Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies: Citing Sources & Managing Citations
What is a Citation?
A citation gives credit to the original author(s) of a work. Citations also allow people who are reading your work to be able to find the original sources of information.
Basic citations for a book, for example, include the name(s) of author(s) or editor(s), the title of the book, the publisher's name, the place of publication, and the most recent copyright year.
There are a number of styles that can be used to construct citations. Each style specifies the information to be included in the citation, the order of the information,the format, and the punctuation.
Your instructor may require a particular style. If there is not an assigned style, then choose a style and be consistent with that style throughout your work.
How to Read a Citation
A bibliographic citation, the convention normally used to acknowledge a work quoted in a paper, contains basic information needed to locate an item. There are different formats for citing books, journal articles, chapters in books, dissertations, pamphlets, and other formats.
BOOKS
In general, the publication information, including place of publication, publisher and year, identifies a book. Here is a screenshot of a book citation.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
In general, the publication information, including volume number, date and page numbers, identifies a journal article. Here is a screenshot of a journal article citation.
BOOK CHAPTER
Chapters of books can be identified by the presence of two titles, the title of the chapter and the title of the book. Two names may be listed as well -- the author of the chapter and the editor. The same publication information that appears in a book citation will also appear here; place of publication,publisher, and year. Here is a screenshot of a book chapter citation.
Selected Online Citation Guides
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APA Style Manual This link opens in a new windowProvides full text access to the latest edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
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Chicago Manual of Style Online This link opens in a new windowProvides recommendations on editorial style and publishing practices for the digital age. Funded by donors to the Dean's Fund for Excellence in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
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Citing Government DocumentsGuides to citing government documents in APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles.
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OWL - Purdue's Online Writing LabDetailed guide to APA, MLA, and Chicago citation styles. Navigate to "Research and Citation" on the left to access citation style help.