Introduction to Library Research

A citation style is a uniform and reliable method of guiding readers to the sources of information referenced in a piece of writing. You need to cite your sources whenever you borrow phrases, ideas, arguments, images, etc. from someone. When we use citation, we give credit to the original ideas that influenced, inspired, or guided our own original work.

Citations help your reader. Within the body of your paper, you will use in-text citations to reference the original source. This basically plants a flag your reader can follow to find the full information about your source. The reader finds this information at the end of your paper in a bibliography, or list of sources.

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There are many citation styles with many of them aligned with an academic discipline, such as APA (American Psychological Association) style for psychology classes. Each instructor will provide guidance on their preferred or recommended citation style for their assignments.

Consider citation a shared language you and your readers use to communicate the WHO, WHAT, WHEN and WHERE of the information sources you used to write your paper or prepare your presentation. Each distinct citation style can be imagined as a dialect or accent when "speaking" that citation language. The dialect or accent is what makes each citation style unique and may include things like punctuation rules, use of italics, and capitalization standards. It is these minor stylistic difference or "accents" that make switching between citation styles challenging.  

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Make an appointment with a librarian for individual help citing sources or drop by the library.

For online, anytime help, try one of our citation help guides.