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Physics

How to find information on all aspects of physics

Physics Citation Styles

Not sure which citation style to use? Ask your professor which they prefer!

Parts of a Citation

Each citation style is formatted a bit differently but the good news is most (if not all) citations require most of the same information. Here is a breakdown of the most common information required in a citation.

 

Where to find this information: 

You can usually find these at the beginning of a source or on the information (or record) page if you found it online. Can't find something for your citation? Ask a librarian and we can help you find that information. 

 

For Most Sources: 

Author(s): Who wrote the source your citing? Could be one or multiple authors. 

Title: The name of the specific source your using, whether it be an article, or a book chapter, or an entire book.

Date of Publication: When was that source released? 

Pages: What pages numbers in the journal or book contain the article your citing. If an article is from an online journal, you may not find page numbers. 

 

Specific for Articles:

Journal Title: The name of the periodical that published the article your citing. It may say "The Journal of... ".

Volume and issue number: Volume typically refers to the number of years the publication has been circulated, and issue refers to how many times that periodical has been published during that year. 

DOI: A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a string of numbers, letters and symbols used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web.

 

Specific for Books:

Publisher: The company that released the book.