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4.2: Citation Basics

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    What is a citation?

    Citations are a short way to uniquely identify a published work (e.g. book, article, chapter, web site).

    There are two parts to any citation: an in text citation and a reference list citation

     

    1. In text citation – a shortened citation that appears in the body of your work and points readers to the reference list

    In text citation

    2. Reference list citation – longer citations that  appear at the end of a paper and provide enough information needed to describe and find your source again, physically or online.

    Reference list citation

    What goes into a citation?

    Citations consist of standard elements. A citation contains all the information necessary to identify and track down publications, including:

    • author name(s)
    • titles of books, articles, and journals
    • date of publication
    • page numbers
    • volume and issue numbers (for articles)
    • DOI (a unique identifier for each article)

    Citations may look different, depending on what is being cited and which style was used to create them.

     

    When should you cite a source?

    You should cite your sources whenever you take words, ideas, figures, images, etc. from another place.

    What information do you cite?

    You must cite:

    • Facts, ideas, or other information that comes from a resource or publication
    • Figures, images or tables that were created by another person
    • Any exact wording or quotations that come from a resource or publication

    You do not need to cite:

    • Information that is common knowledge for your subject area (ie. DNA has a double helix structure, squids are a type of mollusc)

     

    Tip

    When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!

     

    4.2: Citation Basics is shared under a CC BY-NC license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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