Short video showing how the Citation tool works. (approx 4 minutes)
Google's Citation Tool is a good resource and has it's advantages when compared with the other citation tools that are available. The options that are available to the user are not as extensive as those available in other citation generators such as EasyBib. However, Google's Citation Tool allows you to easily include in-text parenthetical citations as you are writing with a single click.
Open a Google Doc.
Click on Tools.
Click on Citations
A field will open on the right side of your document.
Select the appropriate Format style (most likely you will be using MLA).
Click on + Add citation source
You will get two fields to work with: Source type and Accessed by.
You will use these two fields to narrow down the information that you need to find.
Once you have it narrowed, you will see fields that you need to fill out. You will do that by looking at your resource itself (book, website, journal . . . whatever you are using) to find that information. As with any citation generator, if the electronic sources don't have one area of the resource, leave it blank.
Once you have all your sources entered into the citation tool, as you are writing your paper, when you want to cite information you borrowed from a source, you just click on the blue word "Cite" that appears as you hover over the resource. It will then be inserted parenthetically in your paper, in correct MLA format.
Because Google's Citation Tool is more basic, it doesn't have all the options for citation that larger citation generators have. You can still use it, but you just have to "monkey" with it and it will work for you. See below for how to enter different types of resources you might be using but that don't have options in the tool.
Open a Google Doc, and click on Tools at the top of the document. Under Tools, select Citation. Then select the format you want to use (most likely this will be MLA). Then you will get the option to +Add citation source. Now you have 2 fields: Source type and Accessed by. Select the appropriate options for these and fill in the fields.
Since there is not an option for an anthology, follow these directions to cite an anthology in Google's Citation Tool. (This was checked against the Purdue OWL to make sure it was correct.)
Use the Source type option for Journal Article.
In the field for Author, put the author of the piece of literature that you are citing.
In the field for for Article Title, put the title of the piece of literature that you are citing.
In the field for Journal Title, put the title of the anthology (or textbook) that you are citing.
In the field for Volume type the words edited by followed by the editor's name, first and last. If there are three or less, list all three if there are more than three, type the first editor in the list, a comma, and then the abbreviation et al. which is an abbreviation for a Latin term that means there were more editors than listed.
In the field for Issue type the publisher's name.
In the field for pages, type the pages that the piece occurs on in the anthology.
Leave other fields blank.
Now when you use the information that you borrowed form the source, you just click the blue Cite that appears when you hover over the source in the Citation Tool, and change the # into the number of the page that you borrowed the information from. For example, when you click "Cite" for something written by Emmerson from page 207, you will get the following: (Emmerson #). You need to change the # so it reads (Emmerson 207) then close your sentence with it's period.
IMPORTANT: When you create your Works Cited page, you will need to be sure that you remove the abbreviation vol. that appears just before the words "edited by". Be sure that you remove the abbreviation no. that appears before the publisher's name. These appear in the entry because we had to "monkey" with it by using a Journal entry for an Anthology.
This is really straightforward. You don't have to change anything.
use the Source type option for website.
Fill in the fields that appear.
Many times, websites don't have listed authors. If there is not listed author, you leave that part of the field blank.
If you are using an online database with a citation tool, it is worth using the information off that tool and plugging it into the fields of the database entry. For Source type you will select Journal Article.
Use the Source type option for Journal Article.
Under Accessed by choose Online database.
In the field for Author, put the author of the database piece that you are citing.
In the field for for Article Title, put the title of article from the database that you are citing.
In the field for Journal Title, put the title of the database journal that you are citing.
In the field for Volume type the volume of the database journal that you are citing.
In the field for Issue type issue number database journal that you are citing--this is usually preceded by no. in the entry.
In the field for pages, type the pages that the piece occurs on in the anthology.
In the field for Published year, put the year published from the database journal that you are citing.
If there is a short title, put that in the short title field.
Standard number is usually a doi (stands for digital object number) . Look at the end of the entry from the database. There are usually 2 items of information there. One is a web address and one is the doi. Copy the doi number and paste it to the Standard number field.
In the field for Database, type the name of the database.
In the field for URL, copy/paste the URL from the database entry.
In the fields for the date accessed, put the appropriate dates that you accessed the database.
