Any citation tells your readers basic information about your source so that they know where your information is from and so they can find it themselves if they like.
As you will see as you take classes in English, Psychology, Biology, and so on, different disciplines use slightly different formats, but the basic information is always the same. MLA (Modern Languages Association) is the format most commonly used when writing about literature.
Here is an example of a citation for a book that follows MLA format:
Okada, John. No-No Boy, University of Washington Press, 2014.
The Hostos Library has more guidance about citation in general here and about MLA style here.
The Excesior OWL also has a good list that shows exactly how to format each kind of source.
Some more examples are below.
Format:
Last name, First name. "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper, day month, year, URL.
Example:
Farago, Jason. "Isamu Noguchi’s Efforts to Improve Life in an Internment Camp." The New York Times, 19
January, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/arts/design/isamu-noguchis-efforts-to-improve-life-in-an-internment-camp.html.
If there is no author, just start with the "Title of Article":
"Ogden Hears Plea for Nisei." The Minidoka Irrigator, 20 January, 1943,
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84024049/1943-01-20/ed-1/?sp=1.
Basic format:
Last name, First name. "Title of Chapter." Title of Book, publisher, date, pages,doi
("doi" stands for digital object identifier. Your ebook may or may not have this - if it doesn't have one, don't worry about it.)
Example:
Ngai, Mae M. “‘An Ironic Testimony to the Value of American Democracy’: Assimilationism and the World War II
Internment of Japanese Americans.” Contested Democracy, Columbia University Press, 2015, pp. 237–57,
doi:10.7312/sinh14110-012.
Also you this form for any reference article you find on the library website. Most of the online reference articles are chapters inside encyclopedias--a type of book whose many chapters are coordinated by an editor or editors. You should include any editor(s).
Example:
Brooks, Roy L. "Japanese American Internment and Relocation." Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, edited by
Patrick L. Mason, 2nd ed., vol. 3, Macmillan Reference USA, 2013, pp. 4-8. link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX4190600258/GVRL?u=cuny_bron60695&sid=GVRL&xid=d2f6bff8.
In many places you can get an automatic citation. Sometimes these automatic tools make mistakes or use outdated templates. You should always check the automatic citation to make sure it's right.
In OneSearch, you can find the automatic citation tool here:
In Gale eBooks (where most of our reference articles are), you can find the automatic citation tool here:
In EBook Central (where many of our ebooks are), you can find the automatic citation tool here:
You get the picture - wherever you find your article, look for a set of icons and usually the citation tool will be represented by quotation tools, or might say "cite".