Citing Your Sources

Citing the sources that you use is a critical component of academic research since it is important to attribute scholarship to its original author. Including citations (references) in your work also allows others to find and explore the content of your sources so that they might advance their own research.

There are hundreds of styles of citations and the one that you use will depend on your discipline and also whether your instructor suggests a particular citation style.

All citation styles include similar components. the author, the document title, the publication year, volume, issue and page numbers. The order of these components and whether certain components are capitalized or italicized changes between styles.

Consult the Cornell Libraries Citation Management website to find useful help guides for different citation styles. 

An example of a journal article citation in APA (American Psychological Association) style:

Rojas-Downing, M. M., Nejadhashemi, A.P., Elahi, B., Cassida, K.A., Daneshvar, F, Hernandez-Suarez, J.S., Abouali, A., Herman, M.R., Anwer,

S., Al Masraf, D., & Harrigan, T. (2018). Food footprint as a measure of sustainability for grazing dairy farms. Environmental Management,

62(6), 1073-1088. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1101-y

An example of a journal article citation in MLA (Modern Language Association) style:

Rojas-Downing, M.Melissa, et al. “Food Footprint as a Measure of Sustainability for Grazing Dairy Farms.” Environmental Management, vol. 62,

no. 6, 2018, pp. 1073–1088. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1101-y.

Citation Management Software

The Cornell Library provides support and instruction for three citation management programs:  Endnote, Zotero and Mendeley. Students are encouraged to find a program they like and use it. The few hours spent learning a program will pay off exponentially in time saved organizing your references and formatting your thesis.  

If you have questions, complete the form on the CItation Management Help page.