Citation & Reference Guide

Welcome to the Citation Guide!

This guide will show you how to create citations directly in the text of your assignment and how to organize references. 

If you are unsure which style to use, ask your professor for a recommendation.

Please contact a librarian if you have any questions about how to use any of the resources mentioned in this guide.

What are citations and references?

Citations and references indicate where a piece of information was found and who is responsible for it.

• Citations are presented in the text of your assignment. They are short and help the reader find the complete reference in the bibliography.
• References can be found in the bibliography at the end of an assignment. For every citation there is a corresponding reference.
• A bibliography is a list of works that were used during the research and writing of the assignment.

Why cite and reference?

• To give credit to the person responsible for the information.
• To avoid plagiarism.

When to cite and reference?

Any time you present someone else's ideas, words or you summarize their findings in your assignment, you must cite and reference.

The Library has prepared the following citation handouts to help students cite their sources and avoid plagiarism. Each one provides examples of bibliography entries and in-text citations for various types of sources.