Citing books/articles mentioned in SoP

[WhiteWine]

Hello! Do you think one should add a "works cited" section at the end of an SoP if there are books or articles mentioned in the text?

[fuzzylogician]

Unless they're obscure, it's probably not necessary. You can give a short description with the relevant information in the text, and anyone who is curious can google and find the full information. "Smith's ("The Secret Lives of Unicorns and Kittens") seminal study of unicorns in the wild inspired me to research the effects of pixie dust on proposed tax increases in the North East United States," etc. 

[Sigaba]

^ If the title of a work is long and you're up against a word count, I'd go with "Smith's seminal work on unicorns."

Keep in mind that every choice you make in writing a SOP can be second-guessed endlessly. Do what you can to avoid such gopher holes. The best form of the argument is not necessarily the perfect argument.