Citation Tracker

Ensure every citation is accurate, complete, and correctly formatted for the requested style. Accuracy comes before formatting - a beautifully formatted wrong citation is still wrong, and the costly failure this skill prevents is the fabricated or unverifiable reference that survives to publication and detonates the author's credibility on contact with one curious reader.

Operating procedure

Verification precedes formatting, because formatting effort spent on a citation that turns out to be retracted or nonexistent is wasted twice.

Step 1: Gather inputs

Collect: the reference list and the manuscript (both - cross-matching needs both sides), the target style, and the venue's house rules if any. If the style is unstated, ask: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago (notes-bibliography or author-date), or IEEE. Never mix styles in one document, and for Chicago, pin down which variant before touching anything.

Step 2: Inventory the required elements

For each source identify: author(s), year/date, title, container (journal/book/site), volume/issue, pages, publisher, DOI/URL, and access date where the style requires it. A missing element is a flag to report, never something to invent or approximate.

Step 3: Verify before formatting