Citations are a short way to uniquely identify a published work (e.g. book, article, chapter, web site).

There are two parts to any citation: an in text citation and a reference list citation

1. In text citation – a shortened citation that appears in the body of your work and points readers to the reference list

2. Reference list citation – longer citations that  appear at the end of a paper and provide enough information needed to describe and find your source again, physically or online.

Citations consist of standard elements. A citation contains all the information necessary to identify and track down publications, including:

• author name(s)
• titles of books, articles, and journals
• date of publication
• page numbers
• volume and issue numbers (for articles)
• DOI (a unique identifier for each article)

Citations may look different, depending on what is being cited and which style was used to create them. This guide covers CSE and APA styles.