Citations are an integral part of many academic papers, especially in disciplines like history and political science where you have to back up your research with reputable sources of information. When you’re writing papers, it’s important to make sure you do this properly, so that other people who read your work know that you didn’t just make everything up out of thin air. This guide will show you the right way to add citations in Google Docs, so you can focus on getting your message across and not just making sure people believe it came from somewhere other than your imagination!
Types of Citations
There are two types of citations you can add to a Google Doc: in-text citations and reference citations. In-text citations appear within the body of your document, while reference citations appear at the end of your document. To create an in-text citation, use parentheses around the author’s last name and year of publication (for example: (Smith 2017)).
To create a reference citation, place an asterisk before the author’s last name and year of publication followed by a period (Smith*. 2017). You will want to provide both in-text citations and reference citations for any sources that require it. If you are citing more than one source, make sure they have separate parenthetical citations. For instance, if we were referencing Smith’s study from 2007 and Jones’ book from 2011, we would include these references as follows:
(Smith 2007) (Jones 2011)
If you are citing a website, it is important to include a date for when you accessed that website. This date should also be placed in parentheses, either before or after your URL. For example , let’s say we wanted to cite the National Library of Medicine’s WebMD page on strep throat. We would do so like this:
(National Library of Medicine WebMD 2018)
This means that our reader knows when the information was written, which makes our citation credible and trustworthy.
In-text Citation vs. Reference List
In-text citations are used when you want to cite a specific part of a source, such as a specific quote or statistic. To do this, you’ll need to add a brief note in your text with the author’s last name and the year of publication. For example: (Smith, 2019). The reference list is where you would go if you wanted to list all of the sources that were cited in your paper.
In both cases, these citations should be done according to MLA or APA guidelines depending on what type of paper you’re writing. These formats will give you the most accurate information about how to format your citations, but there are also plenty of helpful resources online. A quick search will show you many examples of how to format everything from an in-text citation to a full reference list at the end of your paper. They can seem complicated at first, but it’s important to follow them correctly so that your readers know which sources you’ve used.
If you have any questions about formatting citations for a particular type of paper, contact me directly!
Numbered References
- Open your Google Doc and click on the Insert tab.
- Click on Citation.
- Select the type of citation you want to add.
- Enter the information for your citation.
- Click Insert. 6. To get rid of a citation, click its number or arrow, then press Delete.
- To reorder citations, select them with your mouse and use the up or down arrow keys to change their order.
- When finished adding citations, close the document window (File>Close).
Formatting the References Section
The first step is to open up your Google Doc and click on the Insert tab. Then, click on the Link icon. A new window will pop up. In the URL field, paste in the URL of the website you want to cite. Then, click OK. You’ll see a footnote at the bottom of your document with the title Reference and a date next to it. You can also add an author by clicking on the word reference that pops up after inserting a citation. Type in their name into this field, followed by their initials or last name if necessary. Add the year they published the information and then select whether you want to link them to another webpage (linking) or just leave it as a plain text citation (plain text).