Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression (e.g. [Newell84]) embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of acknowledging the relevance of the works of others to the topic of discussion at the spot where the citation appears. Generally the combination of both the in-body citation and the bibliographic entry constitutes what is commonly thought of as a citation (whereas bibliographic entries by themselves are not).

A prime purpose of a citation is intellectual honesty; to attribute to other authors the ideas they have previously expressed, rather than give the appearance to the work's readers that the work's authors are the original wellsprings of those ideas.

The forms of citations generally subscribe to one of the generally accepted citations systems, such as the Harvard, MLA, American Sociological Association (ASA), American Psychological Association (APA), and other citations systems, as their syntactic conventions are widely known and easily interpreted by readers. Each of these citation systems has its respective advantages and disadvantages relative to the trade-offs of being informative (but not too disruptive) and thus should be chosen relative to the needs of the type of publication being crafted. Editors will often specify the citation system to use.

Bibliographies, and other list-like compilations of references, are generally not considered citations because they do not fulfill the true spirit of the term: deliberate acknowledgment by other authors of the priority of one's ideas.

Adjective

aforesaid (not comparable)

1. Of a previously stated list, the earlier of the list items, usually the first in two or three mentioned list items.

When it modifies a noun phrase, it is generally preceded by the definite article the, and the combination functions as a determiner rather than a simple adjective. You can put it before a cardinal like the aforesaid two articles instead of the two aforesaid articles.

• Arts: Writers Resources: Style Guides (132)
• Kids: School Time: English: Writing: Citation Resources (9)
• Reference: Libraries: Library and Information Science: Technical Services: Cataloguing: Bibliographic Utilities (37)

• WTAMU Cornette Library: Citing Internet Resources
  wtamu.edu
  Provides links to citation instruction on the World Wide Web.
• Karla's Guide to Citation Guides
  bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu
  Annotated collection of links to the best citation guides on the Internet, especially citation from the Internet. APA, Chicago, MLA, CBE, and legal citation.
• Citing Electronic Information in History Papers
  history.memphis.edu
  Guide to citing electronic information written by Maurice Crouse.