BRIDGEWATER COLLEGE WRITING CENTER

What does my professor mean by "documentation"?

"Documentation" means the two-part process of giving credit to the sources of information you use in a paper: (1) providing in-text parenthetical documentation or endnote or footnote (known as "citing" the source); (2) adding a bibliography (which may be titled Works Cited or References or Bibliography, depending on the format that you are following).

My professor said to use either MLA or APA.  What does he mean?

Your professor is referring to a particular format for your paper, which includes guidelines for documenting your sources.  The documentation style you select will determine whether you put the author's last name and page number in parentheses or put the author's last name and date in parentheses or use an endnote or a footnote.  Each documentation style also has rules for the order of information, capitalization, and punctuation of information in your bibliography.  The MLA format is explained fully in the MLA Handbook, currently in its 6th edition; the APA format is explained fully in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, currently in its 5th edition.  

My professor did not tell the class anything about the documentation format.  How do I know what guidelines to follow?

The most common documentation styles are listed below as links to more information to guidelines for each style or format.

What information do I need for my bibliography?

See the BCWC page on Bibliographic Information.