MUSC: Research in Music: Citation

It's important to cite sources in order to:

• Help others find the information you used
• Build your own credibility as a well-informed writer
• Give credit to those who created the information you used
• Be an Aggie (USU Student Code)

How can you use someone else's ideas in your work? There are three ways, all of which require a citation:

• Summarizing - Offering a general recap (in your own words) of the author's main ideas
• Paraphrasing - Rephrasing a specific portion of the authors work into your own words
• Quoting - Using the author's exact words (in quotes)

Music history courses will use Chicago citation style, a style commonly used by historians and music theorists. Always check assignment instructions or with your professor to confirm which citation style to use in your writing.

The Turabian style, used by historians, is a condensed version of the Chicago Manual of Style. The two styles are similar, but not necessarily identical.

APA is the citation style used by music therapy students.

APAStyle.org is the most reliable place online to get information about how to cite in this style, including help with in-text citations and your reference list, including lots of example citations for various types of sources.