Learning Center

Believe it or not...

Plagiarism is almost always a symptom of other educational problems.

Did you know?

The penalties for plagiarism can be surprisingly severe, ranging from failure of classes and expulsion from academic institutions to heavy fines and jail time!

Citation styles

Citation styles differ mostly in the location, order, and syntax of information about references. The number and diversity of citation styles reflect different priorities with respect to concision, readability, dates, authors, publications, and, of course, style.

There are also two major divisions within most citation styles: documentary-note style and parenthetical style. Documentary-note style is the standard form of documenting sources. It involves using either footnotes or endnotes, so that information about your sources is readily available to your readers but does not interfere with their reading of your work. For more information on footnotes and endnotes, click here.

In the parenthetical style, sometimes called the "author-date" style or "in-text" style, references to sources are made in the body of the work itself, through parentheses. An example of this would be the following sentence, taken from page 23 of a book written by Professor Scott in 1999:

Professor Scott asserts that “environmental reform in Alaska in the 1970s accelerated rapidly as a pipeline expansion.”: (Scott 1999,23)

This is generally considered an abbreviated form of citation, and it does not require footnotes or endnotes, although it does require the equivalent of a "Works Cited" page at the end of the paper. It is easier to write, but might interfere with how smoothly your work reads.

With so many different citation styles, how do you know which one is right for your paper? First, we strongly recommend asking your instructor. There are several factors which go into determining the appropriate citation style, including discipline (priorities in an English class might differ from those of a Psychology class, for example), academic expectations (papers intended for publication might be subject to different standards than mid-term papers), the research aims of an assignment, and the individual preference of your instructor.

If you want to learn more about using a particular citation style, we have provided links to more specific resources below. Just choose the appropriate discipline from the menu on the left, or scroll down until you find the style that interests you.

Humanities

Chicago

Writer's Handbook: Chicago Style Documentation: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html
Writer's Handbook: Chicago Style Documentation: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html
Excellent FAQ on Usage in the Chicago Style: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html
Excellent FAQ on Usage in the Chicago Style: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq/
Online! Guide to Chicago Style: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite7.html
Writer's Handbook: Chicago Style Documentation: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html
Writer's Handbook: Chicago Style Documentation: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html

MLA (Modern Language Association)

Writer's Handbook: MLA Style Documentation: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocMLA.html
MLA Citation Style: http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/ citing/mla.html
Online! Guide to MLA Style: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite5.html

Turabian (an academic style that works in other disciplines as well)

Turabian Bibliography Samples (Ithaca College Library). Based on the 6th edition of Turabian's Manual.: http://www.ithaca.edu/library/course/turabian.html
Turabian Style: Sample Footnotes and Bibliographic Entries (6th edition) (Bridgewater State College): http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/turabian.htm

Sciences

NLM (National Library of Medicine)

NLM Style Guide: http://healthlinks.washington.edu/hsl/styleguides/nlm.html
National Library of Medicine Recommended Formats for Bibliographic Citation (PDF format): http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/formats/internet.pdf

Vancouver (Biological Sciences)

Introduction to the Vancouver Style: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/infosuss/referencing/ v_intro.shtml
Vancouver Style References: http://www.library.uq.edu.au/training/citation/vancouv.html

Social Sciences

AAA (American Anthropological Association)

Citations and Bibliographic Style for Anthropology Papers: http://www.usd.edu/anth/handbook/bib.htm

[Note: the AAA style is based on the Chicago style, so for specific questions not addressed in any of the AAA style guides, please use the links above or consult The Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition, 1993)]

APA (American Psychological Association)

Writer's Handbook: APA Style Documentation: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html
APA Style Electronic Format: http://www.westwords.com/guffey/apa.html
Online! Guide to APA Style: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html
APA Style.org: http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html

APSA (American Political Science Association)

Writer's Handbook: APSA Documentation: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPSA.html

Legal Style

Legal Citation: Using and Understanding Legal Abbreviations: http://library.queensu.ca/law/lederman/legalcit.htm
Legal Research and Citation Style in the USA: http://www.rbs0.com/lawcite.htm

Other

General info on citing web documents: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet /Style.html
Recommended Multi-Style Links: http://www.aresearchguide.com/styleguides.html; http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/

Plagiarism.org