Priceless Writing Tips
What Every Writer Should Know about Citation Tools
“I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.” Peter De Vries
There is only one thing that is just as annoying for a writer as the sound of nails on a chalkboard. That is to fail the verification procedure because of ‘minor’ mistakes in the citation format.
Citing papers is like cutting onions – unpleasant, but absolutely necessary. That’s why all these free citation tools were created – to make citing quick and easy.
4 Free Online Citation Tools
Sure, you can’t trust every citation tool coming your way. Test citation tools before you start relying on them and keep an eye on the citations they produce.
These are 4 free reference tools to get you started:
- BibMe can help you find a book (or article, film, website – anything you need) by its author, title or even ISBN. This tool will give you the properly formatted citation even faster than you can say ‘Jack Robinson’. Your remaining job then is only to copy and paste it into your paper.
- KnightCite, like a detective, asks you to answer a few questions concerning your source – its type, number of authors and other stuff. It will take you up to 7 seconds to answer the questions. And voila – your citation is there for you.
- CiteULike gives you even more than just quick citations. Using this tool, you can share with others the resources you’ve discovered, you can create your own personal library and even see who else reads what you’re reading. As the name of this citation tool promises, you will like it.
- Son of Citation Machine asks only for the ISBN or a web link to your source. So easy and so quickly you get what you need for your reference lists.
If You Do Not Trust Citation Tools…
However, if, for whatever reasons, you do not want to use online citation tools, you can format your citations yourself:
- Choose some quality websites that offer examples of different citation styles, all in one place (there is nothing better than Purdue Online Writing Lab, Duke University Libraries and the University of Arizona Libraries for this purpose.)
- Whenever you write papers using different styles, save them as samples and use them in future projects. In this way, you can pay proper attention to all the specifics of the paper format.
- Pay attention to the main specifics of different citation styles, such as full authors’ first names for MLA style or years of publication in brackets for APA.
Do you usually use citation tools?
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[...] that you’ve done a lot of work and have plenty of weighty arguments supporting your position. Use citation tools to make it quick and easy. By the way, did you know that you could cite several sources to support [...]