Citing

During the college years not only will students be required to write numerous essays, but they will also be required to cite there work as well. Citing is required in order to avoid plagiarism, it also helps for others who may be researching the same topic to find credited sources as well. While there are multiple citing sources the most common used in colleges are APA and Chicago. Colleges have manuals for citing available in their libraries for students to use. When I went to school online the college sent me one, but I have a secret to share with you.

There is a web site called Son of Citation Machine, this is the site I used during college for citing my work. This site is free and so easy to use, chose the citing source you want to use and fill in the information, it is that easy. You will notice you will be prompted to select what you want to site. For instance citing for print and non-print are different. But, also citing a government document is different than citing an article from a web site. Note that there is a place also for selecting multiple authors if it applies. Once you are done hit the submit button, if there is an error do not hit the back browser button you will lose your cite, instead hit the button on the page to return. You will than see the citation to be used in the bibliography and the one to use within your text. All that is left to do is copy and paste into your essay, it is that easy.

Brandon uses the computer a lot for his school work and is required to write an essay a week along with summaries. After the holidays I will be requiring him to cite the sources he uses, this will get him in the habit of doing so before college. When I first started having to cite I wasn't used to it and would often forget. This led me on a wild goose chase to find the web site I had used.

Do you know of other free online citing sources?