Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
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MLA Handbook
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The Chicago Manual of Style
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Documentation is the careful way in which the researcher tells her/his readers which of these works he/she is using, and to what purpose. Without documentation, subsequent researchers will waste valuable time replicating work that has already been done, but not documented for others to find.
Whenever you're doing research, you should always document your work. First of all, you want to satisfy your assignment, and the research paper assignments are all going to require some kind of search for sources of information to support your research question. Second, when doing work for a grade, you need to be sure to give the person grading your work something to assess. Your careful analysis of works that you have found on your own are among the things that your professors are looking for when they grade your research assignments.
Many of the GALILEO databases include citation helper utilities. Similar tools are available free on the Internet. Automated citation generators often contain errors. Use them as short-cuts, not as the last word. Always use the manual, or a guide to the manual, to verify citation formatting.
Examples of citation utilities --
GIL-Find catalog. Click "Citation" to view a citation of this journal in multiple styles, for example APA. Copy-and-paste your choice into Word or elsewhere.
Google Scholar. Click quote marks to auto-generate a citation of this article in your chosen format, for example APA style.
Proquest Ebook Central. Click "Cite Book" to auto-generate the ebook reference for use in a bibliography / list of references.
Plagiarism handout - from UNC-Chapel Hill. Written from a student's point of view, it discusses why we need to be aware of good citation practices, and why plagiarism is such a "big deal". Don't just take our word for it.