 When Katie first started her psychology major, she was really frustrated with always having to cite her sources. She knew that if she didn't cite her sources, she would be accused of plagiarism. But she didn't really understand why it was so important. And she was upset to find that she had to learn a new citation style. She'd already learned MLA in high school, so why did she have to switch to APA? As Katie progressed through the major, she started to understand more clearly why citing sources is so important. First, she came to see that the books and articles that she was citing took a lot of effort to create. She learned that researchers could spend months or even years working on a book or an article. Giving appropriate credit to the author was a way for Katie to show that she understood and respected the time and effort involved in the creation of each source and the value of that source to the author. Katie realized that citing sources was also a way of providing credibility to her own work. It demonstrated to her professors that she had done research on her topic, and it showed that she could back up what she was saying with evidence. Her professor explained that each time a scholar published a book or an article, that person was participating in a type of conversation among scholars in that field. When she cited her sources, she was showing her professors that she understood the conversation that scholars were having about her topic. It showed that she knew all about the previous relevant research. Katie began to use her sources in a different way. As a freshman, she would usually write most of her paper first, and then she would try to find sources that fit what she was saying. However, as she learned more about research, she started using sources before she started writing and not as an afterthought. She learned to use sources to guide her thinking about a topic. Katie discovered that looking at what others had found gave her a better understanding of her topic and helped her to develop new questions and arguments. Citing sources also meant that her professor, or anyone else who read her paper, could find the same sources she had found. This allowed those who read her paper to learn about new sources that they might not otherwise have found. Katie also found out why it was important to use APA style rather than MLA. She learned that different disciplines, or subject areas, usually had different citation formats. Conforming to a specific style, rather than having each person use their own preferred style, provided consistency for everyone in that discipline. Using APA style demonstrated that Katie was learning to write like a psychologist would write. Even though she didn't like using APA style at first, Katie found many different resources she could use that made citing sources easier. The most important resource she had was the APA's publication manual, which explained all aspects of APA style. Katie also learned about several different websites that provided assistance with APA, including the APA style website, the APA style blog, and the APA formatting and style guide at the Purdue Online Writing Lab.