When writing a research paper, one of the first things you will do is read research that others have done before you; this will include books, articles and studies. More often than not, you will be using THEIR ideas, thoughts, and research in YOUR paper. When you do this, you must mention (or "cite") the sources you have used and referred to. If you do not, you are plagiarizing, or stealing, information (more on that later).

At the end of your research paper you will need to include a bibliography/works cited section. This is an alphabetical list of citations that contain all the information that readers will need to locate these resources for themselves.