Doing Research: Cite Your Sources

DEFINITIONS

Citation: Noun.  Everything anyone would need to identify one particular article, book, etc., then locate it, and read it.  For example, a citation for a scholarly journal article will always have the author's name, the title of the article, the title of the scholarly journal, a volume number, and the pages the article is on.

Cite, citing: Verb.  As in the sentence, "You need to cite your sources."

Style Manual: A generic term for a book of instructions on how to cite your sources in the text of your paper and in the list at the end called a bibliography or references.  There are many different ones.  Most of the time, university level assignments will require you to properly cite the resources you used for your paper according to one of the three style manuals listed below.  This practice identifies exactly where quotations, ideas, concepts, etc., come from and also makes your original contributions to the paper stand out.