A citation gives credit to the source where you found the information you use to support your argument or analysis. That way, people can check the information you used to double-check your resources or to use for their own research.
Citations are composed of these parts of a resource: Author, Title, Publication Information, and Date. The elements of a citation can vary from format to format and how the resource was accessed.
In your paper, you will add a brief citation that will lead to a page of the resources you used at the end of your paper where the full citation goes into more detail. That way, your paper flows and can be easily verified.
Nowadays, most library databases have a "cite" function that will generate a full citation in the style you need. You can use that as a starting point and re-format or correct it as you need.
Other resources don't generate a citation, but they have the information for you to create one, you simply need to look through the resource.
An in-text citation is a part of the full citation that is at the end of your work that guides the reader to the specific source you used. Where the full citation is of the whole resource, an in-text citation will be part of the full citation (either author or title) and maybe a specific section such as specific pages.
There are two ways to have an in-text citation in a paper: parenthetical and narrative.
A parenthetical is the citation at the end of the sentence in parenthesis ().
A narrative citation has the information written into the sentence.
Sometimes you might do a combination of the two—it depends on your writing style, the resource, and your professor.
A References page is a list at the end of your paper that lists all of the resources you quoted from in your paper.
A References page will be a separate page from your paper and have your resources listed alphabetically by author (or title as needed) then by date (as needed). Consult the guide for specific resources or ask your professor.
How you create, order, and format a citation depends on the type of resource you used, how you accessed it, and what publication information the source provides.
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1 Author |
(Author’s Last Name Year, Page #) |
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2 Authors |
(1st Author’s Last Name and 2nd Author’s Last Name Year, Page Range) |
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3 or more Authors |
(1st Author’s Last Name et al. Year, Page #) (1st Author’s Last Name, 2nd Author’s Last Name, 3rd Author’s Last Name Year, Page #) |
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4 or more Authors |
(1st Author’s Last Name et al. Year, Page #) |
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Corporation, Organization, or Government Author |
(Abbreviated Organization n.d.) (Organization’s Name Year) |
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No Author |
(Title of Work Year, Page Range) |
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Page or Part of a Website |
(Title of Web Site n.d.) (Author’s Last Name Year) |
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Audio or Video |
(Director’s Last Name Year, X:XX:XX to X:XX:XX) (Artist’s Last Name Year) |
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Whole Book |
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Work. Place of Publication: Publisher. |
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Whole Book with 2 Authors |
1st Author’s Last Name, First Name, and 2nd Author’s First Name Last Name. Year. Title of Work. Place of Publication: Publisher. |
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Whole Book with 3 or More Authors |
1st Author’s Last Name, First Name, 2nd Author’s First Name Last Name, and 3rd Author’s First Name Last Name. Year. Title of Work. Place of Publication: Publication. |
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Whole Book with Editor |
Editor’s Last Name, First Name, ed. Year. Title of Work. Place of Publication: Publisher. Or Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Work. Edited by Editor’s First Name Last Name. Place of Publication: Publisher. |
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E-Book |
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Work. Place of Publication: Publisher. URL. Or Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Work. Place of Publication: Publisher. eBook Platform. Or Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Work. Place of Publication: Publisher. Database. Or Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Work. Place of Publication: Publisher. URL. File Format. |
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Audiobook |
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. Title of Work. Read by Narrator’s First Name Last Name. Place of Publication: Publisher. Format, #hr., ##min. |
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Section of a Book |
Section Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Section.” In Title of Work, edited by Editor’s First Name Last Name, Page Range. Place of Publication: Publisher. |
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Journal |
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Title of Periodical Volume #, Issue # (Date): Page Range. Or Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Title of Periodical Volume #, Issue # (Date): Page Range. URL. |
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Magazine |
As a general rule, a References entry isn’t needed, citing within the text will be enough.
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Title of Magazine, Date, Page Range. Or Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Title of Magazine, Date. URL. Or Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Periodical, Date. Database. |
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Newspaper |
As a general rule, a References entry isn’t needed, citing within the text will be enough.
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Newspaper (Location). Date. Or Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Title of Newspaper. Date. URL. Or Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Article.” Title of Newspaper. Date. Database. |
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Web Page |
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year. “Title of Web Page.” Website, Owner, Date. URL. Or Site. Year. “Title of Web Page.” Owner, Accessed Date. URL. Or Site. Year. “Title of Web Page.” Owner, Last Modified Date. URL. |
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Social Media |
Last Name, First Name [@handle]. Year. “Text of Post.” Social Media Platform, Date. URL. Or Last Name, First Name [@handle]. Year. “Text of Post.” Description of Post, Date. URL. |
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Movie |
Director’s Last Name, First Name, director. Year. Title of Movie. Studio. #hr., ##min. Format. Or Director’s Last Name, First Name, director. Year. Title of Movie. Studio. URL. |
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TV Show Episode |
Title of TV Show. Year. Season #, episode #, “Title of Episode.” Directed by Director’s First Name Last Name. Aired Date, on Channel. Studio. Format. Or Title of TV Show. Year. Season #, episode #, “Title of Episode.” Directed by Director’s First Name Last Name. Aired Date, on Channel. URL. Or Title of TV Show. Year. Season #, episode #, “Title of Episode.” Directed by Director’s First Name Last Name. Aired Date, on Channel. Studio. Format. |
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Music Song |
Artist’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Song.” Recorded Date. Track # on Title of Album, Studio. Format. Or Artist’s Name, vocalist. Year. “Title of Song.” Track # on Title of Album, Studio. |
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Video Game |
Studio. Year. Title of Video Game. Version. Company. Format. |