Final answer:
In an edTPA portfolio, formal citations for all sources used are mandatory, not optional, and must comply with a consistent citation style like MLA, including in-text citations and a bibliography.
Step-by-step explanation:
For your edTPA portfolio, you are indeed required to include formal citations for all sources used. This ensures that you give proper credit for any material that you have not written yourself, including texts, images, audio, and video files. Depending on your field of research, you might rely on different types of sources, which could be scholarly articles, reliable news reports, government documents, and other credible, trustworthy, and unbiased sources. In all cases, you should adhere to a consistent citation style, such as MLA format, and include both in-text citations and a bibliography at the end of your report.
It is also important that you evaluate your sources critically to determine their value, considering factors such as the author's expertise and potential biases. The sources should contribute meaningfully to your research, providing facts, examples, inferences, expert opinions, or relevant personal experiences.