Using Information Responsibly for Your Assignments: Citation Formats

What Is Citation

Citation tells readers about the sources you have used in your work. It can be found in the text or at the end of the work as a bibliography / reference list.

Watch this video to learn what is a citation and why we need citations? (1:21)

Why Do We Have to Cite

• Acknowledge the ideas of the original authors and give them credit.
• To avoid plagiarism.
• To support your arguments.
• To help readers to locate your reference for further research.

Elements of a Cited Work

Use the elements of cited works to compose a list of references at the end of your paper so that readers can retrieve the items you mention in your text.

For example, if you mention the book Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong by Gordon Mathews in your text, you must document this source.

Different citation styles for different disciplines

• APA (American Psychological Association) is used in Education, Psychology, and Sciences.
• MLA (Modern Language Association) style is used in Humanities.
• Chicago/Turabian style is generally used in Business, History, and the Fine Arts.
• IEEE is used in Engineering.

You can refer to the following information for more details:

1. Citation Styles Guide, CUHK Library
2. Citation and Referencing page, The Independent Learning Centre