Q. What is a citation?

A citation is a written reference to a source (article, book, website, etc.).  It acts as a kind of roadmap to a source, to allow your readers to find it for themselves.  Click here to learn why it's important to cite your sources.

Most citations will include author(s), publication date and title(s), with additional information (like volume, issue and page numbers) added, depending on the type of source.  Different source types will be cited in slightly different ways (see some examples here).

Citations are formatted in very uniform ways (varying by academic discipline), to make it easy for researchers to find the information they need at a glance. The formatting rules are found in style guides.  You can find style guides on the library's website, under the RESOURCES menu.

Learn more:

Try a citation management tool to organize and quickly format your references.

Need someone to proofread your citations?  Tutors can help!

Have a citation for a book or article that you'd like to read?  Click below to learn how to find it in the APUS library: 

• Find a book
• Find an article