Often you will be asked to find your own sources for an assignment but other times you will be searching for a known item. A known item is any source (book, journal article, video, website, etc.) that you already know something about and are trying to locate. For example, if you're looking for a journal article for a weekly class reading on the Library website.

You can find known items using the information found in a citation. Think of a citation as a detailed address which can be used to locate a source. No matter what type of source a citation represents, it often includes all or some of the following information: 

 

 Identifying Citations for Different Types of Sources

Once you are familiar with the information provided in a citation, it will be easier to distinguish between citations for different types of sources. Below are some of the most common citation examples, including for books, chapters in edited books, and journal articles. 1

 Book

Books are one of the most common types of academic resources. The general format for a citation for a book in APA format is:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher. 

Example:

Dincer, I., & Rosen, M. (2015). Exergy analysis of heating, refrigerating and air conditioning: Methods and applications. Elsevier.

 Chapter in an Edited Book

An edited book consists of chapters from multiple authors. The editors of the book are not necessarily the same authors of the book chapters. The general format for a citation for a chapter in an edited book in APA format is:

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (pp. pages of chapter). Publisher. 

Example:

Armstrong, D. (2019). Malory and character. In M. G. Leitch & C. J. Rushton (Eds.), A new companion to Malory (pp. 144-163). D. S. Brewer.

 Journal Article

It can be easy to confuse the title of a journal article with the title of the journal in which the article is published. Sometimes a journal article citation will also include a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). A DOI is a is a string of numbers, letters and symbols that is used to uniquely identify an article. The general format for a citation for a journal article in APA format is:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), pages.  https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/yyy

Example:

He, Y., Islam, M. M., Zhu, S., & Hu, T. (2017). A design synthesis framework for directional performance optimization of multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicles with trailer lateral dynamic control systems. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, 231(8), 1096-1125. https//doi.org/10.1177/0954407016671284

 

 Citing Your Own Sources

This page covers how to identify a type of source based on a citation. But what if you need help creating your own citations for sources that you find for an assignment? 

There are a number of resources that you can consult to help you if you are new to citing. Check out this guide for more resources on citing using common citation styles (APA, MLA, IEEE, McGill) and more examples of how to cite different types of sources. For help with specific citation questions or formatting a paper according to a citation style, you can always make a 1:1 appointment with a writing specialist through the Student Life Portal.

 

 Test Your Knowledge: Citations

 

 

 

References

College Libraries Ontario. (n.d.). Build citations. The Learning Portal. https://tlp-lpa.ca/research/build-citations 

 

 

 


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