ting Sources in a Research Paper

What Is a Citation?

In research and writing, a citation is a brief reference to a source of published

information, providing sufficient bibliographic detail to enable the reader to
locate a copy of the source (if copies exist). A citation that does not provide the
minimum amount of information is considered incomplete. Citations found in
printed and electronic documents are not always correct--they may contain
erroneous information, making it impossible for the researcher to locate the
original source. The elements included in a citation depend on the format of the
material cited (book, article, electronic document, etc.).

Citing Books

A book citation can be distinguished from an article citation by the presence of 1)

place of publication and 2) publisher. Also, the publication date for a book is
usually given as the year, rather than the month and year, as may be the case for
an issue of a periodical.

Example: Klotzko, Arlene J., ed. The Cloning Sourcebook. New York:
Oxford UP, 2001.

Citing Articles

A citation for an article published in a periodical (newspaper, magazine, or

scholarly journal) can be distinguished from a book citation by the presence of 1)
the article title, 2) the journal title, 3) the volume number, and 4) inclusive page
numbers.

Example: Wara, Michael W. "Permanent El Niño-Like Conditions during

the Pliocene Warm Period." Science 309 (2005): 758-762.

A citation for a work (essay, article, story, poem, etc.) published in a collected
work or anthology can be distinguished from a book citation by the presence of 1)
the article title in addition to the title of the book and 2) inclusive page numbers;
and from a citation for a periodical article by the presence of 1) place of
publication and 2) publisher.

Example: Loughran, James N. "Reasons for Being Just." The Value of

Justice: Essays on the Theory and Practice of Social Virtue. Ed. Charles A.
Kelbley. New York: Fordham UP, 1979. 39-57.
Citing Electronic Sources
A citation for a document retrieved from an electronic database or online
publication differs from a citation for an article published in print by the presence
of an Internet address, usually the URL of the document at the time it was
retrieved.