STARTneuro: Citation Basics: formats & help

Citations are made up of chunks of information.  While the order and some information chunks vary by the item being cited or the style you use, there are chunks in common with all citations.  If you are doing it by hand or need to double-check your citations, pay attention to the following.

• Authors:  Last name, first name, & middle initial.  Your citation style will tell you if the authors in the text of your document or in the bibliography should be only the first & middle initials or the full names.
   
• Title of article: include the full title including a subtitle if there is one.  Capitalization is important to note - most of the time you will capitalize the first letter of the first word only, or if a subtitle, capitalize the first letter of that first word.  If there is a proper noun in the title, capitalize those.
   
• Title of publication:  your citation style will dictate if the full name or an abbreviation of the title should be used.  Some citation styles will have you italicize the full name of the journal.
   
• Date article was published:  Be sure to include the year.  Additional details like month, month & day may be needed for some citation styles.
   
• Publication details of Volume number and Issue number:  Note the volume of the journal and the issue number if available.  Some citation styles will skip the issue number, but for your notes, it helps to include it.
   
• Page numbers:  include the range of pages of the article
   
• Optional information - check the specifics of your citation style
  URL or DOI: If you accessed the article online, include the URL (web address) or the DOI (digital object identifier - a character string unique to the article being cited).
  
  Specific page number:  some citation styles will require a specific page number with the in-text citation (the one within the body of your paper).

• Authors:  Last name, first name, & middle initial.  Your citation style will tell you if the authors in the text of your document or in the bibliography should be only the first & middle initials or the full names.
   
• Publication date:  Note the year it was published
   
• Title of book: include the full title including a subtitle if there is one.  Capitalization is important to note - most of the time you will capitalize the first letter of the first word only, or if a subtitle, capitalize the first letter of that first word.  If there are proper nouns in the title, capitalize those.
   
• Place of publication:  Usually a city & state.
   
• Publisher:  Note the company that published the book.  It will be connected to the place of publication by using a colon.
   
• Optional information:  check the specifics of your citation style
  URL or DOI:  if you accessed the book online (ebook), include the URL (web address) of the book.  Some ebooks have a digital object identifier (DOI); depending upon your citation style, you might use that information.