Citing the Book Title Itself (not its content)

Question

So I was doing my paper in my local library and I saw a book title. It gave me the idea on how to end my paper (pretty much summarizing the title itself). Do I have to cite it even though I haven't read the book?

Answer 1

It is good practice to cite any idea that is not your own.

If the book title consists, for instance, of only two vague, common words and they happened to spark a much more elaborate idea in you, then I wouldn't cite it. However, if you took specific inspiration from something you saw (especially since some book titles can be ten words or more, and may contain entire ideas), then it should be cited. It ultimately depends on whether what you ended up writing was distinctly your idea, or distinctly someone else's.

Answer 2

Hello: No, you do not have to cite it. The title gave you inspiration to finish your paper. You did not use or checked the book out