Citing sources given to you by your instructor, created by classmates, or uploaded to D2L Brightspace can be tricky. Use the tabs below as guidance, but please reach out to a librarian if you're unsure how to cite something from your SCC's classes.
Use this only when your instructor uploads an actual PDF document, not when they link to a PDF or other material outside of D2L Brightspace (SCC's learning management system). If they do link out, then cite the website they link to.
The PDF could be anything - instructor's notes, study guides, book chapters, articles, short stories, poems, etc. If the PDF is your textbook, then see our Textbooks tab for more information.
Format: Author(s). "Title of Work." Name of Learning Management System in Italics, uploaded by Name, Date of Upload (if Known), URL.
*Note: If citing a play or novel, italicize title of work instead of using quotation marks.
*Note: If you cannot find the date uploaded, then add an access date: Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
*Note: You can usually omit the http:// unless needed to hyperlink.
*Note: For URLs longer than 3 lines, you can shorten the URL. Always retain the host (main website) of the URL.
Example 1: Piepenburg, Erik. "Why 'Hamilton' Has Heat." D2L Brightspace, uploaded by Liam MacDougall, 23 Aug. 2022, d2l.sccsc.edu/d2l/le/content/25658254/viewContent/865265/View.
Example 2: Babcock, Abby. Chap 7-9 DNA and Sexual Reproduction Lecture Notes. D2L Brightspace, uploaded by Abby Babcock, 14 Sept. 2024, d2l.sccsc.edu/d2l/le/content/1112461/viewContent/5333311/View.
Example with Access Date: Jacobs, W. W. "The Monkey's Paw." D2L Brightspace, uploaded by Katie Ramsey, d2l.sccsc.edu/d2l/le/content/701294/viewContent/595415/View. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024
Format: Author(s). Title of Presentation. Name of Learning Management System in italics, uploaded by Name, Date of Upload (if Known), URL. Type of Presentation with name in italics.
*Note: Type of Presentation with name in italics. Examples: PowerPoint presentation or Google Slides presentation.
*Note: If you cannot find the date uploaded, then you need to add an access date: Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
*Note: You can usually omit the http:// unless needed to hyperlink.
*Note: For URLs longer than 3 lines, you can shorten the URL. Always retain the host (main website) of the URL.
Example 1: Johnson, Kellis, and Zane Rucker. Model Landscaping Design. D2L Brightspace, uploaded by Jay Moore, 14 Apr. 2024, d2l.sccsc.edu/d2l/le/content/1012654/viewContent/6334375/View. PowerPoint presentation.
Example with Access Date: Crone, Frank. Symbolism in "The Yellow Wallpaper." D2L Brightspace, uploaded by Frank Crone, d2l.sccsc.edu/d2l/le/content/201256/viewContent/253454/View. PowerPoint presentation. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
This format is for physically printed handouts and course materials your instructor might pass out in class. See other tabs for materials uploaded to D2L Brightspace. The citation will vary based on whether the handout has a title or if you need to create a descriptive title.
Format with Title: Author(s). "Title of Material." Course material for Course Name, compiled by Instructor/Compiler's Name (if different than author), Date, page number(s) (if apply), Spartanburg Community College.
Example with Title: Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Course material for English 102, compiled by Traci Lawrence, spring 2024, Spartanburg Community College.
*Note: If piece is a single page, use: p. for page number; if article is multiple pages, use: pp.
*Note: If citation includes edition, it should be abbreviated to ed.,
Format without Title: Author(s). List a description of the handout. Course material for Course Name, compiled by Instructor/Compiler's Name (if different than author), Date, page number(s) (if apply), Spartanburg Community College.
Example without Title: Gastrointestinal vocabulary terms. Course material for AHS102, compiled by Debrorah Jennings, fall 2024, Spartanburg Community College.
*Note: For materials without titles, create a descriptive title in plain text – no italics, no quotes. Capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns.
Use this format If your entire textbook is available for free in D2L. If there is a link in D2L that goes to an outside website or if you use an access code to pay for access to your textbook, then you'd use a different format.
This format differs from the PDF in D2L citation because textbooks often have publication information such as editors, editions, and publishers to include. Most often these are textbooks written or compiled by your instructor specifically for the course (OER textbooks).
Format: Author(s). Title of Textbook in Italics. Edited by Editor, edition, Publisher, Year. Learning Management System Name in Italics(if electronic) URL.
*Note: If using a print version of the textbook, skip the Learning Management System (D2L Brightspace) and URL
*Note: If your instructor wrote the textbook, they are the author. If your instructor only compiled information from other sources and/or edited it, then they are the editor (and you'll probably not have a author).
*Note: Capitalize the first letter of the word that comes after the title of the book, skipping any information you don't have.
Print Example 1: Composition Basics. Edited by Patricia Jordan, 3rd ed., Spartanburg Community College, 2023.
Print Example 2: Professional Communication: English 165. Edited by Ember Smith, Spartanburg Community College. Accessed Fall 2024.
Print Example 3: Biology 101 Lab Manual: Customized Manual. Spartanburg Community College, 2023.
Online Example: Composition Basics. Edited by Patricia Jordan, 3rd ed., Spartanburg Community College, 2023. D2L Brightspace, d2l.sccsc.edu/d2l/le/content/909183/viewContent/8746820/View.
*Note: You can usually omit the http:// unless needed to hyperlink.
*Note: For URLs longer than 3 lines, you can shorten the URL. Always retain the host (main website) of the URL.
Use this format if there is a link for your textbook in D2L that goes to an outside website or publisher platform, or if your textbook was not written or compiled by your instructor (the publisher will not be SCC).
Online Example: Baldwin, Amy. College Success. Openstax, 2020, open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/889.
Online-Publisher Platform Example: Delgado, Tierra. "A Food Pantry Worth Admiring." The Writer's Mindset, edited by Lisa Wright Hoeffner, McGraw Hill, 2022, pp. 195-98. Connect, mheducation.com.
*Note: Use the Online-publisher platform format when the books lives on a site like Connect, MyMathLab, Mindtap, etc. that has a different name than the publisher of the book. You often have to pay an access code to log into these sites.
Print Example: Baldwin, Amy. College Success. Openstax, 2020.
*Note: For print versions of this book, simply leave off the URL, ending the citation with a period.
*Note: You can usually omit the http:// unless needed to hyperlink.
*Note: For URLs longer than 3 lines, you can shorten the URL. Always retain the host (main website) of the URL.
To cite a chapter or section of any of the about formats, add the title of that chapter/section and page numbers to your citation as you would citing part of any other book. This includes citing short stories, poems, plays, etc. within a larger book. See Citing Part of a Book for more information and examples.
Print Example: Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Introduction to Theatre: THE 101, edited by Emily Grigg, Spartanburg Community College, 2021, pp. 299-312.
*Note: Titles of plays are italicized rather than put in quotation marks.
Online Example: "Chapter Thirteen: The Research Process." Composition Basics, edited by Patricia Jordan, 3rd ed., Spartanburg Community College, 2023, pp. 85-86. D2L Brightspace, d2l.sccsc.edu/d2l/le/content/909183/viewContent/8746820/View.
*Note: You can usually omit the http:// unless needed to hyperlink.
*Note: For URLs longer than 3 lines, you can shorten the URL. Always retain the host (main website) of the URL.
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