
Stating the name of the author/s and the year of publication is one such method. There are different style guides for adding citations to your work. It tells the readers from where you took the ideas and information. What is a CitationĪ citation indicates the source of your information. The main difference between citation and footnote is that citation is generally included in the text itself whereas footnotes are given at the bottom of the page.


However, the sources also have to be included in your paper in a systematic way citation and footnotes are two methods of doing this. Using someone else’s ideas and not mentioning the sources is considered an academic theft, which is known as plagiarism. In the standard practice of writing, whenever you are using someone else’s ideas, opinions or findings, etc., you always have to mention the source from where you obtained that information.
