Biographies
Citation Basics
What are citations?
- A citation is short way to uniquely identify a published work
What do citations include?
- A citation consists of all standard bibliographic elements and includes all information necessary to identify a work.
- i.e. Title, author, publication date, location, volume, issue, page numbers, etc.
Why do we cite sources?
- To give credit to other researchers and to acknowledge their ideas
- To avoid plagiarism
- To provide a trail so others can consult the materials you've used / so they can do further reading
- To provide evidence of your own research
What should you cite?
- Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge
- Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used
- Images, photos, artwork, sculptures, media (i.e. videos, movies, television, podcasts, etc.)
Librarian
MLA Formatting & Citations (8th edition)
Modern Language Association documentation guidelines are often used in the humanities fields, including English, comparative literature, literary criticism, and foreign-languages. The most recent edition is the ninth, published in 2021.
Learn more here:
The general format for any MLA citation:
- Author. Title. Title of container (do not list container for standalone books, e.g. novels), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs URL or DOI). 2nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).
APA Formatting & Citations (7th edition)
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association describes the rules used to write papers following APA style. This style is commonly used in psychology, sociology, business, economics, nursing, social work, and criminology.
Information about using APA style can be found in the following places:
Chicago Formatting & Citations
Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the humanities, particularly in the disciplines of the Arts, English, History, Religion & Theological Studies.
If you are asked to use CMOS format, be sure to consult the Chicago Manual of Style, located in McQuade Library's reference collection:
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is the gold standard for online tools to teach you about citations and formatting.
From the website you can learn to:
- Format in-text, and full bibliographical citations for a variety of source types
- Follow formatting and style guidelines for a variety of assignments