Why? Because it is illegal not to. And readers who like to read further need enough information to find what they’re looking for (author’s name, title of publication, page number, etc.).
While it might be tempting to leave the heavy work to your editor, we are only meant to help with citations—not write them for you. Here’s how to conquer them on your own:
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Choose a style guide. The style guide you choose will depend on the type of publication you’re targeting. If the publisher doesn’t recommend a guide, choose the one that best fits the medium (e.g., AP for news sites).
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Once you know the style guide, the next step is consistency. That means the formatting for each source should be the same (i.e., books formatted in book format; articles in article format; and so on).
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Footnotes should be in a consistent style as well.
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If footnotes are complete, there’s no need for endnotes.
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If all else fails, there is specialized software that can help.
One important thing to remember is that spell-check doesn’t work well on citations, thanks to the many abbreviations, strangely spelled names, etc. So take your time, and as always, just do your best.
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