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Introduction to Library Research

This guide contains essential information on how to do college-level research.

Citations

Citations credit the author and enable other researchers (or your instructor) to locate the cited item. 

All sources should be cited in a bibliography or reference list and the text or footnotes of a research paper.

How do you cite your sources?

Citation styles provide rules for writing and formatting in-text citations (i.e., parenthetical citations, footnotes, or endnotes) and source lists (e.g., bibliography, works cited). These styles also guide how to format the text of the paper (including the use of graphs, charts, and images) and writing conventions for the field.

Common styles include APA, MLA, and the Chicago Manual of Style, but many subjects and journals have their own styles.

Your instructor may require the use of a specific style or allow students to choose. Either way, what's important is that you use the style consistently throughout your paper.

Citation managers (sometimes called reference managers) are tools that allow you to:

  • Import citations from databases and Find It! as you research
  • Save and organize citations
  • Attach pdfs of articles and chapters when available
  • Create bibliographies in a variety of formats
  • Insert footnotes and parenthetical citations as you write
  • Collaborate with others using shared folders

Susie McClure Library provides support for three free citation managers: Scribbr, Zotero and Citation Machine.  

APA Parenthetical Citations

In parenthetical citations, you include all relevant source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence or clause:

Example: “Parts of the human body reflect the principles of tensegrity (Levin, 2002).”

APA Narrative Citations

In narrative citations, you include the author's name in the text itself, followed by the publication date in parentheses:

Example: “Levin (2002) argues that parts of the human body reflect the principles of tensegrity.”