Citation Guide

Citation style is not a matter of preference — your university or target journal prescribes one, and consistency within it is what examiners and copy-editors check. Confirm the required style and edition before you write, since APA 6th and APA 7th differ in ways that are tedious to correct retrospectively.

Use a reference manager from the first paper you read. Zotero or Mendeley will capture references as you go, insert citations while you write, and reformat an entire bibliography into a different style in seconds. Reconstructing citations manually at the end of a thesis costs weeks and reliably introduces errors.

Always proofread generated references, because accuracy depends on the metadata that was imported — missing issue numbers, wrong capitalisation and absent DOIs are common. Cite the source of an idea even when you have paraphrased it entirely in your own words, and cite only what you have actually read: citing a source you found quoted in another paper without reading it is a recognised form of misconduct.