Skip to Main Content

ARTS 2391: Watercolor I & II: Cite Your Sources

A course guide to library research resources for studio art students in Watercolor I & II

Understanding a Journal Citation

You'll see something like this:

It's important to know the parts of a citation so you can interpret it correctly. You must have at least the Journal name, volume, issue, and page number to be able to locate the article.

Ways to Avoid Plagiarism

A Note about Plagiarism

It is important to cite your sources properly. If you want to learn more about avoiding plagiarism, read the Plagiarism Guide.


When you are writing your paper, you can use several ways to present information you have found in the body of your paper, and consciously avoid plagiarizing.

  • Direct quote

If you want to use a sentence or a passage exactly as it was written, you can include a direct quote, surrounded by quotation marks, and either using an inline citation, or a sentence before the quote referencing the author and work of origin.

  • Summary

You can also write a summary (in your own words of course) of the ideas or text you want to use. It helps to write the summary from your memory rather than looking directly at the passage.

  • Paraphrase

Paraphrasing is similar to a summary. It just means taking what you have read and rewriting it in your own words.