42 What Do You Need for a Citation?

This is a general list of the information you might need to create a complete citation. Depending on the citation style you are using, different information may be required for each of these sources (see the section on MLA/APA/CMS for more information on citation styles).

For Books

• Author(s)
• Editors/translators
• Edition (if not first)
• Name, date, and city of publication/publisher

For Articles

• Author(s)
• Title and Subtitle
• Name of source (magazine, journal, newspaper, etc.)
• Date of publication
• Volume, issue, and page numbers

If retrieved from a database, also…

• Name of database
• Name of subscription service
• URL of database
• DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
• Date source retrieved

For the Web

• Author(s)
• Editors/Creators
• Title of source
• Title of site
• Publication information
• Date of publication or latest update
• Site sponsor
• Date source accessed
• Source URL