Citing Your Sources
Proper citation is an essential aspect of scholarship. Citing properly allows your reader or audience to locate the materials you have used. Most importantly, citations give credit to the authors of quoted or consulted information. Failure to acknowledge sources of information properly may constitute plagiarism. For an explicit definition of plagiarism, see the Boston University Academic Conduct Code.
For detailed instructions on how to cite within the text of your paper, please consult a style manual listed below. Please also note: some of the resources below do not cover every possibility you might encounter when trying to cite your sources. For this reason, it is suggested that you consult a style manual to create your bibliography.
BU Librarians often recommend 
RefWorks as the best tool to manage citations and most importantly RefWorks can automatically create a bibliography in hundreds of styles. Accounts are free for the BU community so only use your bu.edu email address when creating an account. There are other such tools.
Chicago Style
-
Chicago Manual of Style Online This link opens in a new windowNote: Full text online includes 16th and 17th editions.
-
Citation Quick Guide- A Chicago Style Q&A and a Tools section featuring sample forms, letters and style sheets.
- Discover the difference between Notes & Bibliography style and Author/Date style. -
Citation Guide (HBS)This excellent guide in .PDF from the Harvard Business School covers citation within text as well as how to do a bibliography using Chicago style.
E-Book
Note:
13. Weill, Peter and Woerner, Stephanie L., What's Your Digital Business Model?: Six Questions to Help You Build the Next-Generation Enterprise (Harvard Business Review Press, 2018), 21-23, [Place URL here].
Shortened note:
15. Weill and Woerner, What's Your Digital Business?, 21-23, [Place URL here].
Bibliography entry:
Weill, Peter and Woerner, Stephanie L., What's Your Digital Business?: Six Questions to Help You Build
the Next-Generation Enterprise. Harvard Business Review Press 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central,
[Place URL here].
Journal Article
Note:
19. Asoba, Samson Nambei and Mefi, Nteboheng Patricia, "Functional Strategies for Small Businesses During Crisis Situations," Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal 27, no. 3 (2021): 2-3, [Place URL here].
Shortened note:
27. Asoba and Mefi, "Functional Stategies," 2-3, [Place URL here].
Bibliography entry:
Asoba, Samson Nambei and Mefi, Nteboheng Patricia, "Functional Strategies for Small Businesses
During Crisis Situations." Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal 27, no. 3 (2021): 1-7.
[Place URL here].
Mergent Market Atlas
Note:
22. "Brazil Market Overview," Mergent Market Atlas, accessed February 12, 2025, [Place URL here].
Shortened note:
29. "Brazil Market Overview," Mergent Market Atlas. [Place URL here].
Bibliography entry:
"Brazil Market Overview," Mergent Market Atlas. Accessed February 12, 2025. [Place URL here].
MarketLine Company Profile
Note:
31. “Company Profile: Apple Inc.,” MarketLine Report via Business Source Complete, accessed October 17, 2024, [Place URL here].
Shortened note:
31. “Company Profile: Apple Inc.,” MarketLine Report, Business Source Complete.
Bibliography entry:
“Company Profile: Apple Inc., 19 September 2024.” MarketLine Report via Business Source Complete.
Accessed October 17, 2024. [Place URL here].
Citing Generative AI Tools (e.g., ChatGPT)
Note:
1. OpenAI, ChatGPT response to “Explain blockchain for beginners,” January 9, 2025.
Shortened note:
5. OpenAI, ChatGPT response to “Explain blockchain for beginners."
Bibliography entry:
OpenAI. ChatGPT. “Response to ‘Explain blockchain for beginners.’” January 9, 2025.
For more information, see Chicago Manual of Style Online: Chicago Style: Citing AI-Generated Content in Chicago Style
Print Book
Note:
1. Gratton, Lynda, The Key: How Corporations Succeed by Solving the World’s Toughest Problems (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014), 67-71.
Shortened note:
10. Gratton, The Key, 67-71.
Bibliography entry:
Gratton, Lynda. The Key: How Corporations Succeed by Solving the Toughest Problems. New York:
McGraw-Hill Education, 2014.
-
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition
by
Location: Music Library Reference Z253 .U69 2017Publication Date: 2017Technologies may change, but the need for clear and accurate communication never goes out of style. That is why for more than one hundred years The Chicago Manual of Style has remained the definitive guide for anyone who works with words. -
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations
by
Location: Pardee Reference X LB2369 .T8 2013Publication Date: 2013Kate L. Turabian's Manual for Writers continues to be the gold standard for generations of college and graduate students in virtually all academic disciplines.
