University Library > What is a Citation?

What Is a Citation?

Citation info from catalog

A citation contains the information needed to uniquely identify and locate a creative work, such as a book, article, video recording, etc. Each citation is one unit of information in your references cited, works cited, bibliography, footnotes, endnotes, etc. Exactly how you put this information together varies by citation style, but the necessary data is the same. The librarians at UW-Whitewater have put together style guides for the commonly used citation styles on campus, which may be accessed from the Library User Guides web page.

MLA Citation Example:

Tatar, Maria. Off with Their Heads! Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1992.

To save yourself time, energy and stress, either email yourself or write down the citation information for your sources as you are working.


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Last Revised: MS - 8/9/2007