As you work on preparing a research paper or a research article for publication, it is important that you carefully cite all information and ideas that are not your own. This is important so that:
- your audience can easily look up additional information about topics, ideas, or statistics that you reference in your paper
- you successfully convey to your audience that the information you are presenting comes from accurate and reputable sources
- you can properly acknowledge the researcher(s) who deserve credit
Use of proper citation formatting will improve the appearance of your writing and make it easier for you audience to look up the sources of information to which your citations refer. All citations you include in your work should be properly formatted to ensure that you satisfy the style requirements of the publication your work will be appearing in. For reference, take a look at the Annals of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) style guide by visiting the link below: