Always make sure that your citations are properly formatted and that all sources are credited!
For more information, proofreading help, and other writing advice, be sure to visit the Writing Center.
Citations are formal statements describing where you received your information from. Citations do two things:
There are four main components to a citation:
| WHO | created the information? | This is the source's author(s). E.g., Stephen King, James Patterson and Dolly Parton, Smithsonian, US Congress, etc. |
| WHEN | was the information created? | This can be the publication, revision, or updated date. *Do Not use time, only date.* E.g., 2018; Sept 14, 1998; Apr 2003 |
| WHAT | is the title of the information? | Everything has a title - Book chapters, Articles, Webpages, Social media posts, etc. |
| WHERE | is the information from? | Journal issue number, Book edition, Page numbers, Website name, URL, Retrieval date, etc. |
Other components citations may include, but are not limited to:
Not every citation will include every component. It depends on the resource you obtained information from. For example, a physical book will not have a URL, but an eBook will. Need help deciding between using a URL or a DOI? Check out this guide from Purdue OWL.
*Have more questions about what a citation is?* Check out this webpage from Infobase titled "Citing Sources" that answers common questions regarding citations.
