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Masters of Business Administration (MBA)

This is a Guide designed to be a homepage for MBAs and their research. From here, you can navigate to other guides

When to cite

So how do you know when to cite? A few basic rules apply.

1. If you quote a resource, cite it.

2. If you paraphrase someone else's idea or statement, cite it.

3. If you state a fact that is not common knowledge, cite it.

4. If you're unsure, cite it.

Managing Sources and Generating References (Tools)

Source Managers

EndNote, is a desktop client you install on your computer and EndNote Basic (formally Web), free to to ISU students, faculty, and staff, is a web-based service similar to RefWorks. Both programs help organize your sources and prepare bibliographies

Zotero is a free browser-based program for managing Open Web sources. Find out more from the Quick Start Guide. It was developed at George Mason University.

Citavi Free allows for up to 100 references. Search for, manage, organize and cite sources.

Citation Generators

Citation Machine
Citation Machine is a free site that automatically produces MLA, APA, Turabian or Chicago style citations for a variety of sources (but not bibliographies). Users can copy and paste citations into Word. It was developed by David Warlick, an educator.

DocsCite
Docscite is a free site that automatically produces MLA or APA style citations for government documents. DocsCite was developed at, and is provided by, Arizona State University Libraries.

KnightCite
KnightCite is a free site that automatically produce MLA, APA, or Chicago style citations for 25 types of sources. From the Hekman Library at Calvin College.

The APA Wizard and The MLA Wizard
This free site automatically produces MLA or APA style citations for 6 basic types of sources. There is excellent help on each screen to walk users through the processing of citing a source.

Tweet2Cite
This generator takes the tweet URL and converts it into an APA or MLA citation.

Reasons to Cite Sources

When you research a topic you may use information from articles, books, or the Open Web to support your ideas. Building upon the ideas and knowledge of other people is the way we as individuals build and contribute to the knowledge around us.

When you integrate other peoples' ideas and work into your own, it is importent to give those authors credit for their hard work. This enables others, who see your work, to also look at those peoples' ideas that have contributed to your project. To cite means that you state where you found the information so that others can find the exact item again.

Tips for researching and citing:

1. Take clear, accurate notes about where you found specific ideas.

2. Write down the complete citation information for each item you use.

3. Take advantage of online citing tools.

4. Use quotation marks when directly stating another person's words.

5. Always credit original authors for their information and ideas.

For more help on citing, consult this e-book: Cite right: a quick guide to citation styles -- MLA, APA, Chicago, the sciences, professions, and more