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Citation Styles and How to Guide

Citation Guidance

Citation Help

Below is a list of citation making resources that can help you structure your citations.  In order to create a citation, you'll need to have some basic information about the source itself that you'll either have to type in yourself or the website will fill in for you. 

DISCLAIMER: Although these websites will generate citations for you, you should always check the appropriate citation style guidelines to make sure that the citation is formatted correctly.  These websites will help get you started with structuring your citations, but they should not be the sole source you use to build citations.

Have further questions about citations? 

Jones Library's librarians can take a look at your citations to see if they appear to be formatted correctly, but if you have substantive questions about how to incorporate citations into your writing, it's best to schedule an appointment with the Global Communication Center's (GCC) Writing Center.  

The GCC has a team of trained specialists who can give you feedback on your paper and citation styles.  The GCC offers in-person, synchronous, and asynchronous appointments.  Create your account and schedule an appointment with the Writing Center by clicking the link here.

Did you know that the library catalog and several of our databases provide a "Cite" button that gives you an automatically generated citation? This is a great way to save time and keep track of sources that you find as you go along in your research!  

To get a copy of the citation, simply look for the Cite button.  Depending on what source you're using, the location of this button may be located in a different area of the screen.  Below is an example of what you might see:

Citation Button

Once you've found the cite button, select the citation style you're looking for, and copy and paste the citation into your Reference list or Works Cited page.  The citations that come from library resources are usually fairly accurate, but it is always recommended that you compare this citation with the citation formatting guidelines outlined in the citation style that you're using.

A citation manager that lets your store and organize references to journal articles, websites, books, and other sources that you may cite to when writing a paper or conducting other research.  Citation managers not only allow you to easily save citations (it's as easy as installing a plug-in and saving the citation to your browser), but you can also use it to take notes and save pdf copies of your research.

There are several citation managers out there, and which one you use comes down to your personal preference.  Jones Library's personal favorite is Zotero because it's free and gives you unlimited citation storage.  Click on the drop-down arrows beside each option below to learn more about each citation manager and assess which one might be best for you.  

You will need to pay a fee to use this citation manager, but you can set up a 30 day free trial here.

Learn more about EndNote by clicking on the following link.

  

For the free version of this citation manager, you receive 2GB of library space and can be part of 5 private groups. If you upgrade to a premium plan, you will have more storage space and the ability to create more groups with more members.

Learn more about Mendeley here.

 

This is a free citation manager, and you have unlimited storage space for citaiton.

Learn more about Zotero here.