What is a citation and why is it important in academic work?
Simply put citation is used to give the reader where original authors, research, sources came from. Depending on your university/college requirements there are different ways to accurately cite a source. So, you should check which citing style your university or college uses. Keep in mind Wikipedia is the least reliable information source when it comes to academic work. If possible try to find sources elsewhere.
So you’re wondering why is it even important to accurately cite?
- Gives credit to original authors
- Let readers quickly find sources
- Let other authors use the same sources
- Supports your ideas and concepts with others work
When should I cite a source?
You should always accurately cite everything that is not your original idea or concept. Citations should always be used in academic writing to prevent plagiarism and other writing issues. Here is a list of when you should cite:
- Others ideas concepts
- Quoting someone else
- Paraphrasing
An important note to take into consideration is to not cite the same sources over and over again when it comes to literature reviews. This is because literature reviews require multiples sources of information, previous research, work etc. So using the same sources over and over again is not reliable. When it comes to citing a sentence you simply cite at the end of the paragraph, you do not need to repeatedly cite the author throughout your text.
What are the types of citation styles?
There are three main types that you need to know for academic writing:
- APA
- MPL
- Chicago
If you are writing your essays certain citations are better than others. Research which citation is best depending on what you are writing as some are better than others. However, your university will state what citation style is required so always double-check!
How to accurately cite in-text?
Depending on which citation style you are using you will have certain formulas on how to structure your paper. Below are the general formats for each style
APA Style format:
“Authors full name” “publication date” “title” (page number)
MPL format:
“Authors last name” “Authors first name”. “Article title” “version” “number” “publication date” (page number).
Chicago format:
“Authors full name” “title” “publication date” (page number)
As you can see in-text citations are fairly similar. But, they are all used in different contexts. For example, APA is usually used in social science and educational papers. While Chicago is used for Physical, Natural, History papers and in some cases social sciences.
Leave a Reply