Citation Quick Links:    All Citation Styles

                                     APA Citation Style Guide

                                     MLA Citation Style Guide

Styles of Citation

There are many styles and forms used to cite sources used to support research. Most academic institutions have standardized requirements for their students. Four of the most widely used styles of citation are:

• American Psychological Association (APA)

• Chicago Manual of Style

• Modern Language Association (MLA)

• Turabian

Whatever style you choose, accuracy, clarity, and consistency are the most important factors when citing information sources. Guidelines for citing electronic sources are not yet standardized. Information sources, such as the Internet, are constantly changing, and therefore citation formats are adapting to these changes.

 

American Psychological Association Citation

The list of sources at the end of the text is called References. The APA method does not use endnotes or footnotes, but instead uses parenthetical citations.

Basic reference format:

Voelker, R. (2004). Stress, Sleep Loss, and Substance Abuse Create Potent Recipe for College Depression. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 291, 2177-2179. Retrieved May 24, 2004, from Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition database.

Instead of footnote or endnote, the author's last name and the publication year (original source/date of visit to site) are placed in parentheses within the body of the text.

For example: (Voelker, 2004)

The examples shown above are basic examples of the APA style. For more information, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). For more information on electronic reference formats recommended by the American Psychological Association, see www.apa.org/journals/webref.html.

The following web sites that advise on citing sources were used to prepare the examples shown above:

http://bedfordstmartins.com/online/

http://dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/list.html

http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html

http://www.simmons.edu/libraries/bibliography/index.html

Note: When citing EBSCOhost, EBSCO is always uppercase, host is always lowercase, italics.

Always consult your library resources for the exact formatting and punctuation guidelines.

 

Chicago Style Citation

The Chicago Manual of Style offers two styles of documentation: the notes-bibliography (humanities) style and the author-date style. The notes-bibliography style (shown below) uses notes for citations and includes a bibliography.

Basic bibliography entry format:

Phillips, Charles. “A DAY TO REMEMBER April 22, 1889.” American History 39 no.18 (2004): 16-18, http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=12233190&db=aph (accessed May 24, 2004).

Basic footnote format:

1. Charles Phillips, “A DAY TO REMEMBER April 22, 1889,” American History, 39. no. 18 (2004), 16-18, http://search.epnet.com.

The examples shown above are basic examples of the Chicago style. For more information, see the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition). For more information on Chicago Style, see http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq.html

The following web sites that advise on citing sources were used to prepare the examples shown above:

http://bedfordstmartins.com/online/

http://dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/list.html

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq.html

Note: When citing EBSCOhost, EBSCO is always uppercase, host is always lowercase, italics.

Always consult your library resources for the exact formatting and punctuation guidelines.

 

Modern Language Association Citation

The list of sources at the end of the text is called Works Cited.

Basic citation format:

Phillips, Charles. “A DAY TO REMEMBER April 22, 1889.” American History 39.1 (2004): 16-20. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Insert library name, City, State. 24 May. 2004 <http://search.epnet.com>.

Instead of footnotes or endnotes, the author's last name and page number(s) are placed in parentheses within the body of the text.

For example: (Phillips 16).

The examples shown above are basic examples of the MLA style. For more information on electronic reference formats recommended by the Modern Language Association, see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers - Sixth Edition (2003) or the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing - Second Edition (1998). Basic information on MLA Style is available at www.mla.org.

The following web sites that advise on citing sources were used to prepare the examples shown above:

http://bedfordstmartins.com/online/

http://dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/list.html

http://www.mla.org/style_faq

http://www.simmons.edu/libraries/bibliography/index.html

Note: When citing EBSCOhost, EBSCO is always uppercase, host is always lowercase, italics.

Always consult your library resources for the exact formatting and punctuation guidelines.

 

Turabian Citation

The list of sources at the end of the text is called a Bibliography. Footnotes are placed at the end of the page.

Basic bibliography entry format:

Phillips, Charles.  “A DAY TO REMEMBER April 22, 1889,” American History, Vol. 39, Issue 18, April 2004, 16-18. Available from Academic Search Premier [database online];  http://search.epnet.com (Boston, MA: EBSCO Publishing, accessed 24 May 2004).

Basic footnote format:

          1 Charles Phillips, “A DAY TO REMEMBER April 22, 1889,” American History, Vol. 39 Issue 18, April 2004, 16-18, available from Academic Search Premier [database online] http://search.epnet.com (Boston, MA: EBSCO Publishing, accessed 24 May 2004).

The examples shown above are basic examples of the Turabian style. For more information on recommended reference formats, see A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Sixth Edition.

The following web sites that advise on Turabian/Chicago Style were used to prepare the examples shown above:

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq.html

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/start/cite/index.html

http://www.simmons.edu/libraries/bibliography/index.html

http://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/turabian.html

Note: When citing EBSCOhost, EBSCO is always uppercase, host is always lowercase, italics.

Always consult your library resources for the exact formatting and punctuation guidelines.