Getting Started

Citing your sources isn’t just about avoiding plagiarism—it’s a key part of participating in scholarly conversations. Citation conventions help readers understand the nature of the information you’re using: whether it’s a scholarly article, a news story, a website, or another kind of source. Just as importantly, citations allow readers to trace your research path and locate the original sources for themselves. This transparency builds trust in your work and helps others explore the topic further.

Read this library guide for a more comprehensive discussion. Watch the video below to understand how to use other people's resources.

Citations typically have three key elements, each serving a different purpose in your writing:

1. Attributive Phrase – A brief signal to the reader that you’re drawing from another source (e.g., According to a recent study…).
2. Parenthetical or In-Text Citation – A short citation placed within the sentence or at the end of it, usually including the author’s name and page number or year, depending on the citation style.
3. Full Citation Entry – A complete reference in your Works Cited, Reference List, or Bibliography that gives all the details someone would need to locate the source themselves.

Together, these elements make your use of sources clear, responsible, and traceable. Explore the visual example below of how these elements interrelate (the example follows APA style).

There are several citation styles, each with its own formatting rules and conventions. The most commonly used styles include APA (American Psychological Association), often used in the social sciences; MLA (Modern Language Association), common in the humanities; and Chicago, which is frequently used in history and some other disciplines.

While all citation styles aim to give credit and help readers locate sources, they differ in how they present that information. For example:

• APA emphasizes the year of publication to highlight the currency of research,
• MLA focuses on authorship and page numbers for textual analysis,
• and Chicago often uses footnotes or endnotes rather than parenthetical citations, allowing for more detailed source discussion within the notes.

A very helpful resource is Purdue University's Online Writing Lab, which goes into great detail about these styles (and other lesser known ones). It also provides thorough examples of how each style formats citations.

A citation is more than a formatting rule—it’s a fundamental part of how knowledge is shared, understood, and built upon. When done well, a citation gives your reader useful clues about the source you’ve used:

• What kind of information it is (Is it a scholarly article? A book? A website?)
• Who created the information (Is it written by a researcher? A journalist? An organization?)
• When it was published (Is the information current or historically specific?)
• Where it was published or hosted (Does it come from an academic journal, a news outlet, or a government website?)

Learning how to “read” a citation helps you evaluate sources more effectively—and learning how to write one accurately helps you participate in academic conversations responsibly.

Accurate citation isn't just about avoiding plagiarism or getting the format right—it helps keep information stable, traceable, and useful. When you cite well:

• You communicate clearly to your readers what kind of evidence you’re using.
• You help others verify, locate, and build on your sources.
• You show respect for the work of others and position yourself as a credible contributor to scholarly discourse.

In this way, accurate citation supports not only your own work but also the wider ecosystem of research and knowledge sharing.

Explore the interactive slides below showing sample citation entries in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.

While each style has its own way of organizing information—like using italics, punctuation, or different word orders—they all communicate the same core details: who created the source, when it was published, what it’s called, and where it was published or accessed.

You don’t need to memorize every rule or worry about perfect accuracy. Instead, focus on recognizing how small formatting choices help convey meaning—such as distinguishing the title of a source from the place it was published. As a writer and participant in scholarly conversations, becoming familiar with these conventions helps you communicate more clearly, signal the kind of information you’re working with, and build trust with your readers.