Learn to Write

What is Citation?

Citation enables you to show that you took words, ideas, or images from somewhere else and used them in your own work. It allows you to give credit to sources used and to distinguish your ideas from the ideas of others. 

Citations appear throughout a written work and (in a longer form) in a list of references.

A reference includes the following information:

• Name of the author(s)
• Title of work
• Where the work is published (ex. name and location of company, website URL, etc.)
• The date of publication
• Page numbers

The order in which this information occurs in your citation is called style. Your instructor will tell you to use either APA or MLA Style.

Six Steps to Proper Citation

1. Read the source.

2. Identify an idea that you want to include in your writing.

3. Write a sentence (including the information you want to include from your source) on your own. Include the information either by paraphrasing or directly quoting.

4. Add an in-text citation to identify the source that influenced you AND to refer your reader to your reference list.

5. Repeat this process every time you want to add in outside information to your writing.

6. Keep track of the sources you have used and when you are editing, create your reference list in the style that your instructor has asked for (APA or MLA).

Note that any and all outside information that you include in your writing needs to be cited properly. Use the appropriate citation style that your instructor has identified in your assignment guidelines. Information that is not cited or credited correctly will be considered plagiarised.

If you've used someone else's words or put someone else's ideas into your own words, you need to show it. Give credit to the resources you've used in the body of your paper through the use of in-text citations.
 

In-text citations:

• are short acknowledgements to identify which source was used to influence your writing;
• need to appear in any and all sentences that have outside information - this might mean that most of your sentences contain an in-text citation
• may or may not include a specific page number, depending on the citation style and method of adding outside information; and
• can be added inside your sentence (narrative OR in prose) or at the end of your sentence (parenthetical).

Manage Your References

These tools can help you document and format your references.

Introduction to APA Course

This online course introduces essential skills and concepts to help you understand and apply the APA Citation Style.

To preview the parts of the course, please click on the linked images below.  Note that the preview site will not grant a completion badge.

Introduction	Reference Citations	In-text Citations	Formatting & Proofreading