Skill: Citation Management

APA 7th formatting, citation integration, reference validation, and bibliography generation.

Metadata

Field	Value
Skill ID	citation-management
Version	1.0.0
Category	Research
Difficulty	Intermediate
Prerequisites	None
Related Skills	literature-review, academic-paper-drafting

Overview

Proper citation is the invisible infrastructure of scholarly work. This skill ensures accurate attribution, consistent formatting, and valid references across academic writing.

Supported Styles

Style	Primary Use	Key Resource
APA 7th	Psychology, social sciences, business	Publication Manual (2019)
Chicago	History, humanities	Chicago Manual of Style
IEEE	Engineering, CS	IEEE Reference Guide
Harvard	UK/Australia academia	Varies by institution

Default: APA 7th (DBA dissertation standard)

Module 1: APA 7th Quick Reference

In-Text Citations

Situation	Format	Example
One author	(Author, Year)	(Newport, 2016)
Two authors	(Author & Author, Year)	(Lee & See, 2004)
Three+ authors	(First Author et al., Year)	(Venkatesh et al., 2012)
Direct quote	(Author, Year, p. X)	(Newport, 2016, p. 42)
Multiple sources	(Author, Year; Author, Year)	(Lee, 2020; Smith, 2021)
Same author, same year	(Author, Year-a, Year-b)	(Brown, 2023a, 2023b)

Narrative vs. Parenthetical

Parenthetical (author in parentheses):

Trust calibration is essential for human-automation interaction (Lee & See, 2004).

Narrative (author in sentence):

Lee and See (2004) demonstrated that trust calibration is essential for human-automation interaction.

Page Numbers

Required for:

Direct quotes
Paraphrases of specific passages
Referring to specific figures/tables

Not required for:

General reference to entire work
Summarizing main argument

Module 2: Reference List Formatting

Basic Structure

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page–Page. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Journal Article

Venkatesh, V., Thong, J. Y., & Xu, X. (2012). Consumer acceptance and use of information technology: Extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. MIS Quarterly, 36(1), 157-178. https://doi.org/10.2307/41410412

Key rules:

Italicize journal name and volume
Include DOI as hyperlink when available
Use sentence case for article title
Use title case for journal name

Book

Newport, C. (2016). Deep work: Rules for focused success in a distracted world. Grand Central Publishing.

Key rules:

Italicize book title
Include publisher (no location since APA 7th)
Sentence case for title

Book Chapter

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.

Conference Paper

Schemmer, M., Kuehl, N., Benz, C., Bartos, A., Satzger, G., & Fromm, J. (2023). Appropriate reliance on AI advice: Conceptualization and the effect of explanations. Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, 410-422. https://doi.org/10.1145/3581641.3584066

Website/Online Source

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. https://www.url.com

Dissertation/Thesis

Correa, F. (2025). AI readiness scale: Extending UTAUT2 to predict enterprise AI adoption [Doctoral dissertation, University Name]. ProQuest Dissertations.

Module 3: Common Errors and Fixes

Formatting Errors

Error	Incorrect	Correct
Ampersand in narrative	Smith & Jones (2020) found...	Smith and Jones (2020) found...
Missing comma	(Smith 2020)	(Smith, 2020)
Et al. too early	(Smith et al., 2020) for 2 authors	(Smith & Jones, 2020)
Italics wrong	Article Title	Article title (not italicized)
DOI format	doi: 10.xxx	https://doi.org/10.xxx

Reference List Errors

Error	Fix
Missing DOI	Add if available; most recent articles have DOIs
URL instead of DOI	Prefer DOI over URL when both exist
Retrieval date included	Only for content that may change (e.g., wiki)
Publisher location	Omit in APA 7th (changed from 6th)
"Retrieved from"	Omit unless content changes (use DOI directly)

Consistency Errors

Error	Fix
Inconsistent author names	Use same format throughout
Mixed capitalization	Sentence case for titles, title case for journals
Orphaned citations	Every in-text citation needs reference list entry
Orphaned references	Remove unused references

Module 4: Citation Verification

Verification Checklist

For each in-text citation:

Author name spelled correctly?
Year matches reference list?
Page number included for quotes?
Corresponding entry in reference list?

For each reference:

All authors listed (up to 20)?
Year accurate?
Title accurate and correctly capitalized?
Journal/publisher accurate?
DOI functional (if included)?
Formatting matches APA 7th template?

DOI Validation

https://doi.org/10.XXXX/XXXXXXX

Test: Paste DOI in browser—should resolve to article.

Finding DOIs:

CrossRef: https://www.crossref.org/guestquery
DOI lookup: https://doi.org

Module 5: Reference Management Tools

Tool Comparison

Tool	Pros	Cons	Best For
Zotero	Free, browser integration, groups	Sync limits on free	Individuals, small teams
Mendeley	Free, PDF annotation	Owned by Elsevier	PDF-heavy workflows
EndNote	Powerful, institutional	Expensive, complex	Large institutional projects
Paperpile	Google Docs integration	Subscription	Google ecosystem users

Integration Workflow

Capture: Browser extension captures metadata
Store: Central library with PDFs
Cite: Word/Google Docs plugin inserts citations
Generate: Auto-generate bibliography
Verify: Manual check against APA 7th

Manual Backup Strategy

Always keep:

Exported BibTeX file (portable format)
Annotated PDF copies
Citation spreadsheet for complex works

Module 6: Special Cases

Secondary Sources

When citing a source you read about in another source:

(Original Author, Year, as cited in Secondary Author, Year)

Reference list: Only include the secondary source you actually read.

Personal Communications

In-text only: (J. Smith, personal communication, January 15, 2025)
NOT in reference list (not recoverable)

Works in Press

Author, A. A. (in press). Title. Journal Name.

Retracted Articles

Author, A. A. (Year). Title (Retracted). Journal, Volume, Pages. https://doi.org/xxx

AI-Generated Content

APA guidance (as of 2023):

Cite the AI tool as author
Include prompt in quotes
Note that output is not retrievable

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (May 2025 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com

Quick Reference Card

In-Text Patterns

One author:    (Smith, 2020)
Two authors:   (Smith & Jones, 2020)
Three+:        (Smith et al., 2020)
Quote:         (Smith, 2020, p. 42)
Narrative:     Smith (2020) argued...
Multiple:      (Jones, 2019; Smith, 2020)

Reference Patterns

Journal:  Author. (Year). Title. Journal, Vol(Iss), pp. DOI
Book:     Author. (Year). Title. Publisher.
Chapter:  Author. (Year). Title. In Editor (Ed.), Book (pp.). Publisher.
Web:      Author. (Year, Month Day). Title. Site. URL

Numbers to Remember

Rule	Value
Et al. threshold	3+ authors
Max authors in reference	20 (then use ... before last)
Hanging indent	0.5 inch
Double spacing	Yes, throughout
Alphabetize by	First author's last name

Activation Patterns

Trigger	Response
"citation", "APA", "reference"	Full skill activation
"format this reference", "cite this"	Direct formatting help
"check citations", "verify references"	Module 4 verification
"in-text citation"	Module 1 quick reference
"reference list"	Module 2 formatting

Skill created: 2026-02-10 | Category: Research | Status: Active

Synapses

[.github/skills/literature-review/SKILL.md] (High, Enables, Bidirectional) - "Lit review requires proper citations"
[.github/skills/academic-paper-drafting/SKILL.md] (High, Enables, Forward) - "Papers need correct citations"
[.github/skills/dissertation-defense/SKILL.md] (Medium, Supports, Forward) - "Defense references must be accurate"