What is a citation?
A citation is a description of a book, article, website, etc. that provides enough information so that others can locate the source you used themselves. It allows you to credit the authors of the sources you use and clarify which ideas belong to you and which belong to other sources.
What information is included?
Citation information usually includes: author(s), date of publication, title, and publisher's name and location (and for articles: journal title, volume, issue and page numbers).
Citation management software let's you save, organize, format and share citations from a variety of sites (e.g. library catalogs, article databases, Amazon etc.) and create bibliographies and cited reference lists using citation style formats (e.g. APA, MLA, etc.)
Need help with a citation style? Check out these helpful links:
For even more writing resources visit the Purdue OWL Writing Lab
Already know which article you need? Enter the citation in the Find Items by Citation form to access it.