citací

Citations, or citace in Czech, are references to sources used to support statements in scholarly writing. They serve to attribute ideas to their original authors, enable readers to locate sources, and uphold academic integrity by preventing plagiarism. Citations appear in two main forms: in-text citations, embedded in the body of a work, and full citations listed in a bibliography or reference section.

Citations generally include information that allows a reader to identify and retrieve a source, such as the author(s), title, publication venue, date, and when applicable, page numbers or DOIs. The exact order and punctuation depend on the chosen citation style. Common styles include APA (author–date), MLA (brief author–page), Chicago (notes and bibliography or author–date), and IEEE (numeric). Each style prescribes rules for both in-text citations and reference lists, as well as formatting for quotes, paraphrases, and electronic sources.

Best practices: cite primary sources whenever possible, quote verbatim only when necessary, paraphrase accurately with a citation, and distinguish clearly between evidence and opinion. Maintain consistency throughout a document. When using online sources, include stable identifiers such as DOIs or URLs and note access dates when required by the style.

Citation management tools (for example, Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley) help organize references and generate formatted bibliographies. Institutions often provide style guides and templates to standardize citations across disciplines. In all contexts, proper citation supports scholarly dialogue, enables verification, and respects intellectual property.