Citing Sources

A citation, or reference, is the information that identifies a source.

Consider this: If someone tells you about a great book and you want to read it, what information will you need to find it? Knowing that the cover is blue won’t be enough. At the very least, you’ll need the title. If it’s a common title, you’ll need the name of the author as well. If your friend is recommending a particular edition of, for example, Janson’s History of Art, you may also need the publisher, the publication year, and the edition number. That’s a citation.

Bibliographic information

The information that identifies a book or any other source is called bibliographic information. The pieces of bibliographic information needed to identify and find a source vary depending on the type of source. Here are some common types of sources and the information needed to identify them:

• Book: author or editor, title, edition, publisher, publication city, and date

• Magazine or journal article: author, article title, magazine title, magazine issue, publication date, and page numbers

• Movie: title, director, main performers, movie studio, and release date

• Photograph, chart, illustration, or other graphic: creator (photographer, painter, etc.) or responsible party (for example: U.S. Geological Survey), the title of the image, and the bibliographic information of the book, magazine or website where you found the image

• Web page: author or responsible party (for example: Design Institute of San Diego), page title, site title, and URL

Why isn’t the URL enough for a web page citation?

Websites change constantly, and URLs change too. If a URL no longer works, your audience can search for the page using the author, page title, and site title.

What if I can’t find a required piece of information?

Sometimes the information truly isn’t there: some articles don’t have authors listed, some product catalogs don’t include a date, and some websites don’t provide much information at all.

First, make sure that you have searched thoroughly for the missing information, and use your common sense. If you can’t find publication information in the front of a book, look in the back. If a web page doesn’t list an author, look for an “About” page. If a website doesn’t list a responsible party or a date when the information was last updated, consider whether you want to rely on a nameless, un-dated source for your information.

If you decide that the source is reliable but you can’t find a piece of bibliographic information, simply leave that element out.