Citation Tips

When you are creating a research paper for Taskstream, you are going to need to cite your work from time to time. There are a few things you need to keep in mind so that your references page and your in text citations are done correctly.

• All of the citations I've done for WGU Indiana are in APA format. If you aren't in the Teachers College then you may need to use a different format. Your Taskstream instructions will always note at the bottom what type of format you need to use when citing text. Purdue OWL is a great place to start since it offers detailed information about how to accurately cite work, as well as samples so you can see how it should look on the paper.
• The picture here is for fun and irony. Wikipedia is not a quality source to cite. However, it is a great place to start. You can get an idea of what you need to know through Wikipedia and you can even find some great sources there. Click on the number by the word or phrase you want to source if there is one next to it. You can also simply scroll to the bottom for the list of references that are usually viable sources. Assess the source yourself to determine if it is a quality source, but never cite Wikipedia.
• No more than 30% of your work can be from another source. That's almost a third of your paper. No, you can't create the majority of your paper out of citations. 
• You don't always need citations, but you will never get flagged for using them. Your Taskstream instructions will tell you if you need to include citations. Not all papers require them. However, no one is going to complain if you use them when you don't have to. On some occasions students have had their work sent back because they didn't use citation, even though the instructions did not require them. You can avoid this issue by including in the paper or as a note to the reviewer the words "No references were used. All information was obtained through my own experience." This can be included in the pop-up window that opens as you submit your work.