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Chemistry Research Guide

Citations and Citation Styles

citation is a way of giving credit to individuals for their creative and intellectual works that you utilized to support your research. It can also be used to locate particular sources and avoid plagiarism. Typically, a citation can include the author's name, date, location of the publishing company, journal title, or DOI (Digital Object Identifier).

citation style dictates the information necessary for a citation and how the information is ordered, as well as punctuation and other formatting. A commonly used style guide in the sciences is the  American Psychological Association (APA) guide. The American Chemical Society created The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information.   

Citing Sources

Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves two purposes: (1) it gives proper credit to the authors of the materials you used, and (2) it allows those who are reading your work to locate the sources that you have listed as references.

Representing the work of others as your own is plagiarism. See Texas Lutheran University's discussion of "Academic Honesty & Plagiarism" (Student Handbook, p. 6). 

Use a standard bibliographic citation style approved by your professor. 

Visit these pages for citation resources:

Please see this LibGuide for further information and tips.

Research Tips