Using Citation Generators Wisely

While citation generators are a relatively new tool for writers, it has revolutionized writing. Painstakingly documenting every source used for a research paper is an unsurmountable task and often took up large chunks of time that could have been used to research more efficiently. Moreover, citing sources in different formats is taxing. You have to remember the rules of every form separately and apply them without error. Citation generators have made the work much more convenient for us. Merely adding the article's link cited on a citation generator and selecting the citation format will generate a citation for you in only seconds. Whether online or on MS-word, a citation generator can create the whole bibliography with just a few clicks, a task that used to take ages.

Citation generators are efficient and powerful and have altered how we write so dramatically that we educate ourselves about using them. Used carefully, with discretion, it makes writing more manageable and less tedious; however, used carelessly, it can use systematic errors that may pass unnoticed.

 

How Do Citation Generators Work?

Citation generators are programs that turn information about a source into a citation that you can use. Most citation generators work following a similar process:

1.            The generator receives information about a source from you. The generator can obtain information in two ways:

a.            Information about the source typed in by you

b.            A URL is copied and pasted by you from which the citation generator retrieves the sources itself.

2.            The generator processes this information according to the settings you specify.

3.            The generator produces a citation (or set of citations) that you can use.

Source: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_citation_machines_responsibly.html

 

 

How to use Citation Generators properly?

You may ensure that you are using a citation generator correctly in the following ways:

 

1.       Make sure to provide accurate information.

No citation generator can function correctly despite user errors, therefore if you input incorrect information into a citation generator you will receive an incorrect citation. The citation generator cannot bypass your errors, therefore make sure you input the information correctly.

 

2.       Spell the author's name correctly. Subtle things like capitalization and punctuation can also matter.

 

3.       Make sure you designate the correct medium, version, and edition for each source.

Citation generators can't judge whether the information they receive about a source "makes sense." They can't tell, for instance, if you're accidentally citing an academic journal article as a magazine article (and thus likely leaving out important information like volume number). Therefore, to avoid unnecessary confusion, double-check that you've indicated precisely the source you're using (and not a source that's "close, but no cigar").

 

 

4.       Make sure to use reputable, accurate sources.

Citation generators work with the sources you give them. They can't evaluate whether those sources are right or not. To avoid this, be sure to assess whether each source you use is accurate, reputed, and unbiased. Make sure:

•             Your source is source peer-reviewed.

•             You are using a primary source (i.e., directly from the person providing the information, if it is a secondary source, make sure the author is referencing primary sources when possible.

•             Judge whether the source comes from an organization with a vested interest in having an unbiased, authoritative reputation.

•             The source references clear, unambiguous evidence. This evidence well-documented (for instance, in a bibliography).

•             The source acknowledges a range of viewpoints even as it makes its argument.

•             The source does not use emotionally-charged language or make broad generalizations.

•       The source does not come from a lone individual, particularly an individual without a reputation for careful, objective, or well-reasoned claims (or a motivation to preserve that reputation).

•             The source is commercially sponsored. Does the sponsor have a vested interest in the audience's perception of the source's topic?

5.       Double-check the citation you receive against a reference.

After you've finished inputting information and you've received a citation, resist the urge to copy and paste the source into your document without first doing a quick check for accuracy.

•             Pay particular attention to the way the generator has handled capitalization and formatting.

o             Note, for instance, that there are different rules for capitalizing titles in MLA and APA styles.

o             Note also that different types handle numbering differently. For example, some require page ranges to include all numbers in the start and end pages (e.g., 267-268). Others allow the omission of redundant numbers(e.g., 267-8).

•             If you couldn't find any information (e.g.,  date), check to ensure that the information has been left out and not rendered as a generic placeholder (e.g., "[DATE]").

6.       Make sure you cite each source in the text in a way that makes sense.

Remember that bibliographies are not the end of the story when it comes to citations. You should also use citations in the text when you borrow information from a source.

•             Here is an example. Suppose you would like to cite a chapter by the author Jane Smith. You input the source's bibliographic information into the citation generator; you indicate that you're using APA style, and you get the following in-text citation:

o             (Smith, 2015, pp. 122-128)

•             Now, you want to use this citation in the text, so you copy and paste it into a sentence where you're borrowing from Smith's source:

o             According to Smith, the world's first pies were developed by the ancient Egyptians (Smith, 2015, pp. 122-128), while later innovations were spearheaded by the Macedonians (Smith, 2015, pp. 122-128).

•             The uncritical copying and pasting you've just done have led you to make a few mistakes in your citation. When you provide the author's name in a signal phrase (like "According to Smith…"), you usually should not give it again in the parenthetical. You also should not provide a source's date multiple times in the same sentence. Finally, you should not provide vague page ranges when it's possible to pinpoint precisely where you found the information you're borrowing. The citation generator cannot judge the context of the sentence you're using the citation in, so it can't tell you to do any of these things. A much more sensible approach would look like this:

·                     According to Smith (2015), the world's first pies were developed by the ancient Egyptians (p. 123), while later innovations were spearheaded by the Macedonians (p. 127).

 

Common Errors in Citations from Citation Generators

While these are useful tools to get started with your citations, it is vital to check that these are correct as none of them are always 100% accurate.  Common errors found in citations from these generators include:

1.            Mis-capitalization of information

2.            Can be either over or under capitalizing

3.            Citing a source as the wrong type of source

4.            Many sources get cited as webpages when they are not. For example, you may find newspapers through the internet, but they are still newspapers, not webpages

5.            Leaving out information

6.            Inclusion of information that is unnecessary

For example,

Including newspaper, date ranges from library databases as part of the newspaper title, ex: New York Times (1851-2012)

When both a publisher and name for a website are required, putting the same name twice, ex: WebMD, WebMD.com

If no named author, creating a name, ex: Reporters, Telegraph