If I have to be completely honest, dealing with citations is my least favorite portion of the academic writing process. Ascertaining what citation style I need to use, successfully figuring out how to actually format citations in that style, and managing the hodgepodge of footnotes and endnotes are all tasks that seem, to me, cumbersome. Of course, these are necessary tasks: it is imperative that if we paraphrase, quote, or utilize in any way the work of others, we should always attribute the proper credit to them. But recognizing the importance of academic integrity doesn’t prevent us from still finding the task of dealing with citations to be a chore! If you’re in the same boat as I am, I’ll try to provide some advice and tips on dealing with citations!
- Know which citation style to use
Unfortunately, the world can’t agree on one uniform way to cite things. Instead, there are numerous equally-accepted major citation styles: each favored by different academic disciplines. Three of the most common include MLA, APA, and Chicago (but other styles exist as well, such as IEEE). Here, I’ll provide a brief description of when and why to use a specific citation style, and an example citation from that particular style. But I should emphasize one thing: don’t take my word as gospel. The professor you’re submitting the paper to, or the journal you’re submitting the manuscript to, are the ones you should be looking to for guidance first. They will most likely require one particular citation style, and you should be on the lookout for that.
MLA (Modern Language Association):
This citation style is typically used by researchers of literature and language, in fields such as English. You can recognize MLA citations by their usage of Last Name, First Name to begin the citation. Here’s an example citation:
Borstelmann, Thomas. The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena. Harvard University Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central.
APA (American Psychological Association):
This citation style is typically used by researchers of both the social and the natural sciences, in fields such as economics and geoscience. In contrast to MLA citations, the authors’ first names are marked by initials, rather than their first names; APA citations also usually include a DOI (Digital Object Identifier). Here’s an example citation:
Hansen, J., Ruedy, R., Sato, M., & Lo, K. (2010). Global Surface Temperature Change. Reviews of Geophysics, 48(4) [Dataset]. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010RG000345.
Chicago:
This citation style is typically used by researchers in some humanities and arts disciplines, in fields such as history and philosophy. Here’s an example citation:
U.S. Department of State, Memorandum to the President., Oct. 1986, National Security Archive, George Washington University, Document 4.
- Use a citation management tool
Back in high school, and for many of my first essays in Princeton classes, I thought I had a foolproof system for keeping track of citations: as I came across a source I thought I’d use, I pasted its link into a master Google Docs. As I kept on researching, the list of hyperlinks grew and grew; I would then write my essay, and convert my links to citations at the very end. While this method worked when I didn’t have too many sources, it was hard to scale. When I had over 50 sources , converting them all at once to citations was incredibly tedious.
This is where a citation management system comes in. With a tool like Zotero (my citation management system of choice), Mendeley, or EndNote, you can keep track of citations as you find them. Then, once you want to generate a bibliography of all the sources you’ve cited, the system will do it automatically for you! And, you can integrate them with word processors such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word!
I find citation management systems most useful when I’m working on long-term research projects. Here, instead of having one document with a massive list of out-of-context hyperlinks, I can simply create a folder in Zotero dedicated to my project. I can annotate specific sources in my bibliography, noting how they relate to my work. And as I try and research the scholarly conversation around my research subfield, I can immediately keep track of seminal papers in the field.
To conclude, I want to emphasize again that these tips are just a starting point, and aren’t necessarily always going to be applicable to your specific research scenario. There are plenty of other useful sources you can use to make sense of the citation process: for example, the Princeton Library has a really helpful LibGuide and the library often offers workshops on citation management! Furthermore, make sure to understand the citation expectations being placed upon you: it’s always a good idea to consult with your adviser, professor, or preceptor.
Hopefully these tips will be at least somewhat useful in your future bibliographic journeys. Happy citing!
— Advik Eswaran, Natural Sciences Correspondent
