Have you ever considered how citing information sources happens every day around you? It does!
In real life, you're not going to include a formal citation in an email to your cousin. However, you might link to a news article backing up a claim you make in that email. We call these informal citations, or "blog style" citations.
Something as simple as a link to a website in an email is an informal citation.
Informal citations allow everyone to cite their sources in less formal forms of writing, like emails, news articles, and blog posts. Informal citations are how everyday creators of information acknowledge ownership, attribute quotes, check facts, and learn more. The beauty of informal citations is that they force you to think about how your sources fit, and actually say why you're sharing them. (Those are skills that you also need in order to write more formal research papers!!)
"'The trend caught the attention of Boston's Shriners Children's Hospital, which issued a warning about instant noodles last month."
Source: NPR
Explanation: In the text of their news article "Slurp with care: 'KPop Demon Hunters' instant noodle trend can cause burns", NPR cites and links readers to the warning issued by Shriners Children’s. Doing this lets readers easily fact check and learn more about the dangers of tippy soups.
Screenshot source: reddit.com/r/Infographics (screenshot taken Oct. 2025)
Explanation: The infographic creator (Visual Capitalist) cited their data source (Semrush) within the graphic. Sharing this infographic is redditor Mr_feezy. It would be good practice for Mr_feezy to link to the original infographic and data sources in the reddit thread so readers could fact check this claim.
Informal citations work well for short papers with a small number of sources, reflection papers, and/or Moodle forum posts.
Check with your instructor first to make sure they don't expect a Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page. Make sure you provide enough information for the source so that it can be found in a Google search.