Citing Sources

Citations document where you found your research and provide all the information needed for someone else to locate the resource you found, such as author, title, publication date, etc.

Citing is an important way to document your research, and give credit to your sources!

Each citation will have slightly different components depending on the format of the material you're citing- for example, a book, article, or a website. Generally speaking, the most common components include: author, title, publisher, publication date, page numbers, and URL.

Take a look at the graphics below to understand how these various components are formatted within a citation.

Yes! The most common citation styles are MLA (commonly used in the humanities), APA (commonly used in the social sciences), and Chicago/Turabian (commonly used in business, history, fine arts). For more information about each style, and to see sample citations, check out the following style guides: