In GPS, you will be asked to cite the sources you use for assignments and group projects. There are a number of reasons why learning how to cite properly is important:
You can get an introduction to citation by watching our Reading Citations and References video.
In GPS your instructors know you’re just getting familiar with citation, so it’s ok if your citations aren’t completely perfect. But this is a good time to practice. Do your best, and ask for help from a librarian if you're confused!
These templates will help you make full references for some common types of sources, which will go in your Works Cited list.
If you use information from a source in your writing, you should use in-text citations to refer to the full reference in the Works Cited list.
In-text citations for MLA are usually an author's last name and a page number, inside parentheses (Foucault 387).
If your source doesn't have an author, you can use the title - for example if you mention an idea from Gilgamesh you might use the in-text citation (Gilgamesh 52). If the title is very long, you can shorten it to the first noun - for example Commands and Admonitions for Families of the Great Dao might become Commands.
You can find more information about in-text citation on citation guides like the Purdue OWL MLA Guide.
Author Last Name, Author First Name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection, edited by Editor's Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.
Foucault, Michael. "The Great Confinement." Global Perspectives on Society, edited by Anna Greenspan and Lena Sheen, NYU Shanghai, 2024, pp. 381-398.
Author Last Name, Author First Name. “Title of Chapter.” Title of Book, edited by First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year, Page range of chapter. Database Name, URL of book.
Mueller, Nathan and Leilani Mueller. “Breaking the Spell: Beauty and the Beast and Plato’s Prisoner.” Disney and Philosophy: Truth, Trust, and a Little Bit of Pixie Dust, edited by Richard Brian Davis, John Wiley & Sons, 2020, pp. 177-83. Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5983642.
Author Last Name, Author First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, Volume number, Issue number, Year, page range of article. Database Name, URL of article.
Wu, You. “Globalization, Science Fiction and the China Story: Translation, Dissemination and Reception of Liu Cixin’s Works across the Globe.” Critical Arts, vol. 34, no. 6, 2020, pp. 56-70. Taylor & Francis, https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2020.1850820.
Author Last Name, Author First Name. “Article Title.” Newspaper or Blog Name, Day, month, year of publication, URL of article.
Schneier, Bruce, and Davi Ottenheimer. “Robots Are Already Killing People.” The Atlantic, 6 Sep. 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/robot-safety-standards-regulation-human-fatalities/675231/.
Author Last Name, Author First Name. “Title of Page.” Title of Website, Day, month, year of update, URL of page.
Lombard, Retha. “Snake Quiz: Can You Identify All 20 snakes?” A-Z Animals, 13 Apr. 2023, https://a-z-animals.com/quiz/snakes-quiz/.
“The Stock Market.” Dow Jones Smart Money, https://www.dowjones.com/smartmoney/what-is-the-stock-market/. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
Examples of this may include photographs, tables, charts, infographics, and other forms of images. If there is no title, provide a short description of the image instead.
Image Creator Last Name, Image Creator First Name. “Image Title.” or Image description. Title of Website, Day, month, year of publication, URL of page.
Akiyama, Iwao. “Black Hunter.” Library of Congress, 2005, https://www.loc.gov/item/2006688061/.
“Image Title.” or Image description. Title of Website, Day, month, year of publication, URL of page.
Headshot of Ochai Agbaji. National Basketball Association, https://www.nba.com/jazz/roster. Accessed 7 Sep. 2023.
Examples of this are posts on X or forum posts like Reddit. If the user’s full name is unavailable, use their username instead.
User Last Name, User First Name [User handle]. “Title or Entire Post.” Social Media Platform, Day, month, year of publication, URL of post.
Guy, Derek [@dieworkwear]. “my three favorite cuisines are living wage, expanded welfare state, and affordable housing.” X, 1 Sep. 2023. https://x.com/dieworkwear/status/1697391059326894340.
Apple_Slipper. “The Amazing Race Australia Season 6 Episode 7 Discussion.” Reddit, 9 Sept. 2022. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAmazingRace/comments/xbe3m3/the_amazing_race_australia_season_6_episode_7/.
Examples of this are posts on Instagram or image posts on X. If the user’s full name is unavailable, use their username instead.
User Last Name, User First Name [User handle]. Short description of image. Social Media Platform, Day, month, year of publication, URL of post.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art [@metmuseum]. Photo of a small black dog on the steps in front of the MET. Instagram, 27 Aug. 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/CwbJLJzp1Ic/.
Examples of this are videos on YouTube or TikTok. If the user’s full name is unavailable, use their username instead.
User Last Name, User First Name, [User Handle]. “Title of Post.” Social Media Platform, Day, month, year of publication, URL of post.
Ellis, Lindsay [@LindsayEllisVids]. “RENT - Look Pretty and Do As Little as Possible: A Video Essay.” YouTube, 1 Jan. 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0qfFbtIj5w.
Usually, you don’t need to cite your own creations, like photos you take or writing that you create, the first time you submit or publish it. But, in GPS you should cite your own images to practice citation skills and show that you haven’t taken someone else’s work without crediting it.
Your Last Name, Your First Name. Image description or Image Title. Day, month, year when image was taken.
Smith, John. Photograph of pedestrians on West Nanjing Road. 15 June 2022.
If you use generative AI in your work, you need to decide whether to cite or acknowledge the tool.
Include an acknowledgement if you use a generative AI as a functional tool - for example, editing your writing or translating text. This acknowledgement could be a sentence in your writing that describes how you used it, or a note on an essay.
If you paraphrase, quote, or include content like images created by generative AI, you should make a citation for the content. The simple template here can help create a citation, but it might change depending on what you are citing.
"Prompt" or description of what was generated by AI. Name of Generative AI Tool, version, Company that Created the Tool, Date you used the tool, URL for the generative AI tool.
"Describe how generative AI can help undergraduate students" prompt. ChatGPT, 4o mini, OpenAI, 4 Sept. 2024, https://chatgpt.com/.
"Draw a picture of 'orange banana'" prompt. Copilot, Microsoft, 4 Sept. 2024. https://copilot.microsoft.com/
