Citations & Plagiarism Guide: Citation Styles

The Purdue Online Writing Lab is one of the most popular resources for information on citation sytles, and contains lots of valuable, in-depth information

There are many styles of citation available, and your professor will most likely let you know which they prefer. However, there are three major styles that are common based on the field of study:

• Modern Language Association (MLA): Humanities
• American Psychological Association (APA): Education, Psychology, and Business
• Chicago: History and sometimes Fine Arts

The Modern Language Association released their most recent update to their handbook in 2016. MLA uses in-text citations with the author's last name & page number, and a Works Cited list at the end of the research paper.

Purdue OWL includes many helpful resources for MLA including:

• General Formatting: headers, first pages, and other format details within MLA style.
• In-text Citations: citing within your text. Includes examples for multiple authors and different types of sources.
• Formatting Quotations: formatting short and long quotations within your text.
• Works Cited Page Basic Format: formatting rules for your works cited page

The American Psychological Association released their most recent update to their handbook in 2010. APA uses in-text citations with the author's last name, the publishing year, and if necessary the page number, and a Reference List at the end of the research paper.

Purdue OWL includes many helpful resources for APA including:

• General Formatting: headers, first pages, and other format details within APA style.
• In-text Citations: citing within your text. Includes examples for multiple authors and different types of sources.
• Reference List: formatting rules for your works cited page.

The Chicago style is as of 2017 in its 17th edition. Chicago offers a Notes and Bibliography system of footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography page. The notes have the added advantage of allowing the research paper author to comment on individual sources as they cite them. An author-date style of in-text citations is also permitted.

Purdue OWL includes many helpful resources for Chicago including: General Formatting for all basic Chicago styles.