Library:How to Cite/Who

Who:

Silhouettes by geralt from Pixabay

When citing a source, it is important to keep note of who wrote or created it, and to differentiate between particular types of authors. For example:

• Is the author an individual, musician, artist, or any other type of creator?
• Are they a group of authors/creators?
• Are they a corporation or organization, otherwise known as a corporate author?
• Is the author/creator anonymous or pseudonymous?

In all of these cases, the author or creator must be credited, and your style guide may require you to format your citation differently depending on which category they fall under. This holds true even if the author of your source is unknown, in which case your style guide will explain how to format the citation accordingly. Make sure to check out your style guide’s index for more information on where to find instructions for specific types of authors.

Other points to consider:

Does the work that you are citing appear within a larger work?

• Depending on the format that the piece is presented in and the citation style that you are using, you may have to credit the author, creator, or editor of the larger work as well. Examples of such larger works include: academic journals, anthologies, and dictionary/encyclopedia entries.
• Was the work that you are citing originally created in another language?
• In many cases you will need to credit both the translator of the piece, and its original author/creator.