A citation is a brief reference to a specific information source such as a book, a journal article, or a website, which acknowledges an original idea expressed therein and provides a means of locating the original source. In general, a citation includes both a notation in the body of a text and an entry in a list of sources following the text.
A citation style is a set of guidelines for formatting and organizing citations. Although there exist many different citation styles to suit different purposes, most academic research papers adhere to one of three major styles: American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago, or Modern Language Association (MLA).
Use the style recommended or required by your instructor. If your instructor does not specify a style, choose one based on the discipline or field about which you are writing:
Most databases will have a cite icon you can click on to get a citation for your Works Cited page.
In the Ebsco databases (Academic Search Complete, Business Source Elite, & Ebsco Ebooks), you'll need to click on a specific title, then you'll see the citation / cite link on the right.
Tip: Sign in to Ebsco & create an account for yourself. You will be using these Ebsco databases for other classes & having an Ebsco account allows you to save searches, search histories, & also articles in folders you can create. Once you set up an account, you can set your page preferences to 50 results per page & won’t have to do it again.
