Citation Management

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-research |

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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)

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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

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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.

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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 | |

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 |

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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:
• DOI lookup:

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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

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

Manual Backup Strategy

Always keep:

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

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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

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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 |

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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 |

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

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Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: fabioc-aloha
• Source: fabioc-aloha/AlexSkill_Mall
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.