"The reference is completely defined by the citing text it belongs to and the cited text to which it points. In semiotic terms the reference is a sign — the elementary unit of a representational system with the cited text as its referent... The citation is the mirror image of the reference... By organizing the references not according to the texts they belong to, but according to the texts they point at — they become attributes of the cited instead of the original, citing text. Semiotically, the citing text is the referent of the citation."