Zitation

Zitation is the practice of acknowledging the sources of information and ideas used in writing or research. The term is commonly used in German-language scholarly contexts; in English, the equivalent is citation or citing. The act of zitation serves to attribute credit, allow readers to verify claims, and trace the provenance of sources. It also helps demonstrate the research basis and protects against plagiarism. Zitation typically involves two linked components: in-text references and a bibliographic entry at the end of the document.

In-text citations appear as parenthetical notes or as narratives that mention the author and year, depending on the style. Footnotes or endnotes may be used to provide additional commentary or precise page references. The bibliographic list, such as a reference list or a bibliography, provides full publication details to enable retrieval.

Styles and conventions vary by field and publisher. Common systems include author-date styles (APA, Chicago author-date, Harvard) and numeric or Vancouver styles. Other widely used frameworks include MLA and Chicago notes-bibliography. Each style prescribes which fields are included (author, title, year, publisher, journal, volume/issue, pages, DOI or URL) and how they are formatted. Good zitation practice requires accuracy and consistency, correct handling of direct quotes versus paraphrase, and proper treatment of secondary sources.

Tools such as reference managers can help organize sources and format citations. In the digital environment, persistent identifiers and machine-readable citations support searchability and interoperability.