When a Librarian asks for the citation for a source, we are looking for the complete reference citation.
The reference citation contains all of the information needed to track down an item, and tell what type of document it is.
The in-text citation contains just the author and the year. Unfortunately, that is not enough information for us to locate an item.
Here is an example of an in-text citation, which includes only the author and the year:
(Orwell, 1949)
Here is an image of a reference citation, which shows all of the information needed to track down an item:
More information
- What is a citation?
- How do I get the citation information for an article?
- How do I find an exact article in the Library?
Do you have other Library questions? Ask a Librarian!
