How do I write a citation?
Answer
Bibliographic Citations
Bibliographic citations are strings of data that identify a publication. There are numerous styles for formatting your citations. Check with your instructor as to which one you should use. You will probably be required to assemble a list of citations into a bibliography, references, or works cited page. This page enables the your reader to locate your source materials.
The main components of a citation are the author's full name (usually last name first), the title of the work and the publication information which includes the place of publication, the publisher's name, and the date of publication.
MLA and APA are the two most common styles:
- Purdue Online Writing Lab - APA formatting and style guide
- Purdue Online Writing Lab - MLA formatting and style guide
If you need more information, need to find a format for an unusual item (such as public documents, legal documents, dissertations, unpublished sources, additional electronic sources), or if your instructor requires another format, please see below:
- ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers)
- ACS (American Chemical Society)
- APA (American Psychological Association)
- Chicago Manual of Style
- CSE style (Council of Science Editors)
- IEEE Reference Guide
- MLA Style Center
- Turabian Style
Other tools such as Zotero and Endnote help you organize and cite bibliographic information.
Some of our database products will format a citation for you - once you have performed a search, look around for a link that says "cite" or "cite this". You can then copy and paste a formatted citation from your choice of formats.
You can also use Microsoft Word to format citations.