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A citation provides information to reference a published or unpublished work.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.
When I’m creating my citation page do works cited, references, and bibliography all mean the same thing?
Yes, they are the same thing but it depends on which citation style you are using.
What is a DOI?
DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier. It is a string of numbers, letters and symbols used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web.
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 Styles
The citation style sometimes depends on the academic discipline involved. Professors will often indicate the citation style to use in the syllabus for the course. Writing and Citation Style Guide
Here are commonly used citation styles:
- APA (American Psychological Association) is used by Education, Psychology, and Sciences
- MLA (Modern Language Association) style is used by the Humanities
- Chicago/Turabian style is generally used by Business, History, and the Fine Art
Need a DOI?
CrossRef is a not-for-profit membership organization for scholarly publishing working to make content easy to find, link, cite and assess. Not all DOIs are available through the website but it is a helpful resource.
Avoiding Plagiarism
- Be organized in your research so you know what you've used.
- Take good notes so you can easily match up what information came from and which source when it's time to write your works cited list.
If you would like more information on this subject, the library has a good guide to avoiding plagiarism. You can also read more in your Bedford Handbook, or ask your instructor.
Can I Cite a Website?
It depends . . .
- You can use websites for your research IF your assignment says you can. If your instructor has asked specifically for journal articles and/or books, then no, you can't.
- Some websites do contain scholarly or other high-quality information that is appropriate for use in an academic assignment. Just like you do with printed material, you will need to evaluate the website you find to determine if they meet the standards of quality that you need.
Citations
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!
