Skip to Main Content
Research Guides

Citing Sources: Built-in Citation Tools

An overview of tips, tools, and resources for all your citation needs

Quick-Cite Tools

Did you know that many of the databases, catalogs, and even popular web sites you use for research incorporate quick citation tools to make your life easier? Links may be labelled variously Cite (EBSCO and ProQuest databases, Google Scholar), Cite/Export (UW WorldCat), Citation Tools (Gale databases), or Cite this page (Wikipedia), but they all offer quick cut-and-paste citations in the most common formats. Below are three examples of these "Quick Cite" tools.

Built-in citation tools are useful for convenient, one-time citations and bibliographies (created within a document or database) that won't be used again.

Best practice is always to check over and correct the data from quick citation tools since individual citations often have small omissions or formatting errors.

Built-in Citation Tools

You can get a citation for an individual item in the new UW Libraries Search in MLA, APA, or Chicago/Turabian formats.

  • Click on the article and then click "Citation" under the article link

 

 

  • A window will pop up with options to cite in MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and CSE

 

In EBSCO databases like Academic Search Complete, Historical Abstracts, and PsycINFO, the Cite button provides citations in 9 styles:

 

Google Scholar provides a Cite feature with citations in MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard and Vancouver.

Cite sources from within Google Docs: