Steps for Citing

We recommend following these steps to write a proper citation, which will help you maintain accuracy and clarity in acknowledging sources.

1. Keep Track of Helpful Information Resources
2. Determine Your Citation Style
3. Create In-Text Citations
4. Create Bibliographic Citations

Step 1: Keep Track of Helpful Information Resources

Whenever you find a great article on your topic, collect the following information as soon as you realize you have a helpful resource.

You may only use some of the bibliographic information depending on your citation style.  However, having this bibliographic information for all your resources will help you keep track of everything you find so you can locate it again later if needed, and ultimately, it helps you produce correct works cited pages and bibliographies.

This information is often referred to as bibliographic information or bibliographic metadata. It consists of essential information that identifies the resources used to inform a research project.

As you read and analyze each resource, write down any of the authors’ ideas, quotes, or thoughts you want to use, and be sure to write down page numbers if the source provides them. When you put your research project together, you will have all the information you need to create in-text citations, footnotes and endnotes, and a Works Cited, Reference List, or Bibliography page.

Step 2: Determine Your Citation Style

Find out the citation style you must use from your instructor, the directions for an assignment, or what your audience or publisher expects. Then, consult the stylebook or website for that style.

Step 3: Create In-Text Citations

Find and read your style’s rules about in-text citations, which are usually very thorough. Luckily, examples are typically provided, making learning the rules much easier.

For instance, your style guide may have different rules for when you are citing:

• Quotations, summaries, or paraphrases
• Long or short quotations.
• Sources with one author or multiple authors.
• Books, journal articles, interviews, or electronic sources.

Below is an example of how the three most common styles format a short quotation from a journal article with one author. Compare citation elements in the same color to see how each style handles its information.

Notice that they contain information about:

• Who the author is
• The publication year
• Information about pages.

Step 4: Create Bibliographic Citations

Bibliographic citations for a Works Cited, References, or Bibliography usually contain more publication facts than you used for your in-text citation, and the formatting is very specific.

• Rules vary for sources such as books, journal articles, or online sources.
• Sometimes, the lines of the citation must be indented, such as a hanging indent.
• Authors’ names usually appear as last names first.
• Authors’ first names may be initials instead.
• Names of sources may or may not have to be in full.
• Names of some kinds of sources may have to be italicized.
• Names of some sources may have to be in quotes.
• Dates of publication appear in different places, depending on the style.
• Some styles require Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs ) in the citations for online sources.

Find and read your style’s rules about bibliographic citations and how to format this section of your research paper or project.

Below are examples of how the three most common styles format bibliographic citations.

Chapter Attribution:

Choosing and Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research by Teaching & Learning, Ohio State University Libraries, licensed under CC BY 4.0

Reading and Writing Research for Undergraduates by Stephanie Ojeda Ponce, Highline College, licensed under CC BY 4.0