There are many assignments in middle school that require students to research a topic or topics. Students may find the information they need in books, magazines, in an online database or website, even in an interview with a real, live person! But no matter where information is found, it is very important to tell the world where you found it! If you don't, you are plagiarizing whoever it was who provided the information in the first place. And that's unethical, not to mention illegal!

To prevent plagiarism, always cite your sources and include a bibliography with your work.

There are two basic formulas or styles commonly used to write papers and cite sources. Depending on what subject area your assignment is in, you will be asked by your teacher to use either MLA or APA style. MLA is commonly used for language arts, while APA is used in the sciences.

Here is an informative link for MLA style guidelines:

Purdue University MLA Style Guide

Here is an informative link for APA style guidelines:

Purdue University APA Style Guide

Of course, if you want to make it easy on yourself, you can always use:

NoodleTools, or

The Citation Machine