540-828-5642 research@bridgewater.edu 540-318-1962
Special Collections For assistance with primary sources related to:
540-828-8018 Stephanie Gardner
Once you have located your sources for your multimodal project, you have to remember to use the sources responsibly. The main component to this is citing the sources correctly.
This tutorial will help you understand the purpose of a citation and how to create one for a bibliography or work cited page.
Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL
Group name. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL
Title of page. (Year, Month Date). Site name. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy
Example:
Traditional Print books:
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name.
Examples:
Electronic books:
Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of book [eBook edition]. Publisher. URL
*It is only necessary to denote format when the electronic version differs from the traditional print version.*
Audiobooks:
Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of book (N. Narrator, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Publisher.
*It is only necessary to denote format when the audiobook version differs from the traditional print version in some way (is abridged or has additional content).*
Traditional print news article:
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Date). Title of article. Title of Newspaper, pages.
Online news article (from a publisher with a physical newspaper):
Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of article. Title of Publication. URL
Online news article (from a publisher without a physical newspaper):
Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of article. Name of publishing website. URL
Blogpost:
Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of post. Publisher. URL
Facebook:
Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Type of post]. Site Name. URL
Instagram:
Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Type of post]. Site Name. URL
Twitter:
Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words[Tweet]. Site Name. URL
YouTube (or other streaming video):
Last Name, F. M. [Username]. (Year, Month Date). Title of video [Video]. Streaming Service. URL
To transform the above information into a proper citation, you'll need to consult the appropriate style guide. The library has copies of each guide available for use. You also may want to use one of the many citation management/generator tools that are available either for free or a subscription fee.
A word of caution when using tools such as those listed below. Don't assume that the citation is correct, instead always verify the citation before turning in your paper. Glitches and uncommon formatting can cause trouble for these automatic generators.
Many library databases also include an automatic citation option. This is normally indicated by a quotation mark symbol. If you're using the library's Discovery system to find articles, you are able to use the citation function directly through there. This is a great resource, but remember to proofread the citation. Notice here how the citation created reads "INSERT-MISSING-URL".