What is a citation?
A citation, or reference, is the quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing of someone else's work, used as a basis for your own ideas and research.
A citation also refers to the information about a source, such as title, author, date, etc., which gives credit to the original author and shows readers where to find the original work. There are two parts to a citation: the in-text citation, which goes next to the quoted material, and the reference list citation, found at the end of a paper or report. This list may also called a bibliography.
GO TO CITATION HELP FROM UVIC LIBRARIES to find out how to properly format citations by APA, MLA, or Chicago styles.
How can you keep your citations organized? REFWORKS
There are a number of citation styles and the Library holds print copies and quick guides at the Research Help desk.
For POLI 371 use either APA 6th or Chicago 16th Author-Date.
Each of these styles requires a reference list of sources. Refworks can help with formatting your reference list.
Each of these styles requires the use of in-text citations for work quoted, paraphrased or summarized. An in-text citation MUST include:that include three elements:
In-text examples:
APA: (Smith, 2000, p.987)
Chicago: (Smith 2000, 987)
Reference list examples: consult the quick guides at the links below for book, journal, newspaper, government documents, websites, and more. Note that ebooks and ejournals require additional information such as a DOI,or a URL, and for Chicago, an access date. Note: Your professor may not require access dates , urls, or doi's.
APA Ejournal example:
Kossinets, G. & Watts, D.J. (2009). Origins of Homophily in an Evolving Social Network. American Journal of Sociology 115(2), 405–50. doi:10.1086/599247.
Chicago Ejournal example:
Pollan, M. (2006). The Omnivore’s dilemma: A natural history of four meals. New York: Penguin.
Chicago book example
Pollan, Michael. 2006. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin.
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