Do I have to add a citation to my personal statement?Answered
Hi everyone!
I just finished my personal statement and I wanted to write something that is different from what you see and know about me so I wrote about my love for music. In my statement I included a lyric from the song that I love and I was wondering if I have to add a citation at the end of my essay. I also did not include the song title or the artist. Should I add that? Anything helps!
2 answers
Hey there!
Since you are only quoting a line from a song into your personal statement, you do not need to enter a formal citation for ur personal essay. However, you can write the name of the song and singer in brackets next to the lyrics ( something like an in-text citation, but u need not follow the in-text citation format). In my opinion, if the lyric only lasts one line, then citations are not needed. If they go on a little longer, mentioning the song and singer's name as a side note would be just fine.
Whoops, I just noticed the bad grammar in my previous comment. I meant to say that,” I will probably add an introduction sentence before I mention the song lyric. If I did that, should I still add the brackets for the song title and artist?”
if you're adding an intro statement before the lyric, feel free to casually drop the song name ( in case the person reading ur essay doe not know what song the lyrics r from). Mentioning the artist would not be required then.
Thank you so much! Happy Holidays!
You don't need a formal citation. But you should say something along the lines of "In the song [song name] by [artist],..." or something like that so readers know who wrote it and what it is. Don't just drop it in. Best of luck!
Thank you for letting me know! I think I might add an introduction sentence to the song lyric before I mention the song lyric if that makes sense.
Hi! Thank you for letting me know!I will probably add an introduction we tan s before I meant lion the song lyric. Did you want me to put the song and artist name in brackets?