Who? What? When? Where?

A citation provides information about the who, what, when, and where of a source. The basic elements of a CSE-style citation are author, title, and facts of publication. Author and title address the who and what. Facts of publication address the when and where, including date, publisher, and location.

Where to Find Citation Information

Books

The most reliable place to find citation information for a book is the title page and the back of the title page (called the verso). Book covers often have shortened or alternate titles that should not be used in a citation.

Verso title page of a book, with copyright date circled

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Journal Articles

The citation information for a journal article will often appear in the page header and footer on the first page of the article.

Journal article with the citation information squared off.

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Abstract and Index Information

Services like PubMed provide records with citation information, abstracts, similar article suggestions, and sometimes even a link to the full-text article itself. This service is called abstracting and indexing BUT IT IS NOT THE ACTUAL ARTICLE. The below screenshot is the PubMed record for the same article seen above. In your research, make sure you cite the actual article and not the PubMed page.

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Other Sources

The location of citation information for other types of published sources varies. Do your best to locate the author, title, and publication facts for any source.