All About Citations

What is a citation?

A citation is a reference to a specific published or unpublished source.  The most commonly cited academic sources are books, chapters or essays in a book, journal articles and web sources.

Why citations matter

Citing your sources is a matter of information ethics and intellectual integrity.  It is also important for those interested in pursuing your topic.

• It ensures that you give credit for ideas that are not your own.
• It allows others to find the exact sources you used in order to:
  • independently decide if they agree with the way you have interpreted the information.
  • independently determine the validity of your source.
  • continue to pursue the idea presented.