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The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Political Science Research Guide

Use this guide to find information and research on topics in the field of political science

How to cite sources

It is very important to cite your sources for two reasons: 1) to avoid the appearance of plagiarism (claiming the words or ideas of someone else) and; 2) to allow the reader to find the source themselves. This means that URLs by themselves are not sufficient, because they can change, and may not include enough information to identify the work.

At the very least, a citation should contain a title, an author (if applicable), and a date (if available).

The two most common citation styles in the social sciences are:

  • APA (American Psychological Association)
  • MLA (Modern Languages Association)

A citation manager is a useful app that can help you collect, insert, and format citations.