Now when you use the information that you borrowed form the source, you just click the blue Cite that appears when you hover over the source in the Citation Tool, and change the # into the number of the page that you borrowed the information from. For example, when you click "Cite" for something written by Emmerson from page 207, you will get the following: (Emmerson #). You need to change the # so it reads (Emmerson 207) then close your sentence with it's period.
It is usually not recommended to use YouTube as a source in and academic paper since it is difficult to establish credibility of the sources. However, if you must use a YouTube video, the two videos below will show you the two different types and how to handle them. (The information here has been checked against Purdue OWL)
Since there is not option for YouTube video on the Google Citation Tool, the best option is to again select Journal Article. Follow these steps:
Source type should be Journal Article.
Accessed by should say Website.
Author should be the author of the video--You will probably find this in the actual video, rather than anywhere written down on the YouTube site.
Article Title should be the title of the video which is right under the video on YouTube.
In the field for Volume type the words uploaded by and uploader (found just under the title of the video on YouTube.) For example if the uploader is Big Think then you type: uploaded by Big Think. Do not capitalize "uploaded by."
Leave Issue and pages fields blank.
In the Published Year field type the date the video was posted, but in MLA style (day Month Year, for example 3 July 2020). You will find the date under the YouTube video name.
Under URL, copy/paste the video's URL.
Now when you use the information that you borrowed form the source, you just click the blue Cite that appears when you hover over the source in the Citation Tool. When you do this, it will include a # in the parenthetical citation. You must be sure to take the #out, since a YouTube video does not have a page number.
IMPORTANT: Also, when you create the Works Cited, you must go into the source and remove the vol. that precedes "uploaded by."
Since there is not option for YouTube video on the Google Citation Tool, the best option is to again select Journal Article. Follow these steps:
Source type should be Journal Article.
Accessed by should say Website.
Author should be the author of the video--If there is not one then you just leave this blank.
Article Title should be the title of the video which is right under the video on YouTube.
In the field for Volume type the words uploaded by and uploader (found just under the title of the video on YouTube.) For example if the uploader is Big Think then you type: uploaded by Big Think. Do not capitalize "uploaded by."
Leave Issue and pages fields blank.
In the Published Year field type the date the video was posted, but in MLA style (day Month Year, for example 3 July 2020). You will find the date under the YouTube video name.
Under URL, copy/paste the video's URL.
Now when you use the information that you borrowed form the source, you just click the blue Cite that appears when you hover over the source in the Citation Tool. When you do this, it will include a # in the parenthetical citation. You must be sure to take the #out, since a YouTube video does not have a page number.
IMPORTANT: Also, when you create the Works Cited, you must go into the source and remove the vol. that precedes "uploaded by."
The Works Cited is the very last page of a research paper. It should contain all the sources that appear parenthetically cited in the body of the paper. It allows the reader to do further exploration in the sources you have used, and gives credit to the experts who have completed the research you have borrowed.
Using Google Tools Citation tool makes an easy job of creating the Works Cited, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
Remember that the Works Cited appears at the very end of your paper. Click your cursor down so that it is at the top of the last page of the paper. There should be no part of your research paper writing on the Works Cited Page.
Look at the bottom of the Google Citation Tool at the right side of your page. Click the Blue "Insert Bibliography" button. This will create all entries for your works cited, but it says "Bibliography" at the top. This is incorrect and needs to be fixed.
Click on the word Bibliography and change it to Works Cited.
Make sure that your entries are in the correct order. They should be alphabetized by the first word of the entry. This may be an author's last name, or a title (if there wasn't an author the entry will be alphabetized by the first word of the next part of the entry . . . a title, possibly.) If there are any entries that start with a numeral, those precede the alphabetical entries in numerical order. (Numeral means an 8 not the word eight. The written out word eight would be alphabetized. You must use what the actual title used.) Google's Citation tool will put things in alphabetical order, except it doesn't know to follow the rule where the numerals start before the words. You need to check that.
Each entry must have a hanging indent. That means that the first line sticks out on the left side and any line of the entry that follows it will be indented. Google Citation tool automatically creates a hanging indent for you.
If you have used any of the "monkeying" with citations mentioned on this site above, you will have to go into them and take out the abbreviations for volume (vol.) and number (no.) in the entries. The video below will show what that means.
MLA format says if you include URLs you need to remove the https//: from the url. Go through your entries and remove the https//: