21 Citation Style Guides
MLA (Modern Language Association)
An in-text citation is a brief note about the source you are using, and it goes directly in your sentence. It’s only a quick mention, however, because a big one it would otherwise make your writing awkward and heavy. To cite a source in your sentence, you generally need three things:
1. A quote or paraphrase from the source
2. The author’s last name
3. Either a page number (book) or an article/film title in quotation marks (see the style listings for other types of sources)
Signal Phrase Example: Bob Jones, canine behaviorist, claims that “all dogs go to heaven” (816).
In-text Example: Some experts believe that “all dogs go to heaven” (Jones 816).
Paraphrase Example: Bob Jones, canine behaviorist, claims that dogs are heavenly creatures (816)
You can include these three things in any combination that makes sense for your sentence, but all three components must be there. Whatever does not get added directly into the sentence must go in parentheses.
Note that the third example contains a paraphrase and not a direct quote. This is perfectly acceptable, but you must add a citation, even when you paraphrase information. Students often forget this important detail, but failure to include a citation is considered plagiarism.
Here is a quick reference guide for citing your sources in your sentences: MLA In-text Citations Quick Reference_08.23.21_JN
MLA Works Cited
Creating a list of sources and placing it in the final pages of an essay is usually a familiar practice for most students. While the various formatting styles have various names for their lists of sources, it is called a Works Cited in MLA style. All essays that require research must have a Works Cited page.
A Works Cited is a master list of all the sources used in your essay, and it can be as many pages as it needs to be to list all of your sources. Notice the example has specific characteristics:
- It is double spaced throughout.
- The entries are in alphabetical order from top to bottom.
- Each entry has a hanging indent. (The first line is not indented, but all subsequent lines are.)
- The title is centered, and it remains the same font and size as the rest of the document. Is not in bold, italics, or underlined, either.
- The entries are not numbered, nor do they have bullet points.
Helpful Resources: MLA
San Mateo College Sample MLA Works Cited Page
Use this graphic organizer to help you organize the needed information for each source: MLA Practice Template
Here’s an easy-to-follow booklet on MLA source citations (including the MLA Practice Template): MLA Booklet
MLA Generators: Clicks vs. Correctness
Students often ask about MLA generator websites, and our best recommendation is not to use them. These websites make money with clicks and not by providing correct answers to students. We recommend that you follow the guidance given in this textbook, instead, and write it for yourself.
If you insist on using these websites, do so with caution. Compare the answers you receive from the generator to the guidance given in this textbook, and you might be surprised at how terrible the online results truly are. Some of the current websites give formatting answers that are not in the current edition, are glitchy and filled with programming codes, or are adding symbols and information that have never been a part of an MLA entry. If you must use these websites, be prepared to make corrections in your entries.
APA (American Psychological Association)
Some disciplines like nursing or computer science simply cannot rely on old information. The timeliness of the source matters in APA style, and that is why the date is given priority—to make sure that the information they are citing truly meets the needs of its readers and writers. Student writers will need both in-text citations and a matching list of sources to complete your essay and protect you from plagiarism. There are distinct differences, however, in the execution of those in-text citations and source lists.
The APA style follows the author-date method of in-text citation. Place the author’s last name and the year of publication at the end of the sentence, like this: (Jones, 1998).
To cite a source in your sentence, you generally need four things:
- A quote or paraphrase from the source
- The author’s last name
- Either a page number (book) or an article/film title in quotation marks
- The date your source was published
If you are paraphrasing your source, then you do not need the page number. If you are directly quoting your source, then a page number is required. See the two examples below for sentences that require all four components:
Quotation Example: Jones (1998) found that “all dogs go to heaven” (p. 816).
Paraphrase Example: Jones (1998) found dogs to be heavenly creatures.
Parenthetical Example: Dogs are heavenly creatures (Jones, 1998).
Notice that the APA style adds commas and either p. (a single page) or pp. (a page range) for its page numbers in the parenthetical parts of its citations.
You can include these things in any combination that makes sense for your sentence, but all required components must be there either in your sentence or in the parentheses.
APA References
A References list is a master list of all the sources used in your essay, and it can be as many pages as it needs to be.
- It is double spaced throughout.
- The entries are in alphabetical order from top to bottom.
- Each entry has a hanging indent. (The first line is not indented, but all subsequent lines are.)
- The References title is centered, and it remains the same font and size as the rest of the document. Is not in bold, italics, or underlined, either.
- The entries are not numbered, nor do they have bullet points.
Helpful Resources: APA
A look at an APA References page: APA References Page
Directions on how to cite sources in APA format: APA Source Citations
Creating an APA Title page: APA Title Page
Chicago Manual Style
In-text citations in Chicago look like this: “This is a quote.”1 Reference works via footnote. Footnotes are small notations at the bottom of a page that provide additional information or cite the source of a passage in the page’s text. A footnote is marked in the page text by a superscript icon, usually an asterisk (*) or number (¹), which corresponds to the matching footnote at the bottom of the page.
Word processing programs like Microsoft Word and Google Docs have reference options built into them. In Microsoft Word, after your quotation or paraphrased section you need to cite, click the “References” tab at the top of the page, and select “Insert Footnote.” Alternatively, you could also select the segment of your paper that needs citation and hold down “Ctrl + Alt + F” to insert a footnote. Your instructor (and the Internet) can help you figure out how to insert footnotes in other programs.
The first time you reference a source, the footnote will look like this:
Books
Footnote: First name Last name, Title of Work (City: Publisher, year), page.2
Bibliography: Last name, First name. Title of Work. City: Publisher, year.
Journal Articles
Footnote: First name Last name, “Article Title,” Journal Title Volume Number, Issue Number (Year): page number, URL/DOI.3
Bibliography: Last name, First Name. “Article Title.” Journal Title Volume Number, Issue Number (Year): page numbers. URL/DOI.
When using a source again, i.e. after the first time, the footnote will look like this:
Last name, Abbreviated Title, page number.4
If you have two consecutive notes from the same source, you may drop the title of the work for the subsequent note.
Last name, page number. 5
If possible, avoid using “Ibid.” for notes referencing citations from the same source. This could potentially cause confusion if the paper is published electronically with hyperlinks for the reference notes. “Ibid.” (the abbreviation for “ibidem”, meaning “in the same place”) refers to the work cited in the preceding footnote or to the preceding work within the same footnote. The term should not be used when the preceding footnote includes more than one source
Formatting footnotes
Note numbers should begin with “1” and follow consecutively throughout a given paper.
In the text:
- Footnote numbers are superscripted.
- Footnote numbers should be placed at the end of the clause or sentence to which they refer and should be placed after all punctuation, except for the dash
- In the notes themselves:
In the notes section in the footer:
- Note numbers are full-sized, not raised, and followed by a period (superscripting note numbers in the notes themselves is also acceptable).
- Lines within a footnote should be formatted flush left. Place commentary after source documentation when a footnote contains both; separate commentary and documentation by a period
- In parenthetical citation, separate documentation from brief commentary with a semicolon.
- Do not repeat the hundreds digit in a page range if it does not change from the beginning to the end of the range.
Formatting Chicago Bibliographies
- Label the first page of your back matter, your comprehensive list of sources, “Bibliography” (for Notes and Bibliography style) or “References” (for Author Date style).
- Leave two blank lines between “Bibliography” or “References” and your first entry.
- Leave one blank line between remaining entries.
- List entries in letter-by-letter alphabetical order according to the first word in each entry.
- For two to three authors, write out all names.
- For four to ten authors, write out all names in the bibliography but only the first author’s name plus “et al.” in notes and parenthetical citations.
- When a source has no identifiable author, cite it by its title, both on the references page and in shortened form (up to four keywords from that title) in parenthetical citations throughout the text.
- Write out publishers’ names in full.
- Do not use access dates unless publication dates are unavailable.
- If you cannot ascertain the publication date of a printed work, use the abbreviation “n.d.”
- Provide DOIs instead of URLs whenever possible.
- If you cannot name a specific page number when called for, you have other options: section (sec.), equation (eq.), volume (vol.), or note (n.).
Helpful Resources: Chicago
Here are instructions on Chicago format as well as an example paper: Chicago Handout with Samples.
To see these instructions in Chicago Style, here is a pdf: Chicago Style Citations