breadcrumb that helps us to find the actual document you read and used in your paper. We need to get back to that source for several reasons:
1. Information is intellectual property.
2. Turn of phrase is intellectual property.
3. Curious minds want to know.
Points one and two bring up issues of plagiarism and ethics. In academics, you are required to acknowledge those who provided you with information; otherwise, the use of information is theft and is dealt with harshly by all academic institutions. Outside of academics, using someone else’s ideas without giving them credit is highly unethical. It’s why we have patents and copyrights. If you discover something, you have ownership of that knowledge.
The third point is my favorite. If you write an interesting article for a magazine or a proposal for something in the city that I’m interested in, I’m going to flip straight to your work cited page, not to see if you stole information, but to find out where I can learn more. As a writer, you are helping to perpetuate knowledge by guiding us back to the detailed versions of the information you’ve synthesized. It’s nerdy. And important.
How to get it done:
Step I: Be sure to keep track of all of your sources while you’re researching.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU NEED TO PRINT THEM ALL. Printing is often unnecessary, and more often wasteful. It also does not guarantee that you will be able to keep track of things. E-mail your sources to yourself. If you are using a database, there’s a link you can use, and if you are searching the web you can send an e-mail from you to you. This way you will always have a way to get back to the document.
Step II: Create individual work cited entires for all items you referenced in your paper. There are a number of ways to create work cited entries:
Step III: Once you’ve created all of your citations, you are ready to format the page. Here are the basic guidelines:
1. Your Work Cited is part of your paper and should have the same header and page numbering as the rest of the document.
2. Everything is double spaced and ONLY double spaced. Do not put extra space between the the ‘Work Cited’ and the first entry or between any of the individual entries.
3. Use a hanging indent for your individual enties.
Composition 1020 