Citation Library Terms Q & A
What is a citation?
A citation provides information to reference a published or unpublished work. Using a citation in your research paper lets the reader know that you used information from outside sources in your work. The citation provides information such as the author’s name, publication date, journal title, article title, and page numbers.
What is empirical research?
Empirical research includes observation and experimentation to gather data into a study, instead of theory or belief. Many articles contain the following parts that indicate it is empirical research: introduction/literature review, methodology, results, and conclusion/implication.
Useful Links
Texas State Avoiding Plagiarism Guide
A guide was created to explain plagiarism and also provide useful tips on how to avoid plagiarism.
Texas State Writing Center
We dedicate ourselves to helping all Texas State writers–students, faculty, and staff–develop their writing at any stage of the writing process, in any style guide, and in any discipline.
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects
Writing & Citation Style Guides
Resources on various citation styles.
Citation Management
Have a lot of citations you want to enter in your works cited/references list? Try a citation manager.
Do you need the Web or Desktop version?
- EndNoteA citation management tool that enables you to:
- Organize your research Include citations while you write your paper
- Build a bibliography in a variety of formats
- Import references from library databases and Google Scholar.
Parts of a Citation
REMEMBER: This is a citation for a journal article. If you need to create a works cited entry for any other type of resource, check your Bedford Handbook for more information on what to include.
If you have a citation and need to find the article, start with the yellow journal title section.
Citation Tip
This very handy button appears on the right side of the screen once you have opened an article in a research database. Click it and citations in various styles will be generated for the article that you have opened. Remember: This is just a starting point for adding the citation to your research paper. Double check the citation for accuracy. There are often mistakes!
