Education: Law: Citation Styles

The Modern Language Association (MLA) style is used in the fields of language and literature

The American Psychological Association (APA) style is used in the social sciences, business, anthropology, and some of the life sciences.

The Chicago Manual of Style is used in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Note: Your instructor may direct you to use a format not included here, or may direct you to use a variation of one of these formats. Be sure to make yourself aware of each instructor's preference.

Plagiarism is a serious offense at East Carolina University. The ECU Student Handbook defines plagiarism as "Copying the language, structure, ideas, and/or thoughts of another and adopting same as one's own original work." For more information see Section II: Code of Conduct, Penalties, and Hearing Procedures for Students in the handbook.

Tips for avoiding plagiarism The First Year Writing Studio at ECU offers the following suggestions for avoiding plagiarism:

• Place quotation marks around direct quotes.
• Paraphrase your source information. This means more than rearranging the structure of a sentence or changing a few words. A good way to do this is to figure out what the source means to you and then writing this down without looking at the source.
• Document all quotes and paraphrased information, and provide a Works Cited page at the end of your paper.
• In your notes, record quotes, paraphrases, and summaries in an orderly manner so that the page number, source, author/editor, and publication information are carefully noted.

Links for more information: