Q. The citation I have for an article might not be correct. What do I do now?


Answer


If searching the internet doesn't help you discover the correct citation...

Here are a few things to try within our library systems:

  • Make sure you are signed in to the library (top right corner of the library home page).
    • Near the center of the home page, choose one of the following options from the drop down list to the right of the large search bar:
      • One Search
        • Then type or paste the title of the article into the search bar. Click SEARCH.
        • If your article is not in the first few results, try a different method.
      • Google Scholar
        • Then type or paste the title of the article into the search bar. Click SEARCH.
        • If your article is not in the first few results, try a different method.
      • Journal Title
        • Then type or paste the name of the journal into the search bar. Click SEARCH.
        • Select the result, if any, for the online version of the journal.
        • If there is a link to the publisher's website, click down the list in the following order until you get to the Table of Contents at the Issue level:
          • Year
          • Volume
          • Issue
            • Look through the Table of Contents listing in page number order.
            • Note: The article you need may actually fall within the pages of a different article. This happens frequently with book reviews!!
            • Open the full text and look for the starting page of your article, just in case it is actually within another article!
    • Another way to search for the correct citation...
      • On the library home page, scroll down and click the View Resources icon.
        • In the drop down list, choose: Web of Science
          • Try the Cited Reference Search
            • Try last name of the Author and the name of the Journal
            • Note: Web of Science indexes the reference lists from articles in various journals and books, but it does NOT check to see if the citations are correct! So...
            • If you find variations of the citation, the correct one usually has the highest citation count! The others typically have a mistake in one or more of the following: year, volume, issue and/or page number.

If you need help, try our Ask a Librarian services!