Citation
A formal acknowledgment in your text that specific ideas, words, or data come from an identifiable source.
A citation credits the source of an idea, quotation, or piece of data used in your writing. It typically appears in two linked parts: a brief marker in the text (an author-date pair or a numbered note) and a full entry in the reference list that gives readers everything they need to locate the source. Citations serve three purposes at once: they give credit to earlier authors, they let readers verify your claims, and they show how your work connects to the existing literature.
In a thesis, citations are the evidence trail examiners follow. Every factual claim, borrowed argument, or reported finding needs one, and each in-text marker must match a complete, accurate entry in the reference list. Sloppy or missing citations invite accusations of plagiarism and undermine trust in everything else you wrote, so check them systematically before submission.
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