Q. What are the elements of a good citation?

A good citation is meant to provide enough information for anyone to track down the source material. Therefore, a good citation includes:

Who: the person or persons (or, in some cases, institution) responsible for authoring the source

What: the title of the work

When: the publication date — often the year, but this varies depending on the citation style

Where: the location of the work, such as within a publication or accessed online under a URL or DOI