1) You need to know what you are citing so you include all the elements needed.
2) It can be hard to tell what you are citing at times, and the internet can confuse the issue.
3) Even if you are using a citation builder, you have to know whether you have a newspaper, book, blog post, etc.
No matter the citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) or what you are citing, you include 4 main elements in each bibliographic entry.
WHO: creator (author, director, artist, photographer, etc.)
WHAT: title or name of the piece
WHERE: where was it created or published
WHEN: when was it created
Full citations should go on your work cited page at the end of your document.
Citing a Scholarly Journal:
Kincaid, Jamaica. “In History.” Callaloo, vol. 24, no. 2, Spring 2001, pp. 620-26.
Citing a Print Book with one author:
Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Oxford UP, 2011.
Citing a Web Page:
Rosenberg, Gabriel. “When your Dream House is a Dollhouse, No Space is too Small.” Time, 10 August 2016, http://www.npr.org/2016/08/10/487480615/when- your-dream-house-is-a-dollhouse-no-space-is-too-small.
1) There are two places where sources are used:
2) You use in-text citations when you quote, paraphrase or summarize a source.
3) For each in-text citation, you have to have a Works Cited entry.
There is no reason to try to memorize every type of citation. You can use tools that show you how citations should be formatted. Even if you use a citation creator, it is best to check your Works Cited citations for accuracy. Here are some tools that can help you make sure your citations are correct.
Joel Pace
cpace@stevenson.edu
