LibGuides: Cite It Right!: What is a Citation?

Online Resources for Citation Help

Purdue OWL
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides authoritative guides for all of the citation styles used at Oakton
College of DuPage Library Citation Help Page
The College of DuPage Library has a quick guide to citations with many examples of how to cite sources in all of the citation styles used at Oakton.
Cite It Right! - Oakton Guide to Citations

What is a citation?

A citation is all the information about a given source organized according to a standard format or citation style guide.

MLA, APA and Chicago Style are used in classes at Oakton College.

Citations include information such as

author's name,
title of the book, article or website,
name of the magazine or journal,
date published or updated
if the information was found in print or online

Using citations gives credit to an author or creator for their research, writings and ideas.

Why Do I Need to Use Citations?

A citation is reliable way to lead your reader back to the materials you used in your research.

A citation gives credit to an author for their research, writings and ideas.

When you use citations you are

showing that you know how to use information well,
creating credibility for your paper by providing good quality sources and good quality citations for them.
giving credit to the authors of material you used,
avoiding plagiarism,

A URL is NOT a citation

What do I include in a citation for an internet source?

MLA requires as much of the following information as possible:
      Author's name
      Title of the work
      Title of the website
      Name of the website sponsor
      Date of the most recent update
      Web (to show this is not a print source)
      Date of access (or the date you looked at the website)

APA requires as much of the following information as possible:
      Author's name
      Date of publication or update
      Title of the source
      URL ("Retrieved from" followed by the url) or
      DOI - Digital Object Identifier - for online newspaper, magazine or journal articles.

CMS or Chicago Manual of Style requires as much of the following information as possible:
      Author's name
      Title of the work
      Title of the source
      Date of publication or update
      URL