Public Policy and Administration Research: Writing & Citing

A citation is the basic information required to identify or locate a specific publication (book, article, video, etc.). Citations are included in research papers, articles, and books to reference text that has been quoted or a source that has been used as an authority.

There are many types of citations you may be expected to use when working in and studying Public Policy & Administration. The APSA (American Political Science Association) Style Manual for Political Science is a common format, but remember to always confirm with the person assigning you a task which format they prefer citations in. Some other citation styles include: APA, AP, MLA, Chicago, etc.

Once a preferred format is confirmed, consult the appropriate style guide.

This comprehensive guide on writing and citing offers help with many style guides as well as understanding plagiarism and the basics of writing a research paper.

Writing can be tricky! Luckily, there are many resources available to make the process easier.

• Purdue Online Writing Lab offers writing resources and instructional material as well as guides for avoiding plagiarism, graduate writing, and writing as an English Language Learner
• MU Writing Center, located in the Student Success Center, offers writing support of all types to all students at the University of Missouri. 
• MU Online Writery allows you to submit any writing project online and receive feedback

NOTE: Though these tools are very helpful, they are not always completely accurate, so double check that citations are correctly formatted.

Citation Generators

Automatically format citations

• Citation Builder
• ZoteroBib

• NoodleTools Express

ProQuest and Ebsco databases as well as Google Scholar will also format the citations for you when you save or print them.

Citation Managers

Keep track of your citations between work sessions

• Mendeley
• Endnote
• Zotero