Documenting the sources you use in your senior project is a key part of the research and writing process. Complete and accurate citations to the books, journal articles, primary sources, and other items you use will allow readers to verify your sources and explore them further if they'd like to learn more about the issues you've raised.

The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) offers a helpful overview of several citation styles, including the Chicago Manual of Style, MLA Style, and APA Style.

You may already have a software program or a system for keeping track of your sources, but, if not, you will want to think about what way of organizing your research will work best for you this coming year. The Yale University Library has licenses to some citation management tools, and there are also free tools on the web for managing your citations. Two useful tools to consider are:

• Zotero
  • This is a free web tool used by many historians.
• RefWorks 
  • This is a resource licensed by the Yale Library; you will need to use your Yale e-mail address to create an account.

For more information and an overview of several of the resources that are available, see our citation management guide.