Citing sources is vital in all professional and scholarly communication. You need to be able to show your audience the sources you used to create your work, and how they helped you reach your conclusion.
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A citation is required whenever you quote directly from a source, refer to it, or paraphrase it. Sources come in a variety of different formats, such as books, articles, videos, audio recordings, unpublished materials, and more.
According to the APA Publication Manual, you should
cite the work of those individuals whose ideas, theories, or research have directly influenced your work. The works you cite provide key background information, support or dispute your thesis, or offer critical definitions and data. Cite only works that you have read and ideas that you have incorporated into your writing. In addition to crediting the ideas of others that you used to develop your thesis, provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge. (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 253)
Regardless of the style, a citation typically includes:
Depending on the class, your instructor may require a particular style. If not, then choose a style (APA, Chicago, MLA) and stick with it throughout your work.
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A free reference management and academic social network, Mendeley can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research. Features include the ability to automatically generate bibliographies, import papers from other research software, discover relevant papers based on what you're reading, online access to your papers, and apps for iOS and Android.
A free, open-source citation management tool that is available as a standalone program or an extension in Chrome and Firefox. Like other reference management tools, Zotero offers plugins for Microsoft Word and Open Office so you can insert citations as you write.