What is a citation?

A citation is a formal way to acknowledge a source that you used in creating a piece of content.

There are two types of citations: full and in-text citations.

A list of full citations is given on a:

• “References” page (APA Style, Chicago author-date style)
• “Works Cited” page (MLA format, Chicago author-date style)
• “Bibliography” page (Chicago notes and bibliography style)

These pages contain all of the information necessary (such as author, title, and publisher) for someone else to find the material you referenced.

The formatting of citations is based on the citation style you’re using, and the conventions are determined not only by the citation style but also by the type of source.

In-text citations are the condensed forms of full citations, and they are used within the body of your written work. They are placed at any point in a sentence (in parentheses or as a footnote indicator) when you bring up an idea or piece of information that you found in another source.